Eagles

EAGLES

Eagles are mentioned in the Bible quite often. In the Scriptures, God Himself compares certain actions of His with ones of an eagle. That is why I would like to discuss this subject in more detail.

Ex. 19:4: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”

That’s what God says to His people.

Deut. 32:11-12: “As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.”

Again, we can see that God compares Himself with an eagle. He always cares for His people; He carries His children on His wings and spreads His wings upon them.

Eagle must be a very special bird, for it is mentioned enough in both the Old and New Testaments. If lion is the king of the animals here on earth, eagle is the king in the sky. It is not just a bird; it is a royal bird.

So why is eagle the king? Why does God often use allegories of an eagle to depict Himself, His steps and actions toward people? The reason is, an eagle sees everything on earth from a viewpoint that is located high above the earth. The viewpoint it possesses is located on another level. That is why it sees beyond what can be seen on earth, where the horizon limits the view. The horizon is not a hindrance to eagles.

When Christians rise up in the Spirit, they also can see the things that are going on around certain specific, limited situations. They gain perspective of them on a large, panoramic scale. And this is already a prophetic vision. We can see more than ordinary people can. At all times, the prophets saw more than ordinary people did. The Lord wants His children to soar on such heights.

If we study the nature of eagles, – both the structural organization of the body and the way of life, – we can receive revelations for our own life. I live by these revelations, and I decided to share them with you.

Let us first mention that there are different types of eagles. There are little eagles – comparatively little, as their wingspan is about five feet. They do not fly higher than the treetops and are called vultures. They feed on carrion. Vultures peck out the eyes of their victims. The blind animal bustles around, seeing nothing, and eventually dies. If a vulture does not have enough strength to finish its prey off, it flies over the prey until it dies. Such is their strategy. We are not interested in these; we will study another type of eagles.

The Bible speaks about bald eagles. Their wingspan is about eight feet. They fly up to 4.6 miles high above the earth. This bird can fly in the rarefied air, where airplanes fly. Eagles can go up to the heights that are beyond the reach of other birds. In addition, bald eagles feed only on fresh meet and blood; they would never have carrion, even if they were about to die from starvation.

I underlined seven aspects concerning bald eagles.

The first aspect is the weight of the skeleton of a bald eagle. Its wingspan is about eight feet, but the weight of the entire skeleton is only 0.6 pounds! Can you imagine how lightweight it is, and how firm an eagle’s bones are? Muscles and feathering are what make the most part of an eagle’s weight. But the skeleton itself, – the framework of its movements, – is light.

Drawing an analogy with our Christian life, our ‘skeleton’ or our spiritual ‘framework’ also is to be light, not weighted down by anything. It is very difficult to carry burdens of offences, unforgivemess, feelings of guilt and unsolved issues in relationships. It is very difficult to live having constant aversion for certain people. After all, those who annoy us also manipulate us, in a sense. We start avoiding them; we plan our day so that our ways do not cross with theirs as much as possible. And this intensely weighs down our spiritual nature, – the ‘eagle’ in us, – our spirit that is called to soar! We need to learn to put off such things. We need to learn to weigh our ‘skeleton’ and to find out whether something has stuck to it; whether it is tied by ropes that bind our freedom; whether there are any unsolved relational issues or soulish binds that are not of God. We need to take care of staying light.

I personally know many Christians who learned to put off their offences. In fact, offence is an impermissible luxury for a Christian. We do not have any right to be offended, as where there is an offence, there is a room for the devil. And the devil will eagerly load us, putting ‘spiritual cement bags’ on our back. Now, when we barely walk, how can we rise up to heaven and see beyond our nose and further than the road we walk? Never allow this to happen!

We must learn to deal with offences. We shall not live gritting our teeth; we need to come to God and say: “Lord, I forgive this person! It doesn’t matter that I do not feel my forgiveness; I make a decision to forgive. And I turn over this page in my life.” It is right. We do not need to live by our feelings, but to get rid of the feeling of offence through the right confession, the confession of faith. A feeling of release may come a little later, but it will come. Your decision is the most important thing.

