On the subject of eagles soaring, a man walking through the forest one day found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard, where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved like the chickens, it was no longer an eagle.

“Still, it has the heart of an eagle,” replied the naturalist, “and can surely be taught to fly.” He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, “You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.

The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, “You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally, the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, “You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun, and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.

It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.¹ The Lord put seeds of greatness inside of you. I don’t are life has altered your perception. Those seeds are inside you to germinate and blossom. You’re no chicken — you are God’s eagle. Soaring is the will of God for your life. Soaring with Eagles: How to Know You Are Destined for Greatness — that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

God has placed within you seeds of greatness. Those seeds are designed to show how great He is, not how great you are. Learn to water those seeds. Be swift like the eagle – swift to repent, swift to forgive, swift to believe, and swift to pray. 

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: What other eagle traits do you see mirrored in the body of Christ? Would you please share your thoughts in the comments section below?

Episode Resources:

You can find more support information in the resources listed below.

1. How Gideon Overcame the Voices of Insecurity [Podcast]
2. In Him Scripture List
3. Finding Your True Identity in Christ [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Soaring with Eagles: Taking Your Place in Christ

• Satan has tried and tried to get you off course — to mess with the seed that God has planted in your heart.
• His MO is the same today as it was initially — way back in Genesis, he managed to get mankind off course into sin.
• But, we have good news today — Jesus has come.
• Now, through the new birth, those ‘soaring eagle seeds’ God’s put in you can be realized.
• That’s good news.
• Any man in Christ is destined for greatness.
• Remember, that’s greatness as God defines it — not as the world defines it.
• But, why use the picture of an eagle to describe anything related to man – like this well-known passage in Isaiah?

Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) — 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

• Paul, in Romans, gives us a clue.

Romans 1:19–20 (NLT) — 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

• You know, as the church witnesses of Jesus and endeavors to get lost people to Him, we run into the varied excuses people give for not trusting Him.
• Here’s one example, ‘what about Africa?’ — that is, ‘what about people who have never heard the gospel?’
• What is this question really about? — isn’t it an accusation against God’s fairness?
• It’s like, ‘God, you’re saying Jesus is the only Way — how can you condemn people who have never heard?
• These verses in Romans one, though, are at least part of that answer.
• Once you understand it, you realize that there is no acceptable excuse.
• God has revealed Himself in His creation.
• The stars point to God.
• The earth, the sky, and all that God made act as directional signs that all point to Him.
• You can look at certain animals and understand that when the Creator made those animals, He put within that animal clues about Himself.
• Let’s take a look at just a few examples.

Cardinals

• Cardinals are monogamous birds, one male to one female.
• When the female is not nesting, you will see them come to your feeder in pairs.
• During the breeding season, which begins in the spring, the male appears to be particularly loving toward his mate.
• He will bring her food offerings.
• As she crouches with an open beak — and rapidly twitching wings — he will hop by her side, tilt his head just so, and place the food directly into her bill ².
• Cardinals are loving and monogamous and are pictures of who God is and what He is like.
• Now, there’s a negative counterpart to this animal fact that was introduced by sin.

Cowbirds

• The Brown-headed Cowbird is a brood parasite, meaning that it lays its eggs in other species’ nests.
• A female cowbird quietly searches for female birds of other species that are actively laying eggs.
• Once she has found a suitable host, the cowbird will sneak onto the resident bird’s nest when it is away, usually damage or remove one (or more) egg, and replace that egg with one (or more) of her own (watch a cowbird laying an egg in a Northern Cardinal nest on NestCams).
• The foster parents then unknowingly raise the young cowbirds, usually at the expense of their own offspring ³.
• Cowbirds exhibit a conniving, sneaky nature, which is what God is NOT.
• As we continue to look at nature, we find that God has placed other clues: clues in biological systems, clues in geographical systems, clues in astronomical systems for the heavens declare the glory of God.
• There are clues about in creation about God’s character.
• Clues about His creative ability.
• Clues about His massiveness.
• Clues about His grace and power.
• There is a road map to God laid out in the stars and ecosystems of this world.
• Some scientists, who have tried to disprove the Bible, ended up becoming believers.
• How come?
• They ran into the clues of creation, and it smacked them right in the face.
• Some scientists have tried to prove evolution was right and found it; there is no way to could be right and gave their hearts to Jesus.
• They ran into the clues.
• Now, if you can look at an animal and see a clue about God in that animal, what about you?
• Do you think the Creator put some positive clues in His creation about you?

