On Wings Of Youth

Being young when you’re old, is that just for the patriarchs . . . or old eagles?

Can an individual renew their youth? Is it possible to live to a very old age, but still be young in body and mind?

I once visited a youth worker on the Iron Range of Minnesota. When he told me he was 50, I nearly fell off my chair. He looked about 35. I would guess that continually working with youth somehow kept him young.

Psalm 103:5 says that God satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

There are definite benefits to walking with the Lord and observing His principles of clean living. Statistics show that those who attend church live an average of six years longer than people who don’t go to church. The father of a friend of mine who was a pastor in Wisconsin, lived to be 99. Billy Graham lived to be 99.

Moses and Caleb are glowing testimonies of stamina and the strength of youth:

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished (Deuteronomy 24:7 Berean Study Bible). When Caleb was 85, he said to the Israelites, “I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then (Josh 14:11 NIV).

A couple years ago I was tested for vitamin deficiency. To my surprise and delight, they told me that my immune system was operating at 100 percent. A little puzzled, I asked Lorraine why she thought this was happening. She related to me what a pastor had once told her, that being in the Word and in prayer positively affects one’s health in big ways.

There is great power and benefit from being in God’s presence, not just the fact that you may be healthier, or live longer.

A national evangelist told the story of a pastor he knows in a third world country. This pastor started a church and for a long time barely had 20 people. One day, God said to him, “If you’ll give me eight hours a day, I’ll grow your church.”

This pastor began getting up at six a.m. and spending eight hours sitting before the Lord, praying, listening, and reading the Word. You would call this “waiting on the Lord,” a phrase you see often in the Bible.

His church began to grow . . . it grew to 20 thousand people!

Yesterday, early in the morning, God brought to mind Isaiah 40:31.

Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

I pondered this verse for a long time wondering what God wanted to tell me through it. Then when I woke up this morning, the “other eagle verse” came to mind, Psalm 103:5. What stuck in my mind was the phrase “your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

Then I began wondering, “Can God really renew your youth . . . like reverse aging?” Then I wondered if the passage means something else. When I checked the translations, I found that nearly all of them use that phrase, “your youth is renewed like the eagle.” Webster defines the word renew as to make like new: restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection. Ellicot says the meaning refers to the fresh and vigorous appearance of the bird with its new plumage. An eagle is continually molting, usually two feathers at a time, one on each side of the bird to maintain a perfect balance. The old feathers fall out and new feathers come in. So hence the bird looks new and fresh, or young because of his handsome coat of feathers.

So, the phrase “your youth is renewed like the eagle” means that you become fresh and vigorous again, like when you were young.

I’ll let you noodle on that for a while. I personally think God can do reverse aging, and that He will, in those persons who will take Him at His word and cooperate with His renewing power.

The obvious question is, “Why do we need reverse aging?”

The answer may lie in more than one prophetic word, I have witnessed over the last couple years. In essence, the Lord said a huge awakening is coming and He is going to need every Christian.

What for?

To mentor and teach new believers.

One of the greatest wastes in the church, historically, is when someone comes to Christ, but no one is available to mentor him or her. Then, the new believer kind of falls through the cracks and may even abandon the faith in time, because of this neglect by the church.

This was the biggest problem we encountered in our large outreach events, no one to mentor the new believer, and Billy Graham was not satisfied with the follow-up at his events. I always got two answers when I was attempting to recruit follow-up workers: 1) I’m too busy, and 2) I don’t know the Bible so I can’t mentor a new believer?

To the first objection I say, “Get your priorities straight. What is more important than mentoring a new believer?”

To the second objection I say, “If you don’t know your Bible, read it! You can read the entire Bible through in a year by just reading 15 to 30 minutes a day, depending on how fast you read. All you have to do is skip one-half hour television program and read your Bible.

We have to wake up and straighten out our priorities before God. We will all answer to Him on judgment day for how we have spent our time here on earth. Better to answer now, than then!

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Hebrews 4:12-13

Let’s get our priorities straight and do the right thing. I promise you, if you do that God will greatly enrich your life, and if you let Him, He will renew your strength and your youth, like the eagle!

The Secret Place

One of my favorite subjects to preach is “Finding The Secret Place,” and what you do when you get there.

So, what is the secret place?

Psalm 91:1 happens to be my favorite verse in the Bible: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (NKJV).

The secret place is close to God, so close that His shadow falls on you and covers you. It is like a covering that protects you, and when you are that close, His Divine character oozes out and touches you, so that your character, in turn, is changed.

The secret place is also a physical place that you seek out to be with Him. Some call it your prayer closet. In that place, you shut out the world, the craziness, the rat race. There you “wait upon the Lord,” a phrase you will find numerous times in the Bible, until your spirit becomes quiet and you can hear Him.

Waiting upon the Lord is honoring Him, giving Him your full attention. If you wait persistently, you may hear Him speak to you. How long does it take? As long as it takes!

One time in morning prayer at the church a young man came up to me and said, “I don’t hear God.” Without thinking I replied, “How long are you willing to wait?”

If you are new in this exercise, God may test you. Do you want to get a quick answer to your problems, like putting coins in a vending machine, or are you really interested in Him, being with Him, honoring Him, perhaps asking Him, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

Hearing God’s voice has a lot to do with your motives . . . and that’s something to think about.

In His Service,

George and Lorraine Halama

Photo designed and taken by Lorraine