Another side of this is, I know people who cannot forgive themselves for something. This is the sense of guilt, when in your mind’s eye you go back to certain events of your life and say: “I could act differently and this and this would never happen”. It is usually hidden very deeply, but it brings a lot of heaviness. Many people cannot take wing, as they have not been freed from self-condemnation and guilt. This limits our ability to fly. If we failed in an area, this feeling can hinder us from doing more attempts in the same area in future.

When I first encountered this in my home group, I did not know what to say. That person kept saying that she forgave everyone but could not forgive herself and felt guilty. One day, I told her: “Are you greater than God? If God forgave you it is just an insolence to put yourself above God and not to forgive yourself!” This sobered her up. Right then she asked God to forgive her for condemning herself.

The devil deceives us so often! My dear, learn to be lightweight. Learn to examine yourself to see whether there is anything stuck to you that does not allow you to fly. We need to learn to accept people so that these weights do not pull us down. Even if a person has nothing to be loved for, love them simply because God loves them. It is so easy to say, after all, “I accept this person because God does”. God does not judge them. If God judged them, they would not be alive by now. And if God gives them a chance to live, what right then do I have to give them no chance in our relationship? Let them live!

The second aspect is that an eagle has nine skeletal feathers in each wing and five such feathers in the tail.

In 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, we see the list of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord gives to us: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healings, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. In addition, in Galatians, 5.22-23, it is written about the nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Lord gives us nine gifts and nine fruits of His Spirit.

Wings are for balancing the eagle’s body. It flies beautifully, as both wings are in harmony; they are identical in size. It is imperative to examine our lives if we want to go high in the Spirit and soar. We need to learn what gifts operate in our lives and how many of them are there. And we need to see whether we have the fruit of the Spirit, which the Lord has placed in us. Do we allow the fruit to manifest through us in any way? If one wing is larger than the other is, you will fly in circles, round and round, and will not be able to go outside the circle. Someone might be flying in circles now. This means they either do not use their gifts, or do not manifest the fruit of the Spirit through their lives.

And what about the five skeletal feathers in the tail? Eagle’s tail is its rudder. When it flies, the tail changes its direction to the right or left. The position of the wings directs an eagle up or down and adjusts the speed, and the tail rudders directing its movements.

In Ephesians 4:11-12, it is written about five ministries set by God in the Body of Christ that is the Church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. In the Body of Christ, it is so important to allow this fivefold ministry to ‘rudder’ our life. If we allow it, we will never deviate from the ways of God. However, if we are left without it, we are like a ‘tailless eagle’. We will be able to move somehow, but if a wind catches us, no one knows where we will end up. That is why it is very important to maintain harmony between the gifts, the fruit, and the influence of the fivefold ministry of the Church.

The third aspect is that eagles have a little organ above each eye that works like a compass. It performs the function of a navigator when an eagle flies far from its home – its nest or the rock on which the nest is. The nest is your home, your true home, which is on heights, on the rock. By the way, it is mentioned in the Scriptures several times that an eagle builds its nest on a high rock. So when an eagle goes far from the nest or rock, the navigation organ produces a secretion that enters the blood of the eagle, and it has a feeling of discomfort. Then it quickly turns around, and this organ starts to work as a navigator that takes the eagle back to its own nest and rock from a completely unfamiliar area.

Just imagine what grace we have in us! We have the Holy Spirit, Who, if we are sensitive to Him, will always give us this uncomfortable feeling when we go to wrong places or get into debris of false teachings, when the barrel of honey that is the truth is diluted with a spoon of tar that is a lie. On the surface, everything looks like the truth, but this ‘device’ inside us starts to work. It is vital to develop this spiritual sensitivity. If you start to incline to it, even if you encounter very subtle errors and heresies, you come to understand clearly that something is not right. Even though everything looks like the truth, something inside says that it is not quite true. With time, it will become obvious what exactly is wrong. On the other hand, maybe you do not even need to grasp anything! Just turn around and fly home; your compass will take you there. Go back to your homeland, to the origins; to Jesus Christ, from Whom you received your salvation; to the Word of God, to its purity and heights. Jesus is the rock and the strength of our lives, and our nest must be on high; it must be with Jesus, on His heights.