Soaring with Eagles

1 John 3:2–4 (KJV) — 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

• Inside of you, God put seeds of greatness.
• It’s the will of God that seeds germinate and blossom.
• Your past doesn’t matter.
• Don’t let the enemy tell you that it does.
• The born-again child of God has no past.
• Jesus came and, by His coming, paved the way for you to born again.
• Those ‘inside seeds’ can sprout up in you in the image of their original design.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) — 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

• ‘If any man is in Christ’ — those words translate into ‘You are destined for greatness in Him.’

What about These Soaring Eagles?

Revelation 4:1, 6–8 (NCV) — 1 After the vision of these things I looked, and there before me was an open door in heaven. And the same voice that spoke to me before, that sounded like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” 6 Also before the throne there was something that looked like a sea of glass, clear like crystal. In the center and around the throne were four living creatures with eyes all over them, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion. The second was like a calf. The third had a face like a man. The fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of these four living creatures had six wings and was covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He was, he is, and he is coming.”

• Did you notice the flying eagle of verse seven?
• When you see the word ‘eagle’ — don’t think of the eagle bird that resides in the country or continent you live.
• You have to translate the Bible in context, and with that thought, here’s the Historical Background of the Day.
• The ‘eagle’ referenced in the Bible is not the ‘Bald Eagle’ of America.
• The eagle referred to in God’s Word is the Griffon Vulture.
• Griffen Vultures is an African species.
• One variety, known as ‘Ruppel’s Griffon Vulture, is the highest flying bird on planet earth — soaring to heights of 37,000 feet above sea level.
• In the Bible, eagles possess a godly image.
• One of the living creatures around the throne resembles the eagle.
• The eagle is distinguished among the feathered race for the swiftness, the power, the height of its elevation.
• Of all birds that soar, there is none like the eagle.
• No other bird flies so high; none ascends with so much power.
• It’s magnificent, and grand ascent to the sun is legendary.
• Look closely at the eagle, because in this bird, there are clues about you.

Soaring with Eagles: Eagles Are Swift

2 Samuel 1:23 (KJV) — 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

• Here, Saul and Jonathan were compared to eagles in their swiftness.
• Swiftness is the ability to move fast.
• Saul and Johnathan were not just special ‘eagle’ cases.

Soaring with Eagles: God’s Point of View

• Did you hear what the Lord said concerning Saul?
• Saul didn’t turn out so well.
• His choices limited the will of the Lord in His life.
• But, God considered Saul an eagle.
• This was God’s view— God’s perspective.
• Saul was God’s pick as Israel’s first king.
• Yielding to sin brought Saul down from lofty heights of his potential.
• If he had made the right choices, he could have maximized his potential.
• You know in life, you maximize what you emphasize.
• Saul’s sinful choices reduced his elevation ceiling.
• Instead of soaring with the eagles, he flew with the turkeys.
• The Lord doesn’t see you like a turkey but as His high-flying eagle.
• Stop talking negatively about yourself.
• Don’t say, “You know, mentally; I’m not too swift.”
• That’s not true – God’s view is that you are as swift as an eagle.
• Your destiny is to be like Jesus — and Jesus soared to the highest of heights.

Revelation 3:11 (KJV) — 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

• Notice the descriptor of Jesus in this verse.
• He comes quickly.
• He comes swiftly.
• And you are like Him, swift, quick, sharp, and bright.
• That’s who you are in Him.
• You are not so good by yourself — but in Him, you are all you need to be.
• Ask yourself, “In what areas am I to display swiftness?”
• As a believer in Jesus, what should I be swift to do?

Soaring with Eagles: Be Swift to Repent

• One day Jesus told a story about two sons?

Matthew 21:28–32 (NLT) — 28 “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30 Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two was obeying his father?” They replied, “The first, of course.” 31 “I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32 For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him.”

