Renewing Our Spirit

1. Renewing Our Spirit Mounting Up With Wings As Eagles

2. 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.”

3. Renewing Our Strength • The Problem – Weariness of Heart • The Prescription – Waiting on God • The Power – Wings As Eagles

4. The Problem – Weariness of Heart

5. The Problem – Weariness • Isaiah wrote the words of his prophecy to those who were captives in Babylon. • The captivity had been especially hard on them. They were weary and at the point of fainting. • Notice that Isaiah spoke of “the faint” and of them “that have no might” (Isa. 40:29). • They were beginning to think that their way was hidden from the Lord (Isa. 40:27). • Had been days when they soared – Red Sea, Jericho, Sun Standing Still • The psalmist said that they had lost their song (Psa. 137).

6. Psalm 137:1-4 “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?” (Psa. 137:1-4).

7. The Problem – Weariness • Although we may not be captives in the sense that those who received Isaiah’s inspired words were, we at times will feel as if we are. As you know, this world can be rather inhospitable. It will at times treat us like it treated our Lord. It will hate us like it hated Him because we also are “not of the world” (John 17:14, 16). Sometimes the company of swine will be preferred over us (Lk. 8:37). • Like Elijah there will be times when we will run for our lives and collapse beneath a juniper tree (1 Kings 19:1-8). • Being weary and fainting did cease with God’s people in Babylon, it remains today with God’s people in America.

8. The Problem – Weariness • Two times in the epistles that he penned, Paul pleaded with brethren not to grow weary or faint. • “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9; cf. Heb. 12:3). • “But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing” (2 Thess. 3:13). • The word translated as weary means “to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted” (Thayer 1573).

9. The Prescription – Waiting on God

10. The Prescription – Waiting • “But they that wait upon the Lord…” (Isa. 40:31).

11. The Prescription – Waiting • “But they that wait upon the Lord…” (Isa. 40:31). • “Wait” means “to look for, to hope for” • The psalmist wrote, “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee” Psa. 39:7 • God had promised that after 70 years of captivity, that they would return. They needed to look for that fulfillment. • The root of “wait” refers to “that of twisting or winding a strand or cord or rope.”

12. Hebrews 6:18-20 “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Heb. 6:18-20).

13. The Prescription – Waiting • “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” (Isa. 40:31; cf. 41:1). • “Renew” describes the “changing of garments or clothes”. With God’s help, Isaiah’s people were going to put off the garments of a captive and put on the garments of a conqueror. • Notice that we must wait “upon the Lord” (Isa 40:31). • We serve a God who “fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isa. 40:28). • We serve a God who “giveth power to the faint” and “strength” to them “that have no might” (Isa. 40:29).

14. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 13, 16 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed…We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak…For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” ” (2 Cor. 4:8-9, 13, 16).

15. 2 Chronicles 20:12 “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we not what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”

16. Psalm 121:1-2 “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”

17. 2 Kings 6:13-17 “Alas, my master! How shall we do?...Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

18. 2 Corinthians 1:9 “But we had this sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the death”

19. The Power – Wings as Eagles

20. The Power – Wings • “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wingsas eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa. 40:31).

21. The Power – Wings • When we trust in God, we can fly higher, run longer, and walk further than we ever could without him. • The apostle Paul knew of the power that God gives to those who trust in Him and often wrote of it. The book of Ephesians especially mentions it: • “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1:19). • “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16).

22. The Power – Wings • “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20). • “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Eph. 6:10; cf. Phil. 4:13; Rom. 8:31).

23. Why Walk When You Can Fly? Mary Chapin Carpenter In this world there's a whole lot of trouble In this world there's a whole lot of painIn this world there's a whole lot of troubleBut a whole lot of ground to gainWhy take when you could be giving, why watch as the world goes byIt's a hard enough life to be living, why walk when you can flyIn this world there's a whole lot of sorrowIn this world there's a whole lot of shameIn this world there's a whole lot of sorrowAnd a whole lotta ground to gainWhen you spend your whole life wishing, wanting and wondering whyIt's a long enough life to be living, why walk when you can fly

24. Why Walk When You Can Fly? In this world there's a whole lot of coldIn this world there's a whole lot of blameIn this world you've a soul for a compassAnd a heart for a pair of wingsThere's a star on the far horizon, rising bright in an azure skyFor the rest of the time that you're given, why walk when you can fly

25. Conclusion • Perhaps, tonight you are weary and at the point of fainting. • I want you to know that your strength can be renewed if you will put your trust in the Lord by doing what He commands you to do.