The fourth aspect is eagles’ eyes. I want to turn your attention to a very interesting fact: the visual angle of eagle’s eyes is 275 degrees. What is the visual angle? Look right ahead yourself. With your central vision, you clearly see everything that is just in front of you, and with your peripheral vision, you might see some colors or movements, but not clearly. You see clearly probably around 90 degrees, but eagle’s vision encompasses 275 degrees. When it looks, it sees the things ahead and the things on both sides (which we cannot view clearly), with equal clarity. Eagle’s vision is truly unique.

Men have more developed central vision and women have more developed peripheral vision. Probably that is why men are strategists in general, looking forward and afar; and for women it is easier to focus on immediate things and solve complicated matters. However, eagles combine these traits. An eagle’s view is wide, far and perfectly clean.

In the Body of Christ, eyes represent the prophetic ministry. A prophet sees further than other people. A Prophet lives in two worlds – in the spiritual world and concurrently in the ordinary world. They see the things that others do not see. That is why the prophets of old caused so much irritation; they were misunderstood, stoned to death, driven away from towns, thrown into foul pits with waste, – and all this because they spoke what they saw. The rulers of the country did not want either to listen to or to believe their words. They preferred other seers that soothed their ear. However, the life of a prophet does not belong to them. God gives them His vision and a task to speak to others the very things they see. So a question can arise: is this unusual spiritual vision a blessing or a burden? With God, it is of course a blessing, though according to the flesh, it can be a burden.

Another fact. Eagle’s panoramic vision covers the area of 3 square miles! An eagle can fly up to 4.6 miles high and have a view of 3 square miles. Of course, we will see more from the roof of an apartment house than from the balcony of the first floor. Obviously, the higher you go, the greater area your spiritual sight or vision covers. That is why we need to learn to rise up in the spiritual realm to see beyond our nose, beyond the events around us. The example of eagles gives us a strong motivation to train to mount up on heights.

Divine spiritual vision allows us to see the events in a panoramic way. Someone just notices that the prices in the nearby store went high, and this is the furthest limit of their vision. They are not interested in everything beyond this vision. They do not even understand anything beyond it. However, the fact that the prices in the store went high is so insignificant in itself. If you mount up on heights, you will see what happens in the whole world: global changes are happening, volcanic eruptions take place, catastrophes occur and evil is multiplied. Everywhere different satanic teachings arise under the guise of different masks, waving their Bibles and crosses… Then we see that everything that happens is in line with the Word of God and there are all the signs of the last days approaching.

The higher you mount the larger view you get. Now you no longer pay attention to the changes in the nearby store and are more focused on what is going on in your city and in your country. You look at the forces that are active on the whole earth. You inquire about revivals going on today in different countries. You see everything on a global scale, in the light of God’s plan for the planet Earth. Then you do not care about the prices in that store; it does not trouble you anymore. It is not that the prices went high; you just need to earn more, and it will never bother you again. We must get rid of this poverty mentality. We must say: “Lord, even though the prices in that store went high, I know that You are my Blessing and my Provider! You will provide for me in such a way that I will not notice such small things anymore and will look high and far. And then my plans will be global too”. Such a stand gives us panoramic vision from a high point.

Eagle’s vision is eight times sharper than man’s is. Prophets see more than ordinary people do. They see very tiny details. They see what stays unnoticed to others. That is why we need to develop such a sharp spiritual sight. Sometimes while speaking to a person you simply listen to what they tell you. But there are times your spiritual vision is engaged. Then you understand and feel that something is not right and there is a lie in their report; other times, you see a problem, which the person prefers to hold back. Or you see a disease that brings them much trouble, even though they speak nothing about it. This sharpness of sight sees things, which an ordinary eye will not indicate. This is given by the Holy Spirit, so we need to incline our ear to Him, Who dwells inside us, and develop this ability in our lives.