• In this Jesus story, ask yourself which son are you?
• Which son should you identify with? — the son who said, I’m not going and then repented and went, or the son who said he was going and never carried through with his words?
• The real answer? — you shouldn’t identify with either one.
• You can and ought to aspire to be the son who seeks to know God’s will, and when you find it, you are a doer of it.
• Why? Because you are swift in this area.

Soaring with Eagles: Swift to Forgive

• High flying eagles of the God-kind are lovers.
• They walk in God’s love — they manifest His nature.
• That love, God’s love is in you, means you are quick to act on Mark 11:25.
• Why? Because that seed is in you.

Mark 11:25 (KJV) — 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

• You are not slow to forgive — no, you’re quick to forgive, knowing that your heavenly Father is quick to forgive you.
• You do not forgive begrudgingly.
• That’s not who you are. You are quick and swift to forgive others.

THE WONDERFUL thing about electronic calculators is that if wrong buttons are pressed and the calculation is thrown off, all is not lost. The problem does not have to be unraveled or figured out. By pressing “clear,” the calculation can be restarted. Some people are in situations that they can’t unravel. Their lives are so twisted and turned that they can’t figure things out. They are too confused. The great thing about God is that He is ready and waiting to press “clear.” He’s ready to abundantly pardon.

• Swift to forgive is a great thing about God, and it is a great thing about you.⁴

Soaring with Eagles: Swift to Believe

• Do you remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus?

Luke 24:13–16 (KJV) — 13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

• What was Jesus’ commentary about these two men?

Luke 24:25–27 (KJV) — 25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

• Jesus said these two men were ‘slow to believe.’
• And, with that thought, here’s the Definition of the Day.
• The Greek word ‘slow’ here in the phrase ‘slow of heart’ means sluggish.
• Now, Jesus was not talking about their mental ability — they weren’t slow mentally — they were slow of heart — slow on their spirits.
• They stayed up in their heads as opposed to loving life large from their hearts.
• It is not your destiny to be like these two — it is not your calling to be ‘Road to Emmaus’ disciples.
• You are not slow of heart to believe.
• In fact, the Lord sees you as just the opposite.
• You’re an eagle, and eagles are swift to believe.
• They are quick to take God at His Word.
• They are fast like that because they live in the Word — the soak in the Word — they meditate in the Word.

Joshua 1:8 (ESV) — 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

• They are like trees that cannot be broken.

Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

• That’s who you are: swift like an eagle to believe.

Soaring with Eagles: Swift to Pray

• What other kinds of ‘eagle seeds’ do you have inside you?
• You are swift as an eagle to run to God when you have a problem.
• You don’t run to man.
• Why? — because you know how to pray.
• You don’t have to manipulate people.
• You know that your heavenly Father hears you when you pray.
• You don’t have to play the ‘dropping hints for people to pick up’ game because you believe God hears you when you pray.
• You are not like King Asa, who did not consult God in the middle of his distress.

2 Chronicles 16:12 (KJV) — 12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.

• Seeking the Lord, calling upon His Name, leaning on the Lord for his help — that’s what’s inside of you.
• Eagles understand the life of dependence.

Soaring with Eagles: Swift to Act on God’s Word

• Do you remember the story of Naaman the Leper?
• Do you remember that Naaman was a high official in the court of Syria?

2 Kings 5:1 (ESV) — 1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

• Might man of valor – BUT — did you hear that?
• His BUT, his condition was what was weighing him down.

2 Kings 5:2–4 (ESV) — 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.”

• So Naaman, with the help of his king, goes to see the prophet, Elijah.

2 Kings 5:9–12 (ESV) — 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

• So, here is Naaman, the leper standing before the man of God — the man with a notable healing ministry.
• God gives Naaman a word via the prophet’s mouth — a word that would undo the foul effects of his leprous state.
• What’s Naaman’s ‘happy’ reaction to the word of God coming from the mouth of Elisha?

2 Kings 5:10–14 (ESV) — 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

• Naaman’s reaction was anger based on pride.
• His reaction should not be your reaction.
• Prideful anger is not who you are.
• You are not a doubter of God’s Word.
• Instead, you are a believer, and believers are eagles.
• Eagles are swift to act on God’s Word when it is presented to them.

How to Break Free from Addiction

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