SPROUTING WINGS TO FLY
Isaiah 40:31, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Everybody loves to think about the ability and power to fly. Even though there are a lot of people who are afraid of airplanes or other flying machines, I have never met a Christian who didn’t like the idea of “flying high” in the Holy Spirit.
Yes we all want to be in those heavenly places in God. We love those times when the Glory of Almighty God comes into the midst of the church and we see his power made manifest in the church. But how many of us realize that there is a lack of that power in most churches and in the lives of most Christians?
Most of us can’t fly! All we can do is muster up enough spiritual strength to scratch around the barnyard of the earth with all the other chickens that can’t fly either.
I don’t know about you but I get tired of scratching in the dirt and coming up with little more than leftover scraps of God’s blessings.
I want the best that God has to offer. I want to see a real Holy Ghost outpouring. I want to see and be a part of the great last day revival that’s already beginning to burst forth around the world.
There was a news article just a few days ago on Fox News Channel where the reporter was speaking to the Captain of the aircraft carrier, USS Harry S. Truman. The reporter asked the Captain about the crew and the fact that those sailors seemed to be more spiritual minded and religious than military personnel of the past several decades. Of course the Captain didn’t pick up on what the reporter was saying even though he praised those sailors for their hard work, dedication and patriotism, but I picked up on what was said and its not the first time that I have heard of a revival of Spirituality among our military personnel.
Just a revival of “spirituality” is not something to shout about, but when I hear that many of them are beginning to read their Bibles and hold prayer meetings, and many are giving their hearts to Jesus, that’s something to get excited about.
I can only hope and pray that it’s a real revival and a change of heart and not just “foxhole repentance”.
Regardless of the final result of this revival of spirituality, I thank God that there is a move of God going on in the ranks of our military. Folks, if God can bring a revival in our military, where people are being trained to kill and hate, then I believe that the world is primed for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost like we have never seen before.
There is nothing too hard for God. If he can bring a revival among our military personnel then he can bring a revival to anyone.
I want to sprout those wings of the Holy Spirit and fly. I’m tired of seeing God’s people kicked around by the devil and every little imp of hell. I’m tired of looking at most of our churches and seeing an emaciated, sickly, powerless, wordless, prideful, and defeated “church”. That’s not God’s church! Nowhere in the Word of God do we see God’s church described as being in that shape unless it’s a backslidden church.
Victory Temple needs a fresh outpouring of the Holy Ghost. I want to see the glory of God fall again. I want to see the spiritual gifts in operation in a far greater manner than they are now. I want to see new converts filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in other tongues after being born again and made into a new man.
The life of the church is not in our programs. The life of our church is not in our social events. The life of the church is not in our ability to dazzle people with our talents. The life of the church comes only through the anointing power of the Holy Ghost!
So, how do we get those wings of the Holy Spirit to lift us up? Why are we so bound to scratching around for a few blessings when God wants to pour out blessings that we can’t contain?
The answer is found in that same verse of Isaiah 40 that we just read! What is that answer? … they that wait upon the LORD!
That’s why we don’t see the Glory of God more than we do! It’s because we have not “waited” upon the Lord!
Most of us come to church and just sit around and call it waiting. We show up and think that we have done our part by just making the effort to be here. For most of us the “sacrifice of praise” that we offer to the Lord comes in the great effort it takes for us to get our flesh to move out of the way long enough to get to the House of God and then we lapse into our come as soon as we sit down on the pew. “I’ve done my part God, now bless me”, is our attitude. Pour it on me God, make me feel good, let me shout a little while, slay me in the Spirit, then place me in one of those Spiritual High places that your Word talks about! HERE I AM LORD! NOW BLESS ME IF YOU CAN!
It’s no wonder that so many Christians walk out of church Sunday morning just as defeated as when they came in! It’s no wonder that so many people won’t even force their flesh to get up and make the effort to get to God’s House anymore!
I want you to know it’s not God’s fault that we don’t receive what we need. It’s never God’s fault. He doesn’t enter into the midst of his people empty handed. God always shows up with every blessing you need and with enough glory and power to fill every one of us to overflowing. IT’S YOU AND I – WE ARE THE PROBLEM! IT’S OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING HERE AND OUR FAILURE TO KNOW WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR!
We all like to hear about the “running but not getting weary” and we all love the idea of “never fainting or growing tired”, but how many of us are willing to pay the price to get the wings and fly above the weariness and get the Spiritual power to run without growing tired of the battle against the forces of hell?
There’s some WAITING UPON THE LORD that has happen before any of this be ours.
And we have to “Wait upon the Lord ourselves”, we can’t expect anyone else to do it for us.
Most people come to church and just sit there like a knot on a log. They are waiting for God to do something for them, never realizing that they have the whole thing backwards.
I’m reading a book by Tommy Tenny right now titled “God’s Eye View” and one thing he says that really struck me when I read it.
It’s not us coming to church to be waited upon by God – It’s God coming into the midst of his people to be “waited on by them’!
We come to church like we are going to a restaurant to be served. We walk into the restaurant, sit down and then wait for the waiter to come and take our order to supply our need for something to eat. We come to church acting as though we are the customer.
My friend we have it backwards. It’s not us who are the customers – IT’S GOD! We need to come to church with the attitude that we are coming to serve the Lord. Not the Lord is going to serve us!
I like the way that Tommy Tenny said it, “the scripture doesn’t say Bless My Soul, Oh my Lord. It says Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul.”