We already know that eagles’ central and peripheral visions are equally developed. Another interesting characteristic of eagle’s vision is that eagles see the things that are close and those that are far off with equal sharpness. At the height of 4.6 miles above the earth, an eagle sees the scales on the back of the snake it is going to catch in the same way as if it were at a height of three feet over its prey. We have the same divine characteristic in our vision and we need to develop it to see both the soulish and the spiritual, both the things that are far on high and those that are near at a ground level, with equal sharpness. Why? We must serve both kinds of individuals successfully: the people who have spiritual understanding, and ordinary, carnal people, who converse with us on the soul level. We must clearly see their problems, understand the way they view their own situation, and develop farsightedness in our lives. We must learn to see both near and far, both large and small. After all, God Who dwells in us is perfect, and He searches everything. There are no problems for God, and thus there are no problems for us when we move in the Holy Spirit. God allows us to see the way He Himself sees. He opens up our vision to be as universal as the vision of an eagle.

King Solomon wrote in the thirtieth chapter of the Book of Proverbs about only a few things that he could not understand or explain. And the first one he named was the way of an eagle in the sky. Solomon was unable to understand the way of an eagle in the sky. Where is it flying? Why is it flying? Why is it soaring in circles?

Prophet Daniel lived in the time of the Old Testament, long before the birth of Jesus Christ, but he saw the last days in the spiritual realm. In his spirit, he mounted up so high that he saw with God’s eyes not only vast territories, but also the last days of the existence of the Earth. He saw the things that are happening in our time. People could not understand him completely, as other prophets. I want to tell you that today we live the last days seen by Daniel, and the Church of God desperately needs us to use its prophetic anointing. This prophetic anointing is given to each person who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them; we only need to develop it. We need to develop the skills of mounting up on high, where our spiritual vision, not our physical sight will work. In this way, we will understand many things that happen around us.

Right now, certain individuals try to drive us out of our current address, 72 Kovalyov St., as someone wants to acquire this land, probably to build a cottage settlement. Nevertheless, this is just the formal reason. They want to drive us away from here as the devil rises against the Body of Christ where there is a move of God and the life of God; the devil rises against the Church, which is not asleep. It uses carnal individuals, giving them ideas that are understandable on their own level. We must see the overall picture, not just the struggle for the land and the building. Then we will be able to pray, to direct our prayer efforts properly. Having a depth of understanding of the situation, we will be able to thwart these attacks.

The fifth special aspect of eagle’s nature is eagle’s look. Its look is very audacious; there is no fear there. I remember that one day our pastor spoke about audacity. He said that audacity is holy impudence. Ordinary impudence is when you don’t care about anyone and do what you want. However, holy impudence is when your audacity is based on a deep revelation that what you are doing is God’s will. We need such holy audacity so badly! Eagles do have such audacity. They do not take anyone’s advice; but are led by their divine nature.

In the Body of Christ, when we have a divine revelation, we need audacity to do certain things if we are sure that God is behind it. We must not hesitate; we must have a look of an eagle, not of a broiler chicken. Can you see it? Look at the eyes of other birds. At best, they express nothing. Pigeons, for example, look around to find something to eat. Sometimes I think they are in search of food all the time. Eagles have a completely different look. An eagle can just be sitting, but if you look into its eyes, you’ll understand that this bird has a lot of dignity inside.

Eagles have no fear. That’s what we must take for ourselves. Our eyes must not be timid. Eyes are the mirror of the soul. Our soul must be in submission to our spirit. If we have a healthy spirit, we will have a healthy soul and a healthy look, not intimidated or sly. We must not hide our eyes. We must have the dignity of a king’s child, as you are a child of the King. And this is not a look of superiority over the world, but of absolute inner dignity. We are servants for the people and for the whole world. We have come to fulfill what Jesus did. Jesus came to this world as a servant. In our spirit, we know that we are royal offspring, and that we have a calling. That’s what is to be in our eyes.

Hosea 8:1 “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law”.

