Eagle in Captivity; Full but Empty ( by Fenny West)

**fennywest** Tue 22 May 2012, 8:23 am

Eagle in captivity
Full but empty
Living but dead
Assisted but restricted
Supplied not denied
Vision has vanished

It’s crying daily:
‘Let me go
Let me live
Let me be
What an eagle should be’

‘Give me a challenge
I love the chase
I love to soar
I love to swoop
From afar
For my prey
I like to hunt
I hate your luxury
Nothing but captivity
I am living but I am dead’
In captivity

‘Who will set me free
To fulfil purpose?
O that your eyes will be opened
To see that you’re no friends
But my enemies.’

‘I have powerful wings
But they are clipped
So I cannot sing
Existing but not living.
Made to soar
Now in a cage
Longer life
But empty life
Comfort that is a snare
With friends that are foes.
I can see far
But it’s of no use
I have power to pounce
But it’s wasted useless
What you don’t use you lose.’

‘Where is my offspring
that I train to reign?
Where is the valley of Bacca
That bring a spring
To go the extra mile
And make me sing
Have a second wind?
Where is the challenge
That bring a good change?
Where are the tests
That brings testimonies?
Where are the trials
That bring triumphs?
Where are the battles
That birth miracles?
I am living but I am dead.’

The eagle in captivity is a sorry sight. He has been robbed of his reason for being, his purpose: king of the skies.
So no matter the luxury and comfort you give, you have stripped it of life. It is living but dead, in the lap of luxury but unhappy. It’s vision is vanished; its life is meaningless and empty.
You may think you are a saviour but you are the devil in disguise; an adversary come to bring its demise, disgrace and depression and oppression.
Imagine the how empty the life of Paul would have been without all the challenges he went through: 4

But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,
5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings;
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
2 Cor.6
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness ---
28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.... I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.
2Cor11:24-28
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.Acts16:
Without all these challenges, the Church including you and I would have been robbed of the incredible revelation knowledge he was privilege to receive from the Lord. He paid the price and obtained the prize which we now enjoy: what we have and who we are in Christ.
It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord:
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago --- whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows --- such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man --- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows ---
4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.2Cor12:1-4

Through the rough times he was made tough to fulfil his reason for being, his vision. His light affliction worked for him an exceeding weight of eternal glory. All things worked together for good for him because he loved God and was called according to the purpose of God.
We saw how neither death nor life nor tribulation, distress, persecution, famine nakedness, peril or sword, height nor depth, principalities, powers, demons could separate him from the love of Christ.
We saw how these oppositions and contentions brought promotion. Adversity brought maturity, integrity and well-rounded prosperity.
The eagle was allowed to live in the wild face the trials of life and reign through them to fulfil his vision.

A pastor in Afghanistan, facing persistent persecution and torture was offered visa to the US where he could preach freely without any harassment and live in relative comfort. He turned it down! Why?
He preferred the 'wild' where he could fulfil vision, be himself and at the centre of the will of God for his life. Those who offered him the window of opportunity meant well but it was Satan dangling the carrot in disguise. He was wise to refuse the offered. He would rather die doing the will of God than enjoy the fleeting, transient, passing pleasures of life and be unfulfilled.

Another pastor in Zaria, Nigeria, lived constantly with his life in his hands because of Muslim fanatics who had sworn to kill him and his family and raze his church to the ground. They asked him to leave but he refused because God had planted him there. He knew that outside that place he would be like a fish out of water.

On one occasion a mob surrounded his car and wanted to use a dagger to thrust through the roof of the car to finish him off, and his wife was screaming. He told her to stop screaming and that God had put them there and if He wanted them to me martyred, then so be it. He would rather die in the will of God than live outside it.

So where does that leave you and I?

We too will be tempted to opt for the easy way out- path of least resistance and disturbance, remain in our comfort zone or leave the centre of God’s will for Satan’s palace of passing pleasure at God’s displeasure or rondezvous of ruin; a one way ticket to prison.

Abraham was told
:

" Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

)

He got there and there was famine in the Land and he made a detour for Egypt.

It is possible to start well and later start straying because of the obstacles we face in doing the will of God. We need to know that temptation will come but God is faithful and will through the temptation make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear. That way of escape may not always be deliverance but can be the power of endurance in the face of calamity or even death or home-going in a blaze of glory.(1Cor10:13)

Abraham had to go back to Canaan to remain in the centre of God’s will to be blessed, fulfilled and have the rest of God.

Isaac was also tempted to leave Gerar1

There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

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He was in fact told not only to stay but to sow in the time of famine. And as he obeyed God did not just bless Him but he had a hundred-fold return.

It is no different for you and I. There is a place for you; a Promised Land, your domain, like the skies for the eagle. It is a good land where you will be free to be who God called you to be but there are giants there. There will be Goliath there to frighten you off. Lions and bears will raise their ugly heads and challenge you and I. Some people will give you safe haven ( out of sympathy) that look like heaven but in reality this will be hell to you if you are conned to trade our inheritance for a pot of soup, like Esau. Your freedom will be gone. You will be existing and not living, like the eagle. The accomplishments that would have been possible with the challenges you will face would be lost forever.
Stand to see your salvation! You will not die before your time. All things will work together for your good because you love God and are called according to purpose. Your affliction will work for you.

Remember: if we suffer with Him will also reign with Him.
3

©Fenny West2012
https://christian-talk.forumotion.com/t5576-fresh-and-flourishing#10883
http://inspiration4generations.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/journey-of-jesus/