We should count it a privilege and an honor to get up and come to God’s House to serve him. Instead, most of God’s people count it as a duty and that’s why they only come out of obligation and not out of love. We should have enough spirituality about us to say like David in Psalms 122:1, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."
Most people have the attitude that says, “Oh no, it’s time to go to church again. It seems like I just went. I’m just too busy and too tired to get up and go. Besides, I feel nauseated and sick.” Did you ever stop to think that it might be the sin in your heart and the filth of the world in your flesh that makes you so sick and tired? And since when did Jesus say that we should give place to the desires of the flesh anyway?
Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Romans 8:5, "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit."
So if you are more concerned about resting your flesh, or satisfying the needs of this body, than you are about serving Jesus and being in the presence of God, it’s time to get a check up from the neck up and get your heart right with God.
If you love your family, or your spouse, or your friends, you don’t have to be forced to serve them. You do it because you love them and because you are totally committed to them and want to see them prosper. It’s not out of a sense of duty or obligation but out of a heart of love.
Perhaps we should examine our motives to see if we really love Jesus! Are we only coming because we are afraid of hell? Are we only coming because we are afraid that God’s judgment will fall on us if we don’t show up? Are we only coming because we don’t want to face the preacher on the street and then try to come up with an excuse for not showing up? Are we only coming because we have to make a show in order to maintain our reputation among other Christians?
If that’s why we come, then we have it all wrong! We should come because we love to be in God’s House. We should come because we want to “wait upon” or “serve” the Lord. The question on our mind should not be, “What can I get from God today, or what will God do for me today?”
John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address said, “Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what can you do for your country.” He hit the nail on the head with that statement.
We should come to God’s House, ready to praise him, ready to serve him, seeking what he needs from us, seeking ways to give something back to him, seeking ways to serve God’s people, and doing so because we love to do it, not out of a sense of obligation.
When we come together to serve the Lord, we should do so willingly!
How many of you know that serving other people can get to be a real burden? How many times do I hear people moan about the heavy load they must carry and all of the responsibilities of caring for children, keeping the house clean, and doing all the necessary work to make a household operate! Yet they continue to carry the load because of their love for those they serve. Many of us will carry that burden of serving our family and friends but we refuse to carry a burden for Jesus!
Too many of God’s own children don’t love him enough to carry a burden for his work. They don’t have a burden for lost souls. They don’t have a burden for knowing him more! They don’t have a burden to see that the House of the Lord is taken care of! They don’t have a burden for their brothers and sisters who are in need! They don’t have a burden for teaching children. They don’t have a burden that saddens their hearts when they see sin abounding!
God’s people take that song all wrong that says, “Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.” That doesn’t mean that we should not carry our cross for the Lord and serve him. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have a work to do for the Kingdom of God. It’s only talking about those burdens of this life that tend to keep you from serving the Lord with all your heart. The problem is that we lay down the wrong burdens. We lay down the Lord’s burden that we should be carrying and we walk away carrying the burdens of this life that we should be leaving at the altar. Then we wonder why Jesus doesn’t seem to be lifting part of the load with us! He isn’t our servant – we are his!
There are a lot of people who will come to church with the idea in mind that someone else will pay the price of serving the Lord or waiting upon the Lord while all they will have to do is sit around waiting and allow a little of the overflow blessing from the Lord to fall on them.
God’s promise of rising on the wings of an eagle is not for those who aren’t willing to wait upon him! Only those who truly serve the Lord with a sacrifice of praise and worship; only those who are willing to deny the desires of the flesh to “wait upon the Lord”; and only those who are willing to be used vessel in God’s Kingdom are given the promise of rising on eagle’s wings.
We can sit in the church, waiting around for the worship team to “wait upon the Lord” for us and never serve the Lord in our “sacrifice of praise” and then wonder why those on the platform say, “I can really feel the Spirit of the Lord” when we can’t feel anything!
We can come to church without having spent one minute in prayer, never having opened the Word of God for ourselves, and never giving God one thought, and wonder why the preacher says that he “has a Word from the Lord” or that “God has a message for the church”, when we haven’t heard anything from God for months or even years.
Eagles do not sit around like a bunch of buzzards on a dead limb in the middle of the desert waiting for something to come along and die at their feet or waiting for some other eagle to drop a dead animal in from of them for them to eat. Neither do they circle overhead just waiting to see if whatever lies there is really dead because they are afraid of anything living. Eagles are always flying high on their own wings. They are watching with their own perfected vision for something living and moving to show itself. Then they swoop down and get something fresh for themselves. And they don’t fly in flocks. Every eagle flies alone and does its own killing, making provision for its own nest.
If you want God’s best, then do your own “waiting upon the Lord”. It’s only those that wait who will sprout wings for flying. It’s only those that wait who will run and not be weary because they have the power of the Holy Ghost in them. It’s only those who wait that will be able to walk the Christian walk without growing weary from the journey because it is the power of the Holy Ghost within them that gives them the strength to keep going, and going, and going! It’s not some battery by Duracell that gives us power, it’s the power of the Holy Ghost, coming from a source that never drains down or runs out.
Isn’t it about time that we “mount up with wings”? Isn’t it about time we stopped scratching in the dirt for more dirt? Isn’t it about time we get under the waterfall of God’s blessings? Isn’t it about time we sprouted wings through the power of the Holy Ghost and started flying high in God?
God wants to life us up into higher places with Him but before he can we must learn to “wait upon him”. Start waiting right now. Not only waiting by watching and being ready for his coming – but also waiting in serving the Lord in whatever manner he desires.