It’s written here that an eagle shall come against the house of the Lord because of their sin. Can you see the example God uses to illustrate His reaction to sin and uncleanness? Eagles catch and kill snakes. If we see any ‘snake’ manifestations, we need to deal with them without any timidity. If we see an unclean thing creeping in the Body of Christ, we must audaciously deal with it. We must not drop a courtesy in front of it, afraid of offending someone. We need to deal with it calmly and with dignity.

The next aspect, – the sixth one in our list of noteworthy characteristics of an eagle, – is that an eagle does not fly up itself; it soars up on a wind stream.

People do not see the wind, which is a move of atmospheric layers caused by temperature difference. We do not see the wind, but we do see the work of the wind. What does the wind do? It moves dust or pieces of paper; sometimes, if it is stronger, it can throw dust into your eyes. Other times, the wind causes storms and hurricanes. We see everything the wind does, but never the wind itself.

Here is the prophetic significance of this characteristic. Eagles know how to join the things the eye cannot see. They know how to join the wind streams. They are sitting with stretched wings, ready for the flight, but they do not fly just by themselves; they are waiting for a wind stream. They are not like sparrows that flap their wings all the time to create a wind stream for flight. If an eagle tried to fly that way, it would soon get weary, as it has a very light skeleton in comparison with its overall mass. Eagles need the wind to use the aerodynamic abilities of their huge wings that are much bigger than their body. That is why eagles do not flap their wings; they soar, they glide making minimum movements. However, they manage to be everywhere and to do everything they need.

There is an interesting fact. Eagle’s speed in calm weather is 50 miles per hour. And if it is windy, it can gain momentum and go three times faster, that is up to 150 miles per hour. And it doesn’t matter to which direction the wind is blowing. 

Moreover, not only eagles can fly at a contrary wind, but they fly up exactly at the streams of a contrary wind. They do not fly up at a fair wind, but at a contrary wind, that carries away other birds. Eagles can change the angle of their wings and rudder-tail in a way that the contrary wind streams give it the strongest impetus to fly up. The stronger the wind is, the quicker the eagle soars up. Eagles can fly up at a storm or a hurricane. They are not afraid of them as they have learned how to use the force of the contrary wind.

What a wonderful example is this for us Christians! Sometimes we just stop when a contrary wind is blowing. Contrary wind is the circumstances of life, pressures and trials. In such cases, we think that we should probably wait through. Yes, there are times when we need to sit down, fold our hands and do some thinking. However, sometimes we just need to move on, regardless of any obstacles. I have seen this in my life many times; the best thing I could do in such situations was to make up my mind and move on at the contrary wind. When something is against you, when an opposing force comes at you, with God’s help, you have an opportunity to turn the opposition into good, to receive strength for a new push, a new dash, a new flight. And we are to learn this. Eagles are an example for us in this regard.

If God compares Himself with eagles, then surely we can learn from these birds. If you have encountered a strong opposition, find the right angle for your gifts and the fruit of the Spirit in you. Besides, the ‘tail’ will help you – the Church of God is always by your side. The Church will give you the necessary support, and you will be able to turn the opposition force into good and to reach a new height in your life.

The seventh aspect is that eagles do not suffer from loneliness. They fly alone and often hunt alone. Along with this, eagles have strongly developed brotherly relations, which we will discuss a little later. However, these birds are completely self-sufficient when they are in the sky. There, it is enough for an eagle to be alone, as it joins the wind, the air streams of the heights. There it receives the force of the wind. There it does not flap its wings, but soars for hours, enjoying the heights.

I am absolutely convinced that Christians need to learn to be alone without being lonely. This problem exists not only in the world, but also in the Church. There are times when people need to be alone, but they do not have this ability. I remember how terrible this was for me before I came to have close relationship with God. I simply could not stay alone at home! I invited my neighbors to my apartment or I went to them, I had my friends or even the friends of my children at home… I always had to have a company. I could not be alone at all! When alone, I used to be depressive and felt loneliness.

Unfortunately, I observe the same thing in lives of so many believers. Although they live with God and have relationship with Him, they feel lonely. This is something that every person must overcome. It is totally wrong to live with this feeling, as from the moment the Holy Spirit entered our lives and Jesus joined us we can never be alone.

