Test Before Trust

One of the greatest challenges of human existence is the dynamics connected to human relationships. We tend to trust quickly and many times pay a painful price for bestowing upon others the honour of our trust.

It was president Ronald Regan who popularized the statement "trust but verify".

The failure of human relationship is many times the fact that we do not test people before they get into our circles.

A remarkable attribute of the eagle is the fact that it does not trust until it tests. Whenever any male eagle expresses an interest in pursuing a relationship it does not easily gain the privilege of trust without being tested. The female eagle will take a twig and fly to various heights dropping the twig. That pursuing mate must seek to catch that twig before it touches the ground. If it catches that twig repeatedly then it has earned the right to be trusted. The main reason is that eagles have a mate for life and that partner must be able to catch the most precious thing that they will share, which is a young one.

We have all made the mistake in life of trusting too quickly or expeditiously, because we tend to form relationships around our immediate need and not our future ambitions. Friends are not necessarily for when times are good but they are proven in tough times.

Can you trust those in your inner circle to be there when you need them most?

Proverbs 17:17 says "a friend loves at all times". The old proverb says that a friend in need is a friend in deed.

Focus

You owe it to yourself today to choose and prove those in your circle. It's your right.

Test before you trust.

Prayer

Father we thank you. We thank you God for the ability to trust, but we thank you for the wisdom to test. I pray in the name of Jesus that we would not seek to go after relationships quickly and trust too quickly. But God that we would use the wisdom you have given us today to test individuals before we trust them. May you give us the wisdom required. May you give us the strength required to make the choices in life as it concerns relationships. We bless you for this today in Jesus’ Amen.

Storm

Another lesson from the eagle is its perspective on the storm. It is said that the eagle never seeks to shelter from a storm but instead, uses the winds and gusts to soar higher into the skies.

To the eagle, every storm is an opportunity to go higher, faster and without personal effort. It's expectation at the coming of every storm, is one that anticipates the opportunity it provides.

A storm for most spells trouble in life. It creates loss of many things, including a threat to their very existence. Many animals do not survive a storm because surviving within it can prove to be difficult but rising above it is the place of safety.

What storms are we facing? Let's develop this attribute of the eagle that when the storm comes or is about to come we can embrace the opportunity it provides us to go higher than we've ever been.

Vern Jackson sings "I'm flying higher than I've ever been". Make this our prayer today as we to adjust our perspective of a storm and embrace its opportunities for development.

Scripture: Isaiah 31:5

like flying birds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem, he will protect and deliver it, he will pass over and rescue it.

Focus

Your current or coming storm is an opportunity, embrace it.

Prayer

Father, we come to you knowing that you are our God and you have made us resilient and resourceful. We thank you for the storms of our lives that are designed to push us upward to different realms. May we embrace the opportunity each storm brings us and may we realize the benefits of it. So we soar with you Lord above every storm. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Diet

There is a saying in the circles of dietary health, that we are what we eat. Nothing is more accurate to the spiritual and psychological life of the individual.

The eagle eats only things that are alive. He prefers to prove himself by catching his prey, rather than accepting something that was killed by something else. It lives beyond the reproach of others that what it is feeding on is what they have left for him. So, by that token, the principle of the left-over is far from his mind. He is also committed to that value, so much so that regardless of the circumstances it faces, it will not eat a dead thing.

How many people today compromise their values on the altar of expedience. This attribute is not about being arrogant but being deliberate and selective as to what it feeds upon.

I must choose what I feed on because it directly impacts my health and well-being. When I know my worth and the vision I have for my life, I must decide what and to whom I listen, to maintain my health.

The mind is the digestive system of the spirit and soul so Paul writes in Philippians 4:8 “finally my brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Focus

Today choose what and who you listen to, because your health depends on it.

Prayer

Lord, our spiritual diet determines the health of our spiritual lives, so we seek you Father for the discipline and the discernment to eat what’s right, that it will nourish our spirits thoroughly. May we be ever pure before you and may what we consume be filled with your life, that we can also be filled with it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.