SEPTEMBER THEME — “SEEING THE CROSS FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE”

BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART

RISE ABOVE WHAT IS WEIGHING YOU DOWN

Isaiah 40:31,  “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…”

GOD CAN CHANGE YOUR ALTITUDE

Sometimes God does not immediately remove the storm. Instead, He gives you strength to rise above it. Isaiah does not say that those who wait upon the Lord will never encounter winds, storms, disappointment, pressure, or adversity. He says, “They shall mount up with wings as eagles.” The circumstances may still be beneath them, but God changes their altitude. What once threatened to overwhelm them becomes something God uses to lift them higher. There are situations you cannot change, people you cannot control, questions you cannot answer, and burdens you cannot fix. But you do not have to allow them to keep your soul on the ground. When God renews your strength, He enables you to see from a different perspective. You may not be able to change what is happening around you, but God can change what is happening within you.

 THE WIND THAT RESISTS YOU CAN BECOME THE WIND THAT LIFTS YOU

An eagle does not need the wind to stop before it can fly. In fact, the eagle can use the very wind pushing against it to rise higher. That is a powerful picture of what God can do with adversity. We often pray, “Lord, make the wind stop.” Sometimes He does. But at other times God says, in effect, “I am going to teach you how to rise in the middle of it.” The pressure you are facing does not have to destroy you. The disappointment does not have to define you. The waiting period does not have to weaken you. In the hands of God, the very thing that seemed determined to push you backward can become the circumstance through which He develops deeper faith, stronger character, greater dependence, and a closer walk with Him. Joseph was betrayed, falsely accused, and forgotten, yet every painful chapter was moving him toward the place God had prepared for him. What looked like resistance was actually part of God’s preparation. Do not assume that opposition means you are outside God’s will. Sometimes God uses the contrary wind to take you higher.

YOU CANNOT SOAR WHILE CLINGING TO WHAT GOD SAYS TO RELEASE

There are some things that become spiritual weights during a season of waiting. Fear can become a weight. Bitterness can become a weight. Constantly rehearsing the disappointment can become a weight. Trying to control everyone and everything around you can become a weight. Even demanding to know exactly how God is going to answer can become a weight. Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “lay aside every weight.” Before an eagle rises, it cannot remain tied to the ground. In the same way, there may be something God is asking you to release before you can experience the freedom He wants to give you. Perhaps you need to release the timetable. Perhaps you need to release the offense. Perhaps you need to release the fear of what might happen. Perhaps you need to release your own solution and trust God’s. Waiting upon the Lord means loosening your grip on what you cannot control and tightening your grip on the One who controls everything. You cannot soar while insisting on carrying everything yourself.

ALTITUDE BRINGS A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

When you are standing in the valley, everything around you can look enormous. The mountain fills your vision. The obstacle seems impossible. The problem dominates your thoughts. But when an eagle rises, the landscape has not necessarily changed; its perspective has changed. What appeared overwhelming from the ground looks different from above. This is one of the things God does as we wait upon Him. He begins to lift our perspective. We stop seeing only the problem and begin seeing the God who is greater than the problem. We stop measuring God’s ability by our circumstances and begin measuring our circumstances by God’s ability. We stop saying, “Look how big my mountain is,” and begin saying, “Look how great my God is.” Worship does this. Scripture does this. Prayer does this. They lift our eyes from what we cannot do to what God can do. The situation may not have changed yet, but suddenly it no longer occupies the throne of your heart. Faith does not deny the size of the mountain; faith remembers the greatness of God. When storms approach, many birds seek shelter. The eagle responds differently. Using its powerful wings, it catches the rising currents of air and climbs. The storm may continue beneath it, but the eagle rises to a place where it is no longer struggling against every gust. What appeared to be its enemy becomes part of the force that carries it upward. That is a beautiful picture of the believer who waits upon the Lord. God may not immediately remove the storm from your life, but He can give you strength that did not come from you. He can give you peace that does not match your circumstances. He can give you joy while the answer is still on the way. He can enable you to worship while you wait. The goal is not simply, “Lord, get me out of this.” Sometimes the greater prayer is, “Lord, take me higher through this.”

DO NOT LIVE ON THE GROUND WHEN GOD HAS GIVEN YOU WINGS

Perhaps you have spent too much time staring at what is wrong, rehearsing what has happened, fearing what might happen, and wondering when God is going to change it. Isaiah gives you another picture: mount up. Wait upon the Lord until His strength becomes your strength. Open His Word. Remember His promises. Worship Him for who He is. Release what you cannot control. Refuse to allow circumstances to determine the altitude of your faith. God may change your circumstances today, or He may first change your perspective toward those circumstances. Either way, waiting upon Him is never wasted. He is renewing you. He is strengthening you. He is teaching you that the Christian life was never designed to be lived in your own strength. The same God who allows the wind is able to give you wings for the wind. You were not created merely to survive the storm. In God’s strength, you can rise above it.

WARFARE PRAYER

Father, in the name of Jesus, I refuse to allow fear, discouragement, disappointment, or the pressure of my circumstances to keep my faith on the ground. The enemy wants me to stare at the storm until I forget the God who rules over the storm. Today I turn my eyes toward You. Renew my strength as You promised. Break the grip of every weight I have carried that You never intended for me to bear. I surrender my fear, my need for control, my timetable, my unanswered questions, and every disappointment that has tried to settle into my heart. Lord, use even the contrary winds of my life for Your glory. What the enemy intended to discourage me, use to deepen me. What was intended to weaken my faith, use to strengthen it. Lift my perspective above what I see and remind me of who You are. When my circumstances tell me there is no way, remind me that You are the God who makes a way. When my emotions tell me I cannot continue, remind me that my strength does not come from myself. I declare that the storm will not have the final word. Fear will not have the final word. Delay will not have the final word. My God will have the final word. Teach me to mount up with wings as eagles, to worship while I wait, and to live today in the strength of Christ rather than the weakness of myself. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

DAILY CHALLENGE

Identify the one thing that is weighing your spirit down the most today. Name it before God and deliberately release it to Him. Then read Isaiah 40:31 aloud and say, “Lord, I cannot control this, but I refuse to let it control me. Renew my strength and lift my eyes above it.” Whenever the burden returns to your thoughts today, replace the worry with worship and remind yourself: “The wind may still be blowing, but God is teaching me to rise.”

WEDNESDAY’S PRAYER NEEDS

Britany Smith

Darlene Kelley

Darlene Thaxton

Ginny Ford

Susan Bankston

Kim’s McClain’s Mother & Sister

Rob Davis