Now I never feel myself alone. I love being by myself; I love being alone. Solitude does not hinder me to join my Lord and to raise up to His heights. It does not hinder me to ponder from the eagle’s eye perspective. I cannot understand how one can be with God and suffer from loneliness. Such people say: “God, why don’t You give me a husband (or a wife)? I have served You for so many years, after all.” My dear, please understand that no person can fill the void inside your heart, if you do not allow your fellowship with God to do it. No person can be a substitute for your relationship with God. You will not get rid of the feeling of loneliness unless you develop a relationship with God, even if you have a family – a husband (or a wife) and children.

I know that some unmarried women think, “I am still unmarried; maybe I shall have a child, lest I will be alone at my old age”. You know, a child is not a dog simply to get one. Moreover, that will not solve the problem of loneliness. In our heart, there is a place, which belongs only to God. No person can fill this emptiness. It is tragic that there are Christians in churches who feel loneliness and have self-pity because things have not worked in their lives.

I am a living example of what God is doing in this area. After I met God and came to church, there has not been even one day in my life when I felt myself lonely. I married when I was only 18, and in 26, I was already divorced, left with two children. Now I am 46, and I am not married for already 20 years. For the last 13 years, I live with God, and during this time, I have never felt myself lonely. I never thought that I should pity myself because I am so clever, beautiful and still young, but am all alone. I always knew that even if I did not have something in this life, what I had with God was far greater. Right now, we have far more than all the things we can obtain or lose. If we preserve our relationship with the Lord, then whatever we might lose in life cannot be even compared to what God gave us. He gave us a priceless treasure – eternal love, this source of strength, health, joy and life, to which we can come and drink. No person can give this to us!

We need to learn to be in solitude, to join ourselves to the invisible God, as eagles join the wind. Moreover, as children of God who live and move in the prophetic anointing, we must be ready that not everyone will understand us, even in the church. Nevertheless, there will always be people who will! There is no lack of anything in the Body of Christ. The most important thing is to be understood by God, and He does understand us. He knows how to see and hear in the right way. He will look into the depth of your heart and will take out what is hidden there (of course if you allow Him). He can do it, even if those things are hidden so deep that you have not seen them yourself, because you have not even looked there for almost 20 years. Then you will never feel yourself lonely.

I also want to tell you about the wisdom of eagles. We can learn so much even from other spheres of their life! Do you know how a female chooses a father for her eaglets? She offers a very interesting task. She breaks a branch from a tree or a bush with her beak, flies up very high and goes round in the air. Male eagles start flying around her, and then she throws the branch down and looks at how it falls. A male eagle catches the branch in the air before it falls to the ground and returns it to her, passing it from his beak to hers, very carefully. The female takes the branch and throws it down the second time. Again, the male catches and returns it, and she throws it down the third time… She does it many times, and if the male eagle manages to catch the branch each time she throws it down for a certain time, the female eagle chooses him and mates with him. Soon you will understand why she does this.

Then they go high on a cliff; they build a nest of stiff branches, which comes to be very hard. Afterwards, the mother and the father start to pull out their own fluff and feathers with their beaks. They line the nest with it, filling all the little holes, and make it warm and comfortable. The female eagle puts her eggs in this warm and comfortable nest, and then they hatch the eaglets.

When the eaglets hatch out of the eggs (and they come very little, naked and weak), the parents cover them with their bodies until they grow stronger. Both parents cover the eaglets with their wings, protecting them from rain and the blazing sun, bring them water and food, and the eaglets grow up. Their feathers start to grow, their wings and tail are formed.

A time comes when they are already fledged, though not yet fully grown-up. Now the mother and the father see that it’s already time… The father sits at a border of the nest and starts to beat it with his wings; he beats it very strong, until it starts to shake badly. What is his purpose? He wants to beat all the fluff and feathers out of the nest, until there remains only the hard carcass of stiff branches that they have woven in the very beginning. The eaglets are sitting in the nest beaten out of everything. They feel uncomfortable, it is windy and hard, and they do not understand what has happened. Have not Mommy and Daddy always been so tender and caring? So what is going on now?

At that time, the mother flies to catch fish. When she comes back, she sits somewhere in almost 15 yards from the nest, so that the eaglets could see her. Then, in the sight of her offspring, she starts to eat slowly. The eaglets are sitting in the nest; they are crying, squeaking and cannot understand what is going on, as everything was not this way before. Mommy and Daddy used to feed and keep them, and now everything is gone; the nest has become hard, the fluff and feathers are not there anymore, and on top of that, now the parents are having fish and do not give it to them. What can they do? They are hungry, so they have to go out of the nest somehow. And they start doing things they never did before. They were not going to do them at all if the parents still kept nursing them. The eaglets start crawling out of the nest.

One day I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel and I laughed so much at these eaglets. An eaglet tumbles out of the nest, so awkwardly; it still can do nothing and knows nothing. The nest is on a rock, on a sheer cliff, so that no predator could get them. The eaglet darts off the cliff, goes down on its paunch, and then falls into the precipice. Right then, the father (the one who used to catch branches) dives down headlong and catches the eaglet on his back before it hits the ground. Then he lifts the eaglet up on his back, puts it into the uncomfortable nest and everything starts anew. The eaglets fall, and their father catches them.

Can you remember how God carried on His back the people that used to fall all the time? And the Father caught them on His back, as an eagle. Eagles never let an eaglet to be smashed down. Eaglets always fall. But then a moment comes when at its fall, an eaglet starts to do what it has never done. It stretches its side growths, – that is the wings, – catching the air currents, and begins to fly. That is how eagles teach their eaglets. And once the eaglet starts to fly itself, the parents take it with them to show the places where they can get fish. They stop feeding the eaglet from their beaks.

This is a great example of how we must bring up our spiritual and physical children. It is vital not to keep them in the warm cozy nest too long! It is vital not to feed them with fish when they can catch it themselves! However, we must teach them to fly with great care and consecration, investing our time, wisdom and skills.

It’s not in vain that the female eagle chooses a male by throwing down a branch. Choose a negligent father, and later you will find some of your children missing. And eagles already do not have much eaglets, only one or two.

The last aspect that I want to discuss is the restoration of eagles.

Psalm 102:5 “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

This promise belongs to us as well. The way eagles renew their youth is an example that we can imitate. I found that for this, an eagle undergoes a forty-day process. Forty is a divine number that is often used in the Bible and carries a specific spiritual significance. So what happens during these forty days?

Everything starts when an eagle gets weak. This happens as a time comes when it has to change its feathering. First, it has pulled out much fluff and feathers to build a nest for hatching its eaglets. Second, because the feathers become worn out and filled with different types of dirt, they are no longer smooth. Third, parasites that live in the eagle’s feathers bite the eagle and drink its blood. It is not pleasant, and is to be dealt with.

So, what does the eagle do? It crawls up to a rock, on an open high place, where there is a mountain river, the sun is shining, and it is windy. Sometimes the parasites that have been eating up its feathers have already seriously damaged them, so the eagle cannot even normally fly there. Once there, the eagle finds a stone and starts to sharpen its beak, as it is already outgrown along the edges. The eagle starts to sharpen it, as with time, the beak becomes blunt, so it becomes difficult for the eagle even to hunt. Having sharpened its beak, the eagle pulls out all its feathers or their remaining parts. It pulls out every single one of them and becomes totally naked. The eagle does it, even if it means losing blood from the wounds, as it knows that the old feathers are diseased; these are the reason of its pain and problems. These old feathers have already had their day, and the eagle gets rid of them without any regret. Now the eagle crawls to put its totally naked body, which cannot fly, into the ice-cold river and then lies under the sun, and lets it dry in the wind. The wounds are healed due to the clean water, the sun and the wind, and new feathers start to grow.

This process lasts for 30 days, during which a new feathering appears, fresh, clean and untouched by any diseases. After the 30 days, the eagle can fly. However, it does not fly, but waits for ten more days. The eagle sits somewhere under the shadow of a cliff and is waiting; in ten days, a special oil gland is formed in its tail. Once it is formed, the eagle cuts open the gland with its beak and starts to rub itself with the oil. The eagle will not even think of flying unless it is completely rubbed with this oil. Afterwards, the eagle comes out to an exposed place, stretches its wings and waits for a wind. It flies up completely new, renewed in strength, beauty and glory of its greatness. It flies up as a young eagle.

As you see, it is a great lesson for us. From time to time, we need to take off our old costume, epaulets, regalia… Our old clothes might have just become worn-out and lice-ridden. From time to time, we need to come before God’s face and strip ourselves naked, because only He can free us from everything we do not need. Only He can heal everything in us that needs healing. Only the Lord has the power to cleanse us, to free us from everything in our soul and mind that we have collected during our old life. If we do not come before God and do not strip ourselves naked before Him, if we keep even a little piece of our own life from Him, the old will remain with us.

We need the new things, and God makes everything new; God renews His mercy each morning. With God’s mercy renewed, our youth is also renewed as eagle’s, according to God’s promise. However, we must allow God to do it. If we want renewal of our youth, we must learn not to cling to anything from our old life. God wants to give us something new: new anointing, a new move, new clothes, a new star for our epaulets… Or He might take the epaulets off and give us sandals. What difference does it make? The fact that it is God’s work in our lives is sufficient for us. The reason is, everything that God does for us is the best that can ever happen to us. We must not be afraid of being naked before God.

At the dawn of my walk with the Lord, one day I received a strong revelation. I was returning home from a church service by the underground, and was reading the Book of Genesis. God paid my attention to the fact that when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, they were naked and were not ashamed of it. Suddenly I understood that only sin or the consciousness of one’s sinfulness makes people hide things. I do not mean the naked body; I think you understand what I mean. It is because of our sinful nature that we cannot completely open our soul before God, show the thoughts that come to us, or the feelings that we have.

Does something irritate you? Does something cause pain? Or is there anything bad someone told you that you cannot forget? Do you have a desire for wrong things? We must learn not to hide all this from God, or we are not the new creation! And if we are the new creation, we are back to the state of Adam and Eve: they lived in the Garden of Eden, they had fellowship with God and it never entered their minds to hide anything from God.

We must learn to live in a way that we have nothing to hide either from God, or from our brothers and sisters, or from ourselves. Sometimes there are things we cannot confess even to ourselves. Of course, we must not shout to everyone that we have negative traits. In the Bible, in the Epistle of James, we get an advice on what to do in such situations.

James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

It is enough to find one person whom you trust, who can be the witness of your repentance, and open your heart to them. If you have a sin, it must be brought to light. God cannot take away the things you do not give to Him. God cannot help you with a certain area of your life if you do not allow Him there. It is so easy, but it is very hard to do in your practical life. And it is so beautiful and easy when you have nothing to hide! So wonderful that there is nothing in your life for which you have to give an account to God or others! It is such a freedom when you can give an account for everything – for every sphere of your life, for every detail, for every thought. It is just a delight and a freedom!

I want to tell the following to the people who still hide things.

Recently I was pondering about these things; I understood that it is no accident that Jesus was naked when hanging on the Cross. In the Jewish culture, nakedness was considered a shame. It was a humiliation. That is why, to utterly disgrace the criminals who were to be executed, they were stripped of all the clothes before being nailed to the cross. I see that our shame, – nakedness and vulnerability, – was nailed to the Cross as well. Jesus bore it on Himself along with all the sins, vices, sicknesses and diseases. So if the devil lies to you, saying the opposite, do not believe him. On the Cross, Jesus took all your shame! This allows us to live in purity. Only this way Christians can be clean and free – if they completely open their lives before God. There is no other way for life in freedom.

God is light and there is no darkness in Him. If we strip ourselves naked before God, we will accept healing by the Word of God, this clean water that flows from the cliff. We will accept healing of the love of God, which like the sun warms, nourishes and cultivates us. If we allow the Holy Spirit to cicatrize our wounds, so that they close up, and the old outgrowths come off, we will have new feathering;