Eagle Eye Witness: the View from the Aerie

By Sue Maakestad

FOMO: it’s a force to be reckoned with.
Forbes Health reports that FOMO (the Fear of Missing Out) may cause anxiety, over-scheduling, and withdrawal, among other symptoms.

The over-scheduling part definitely strikes a chord at our house. We often lecture each other about the value of saying No to things, but we have a terrible time practicing what we preach.

Yes, there are only so many hours in this month – but… look at all these opportunities!

This explains why my calendar is busting at the seams. As the current object of my FOMO is shoe-horned in among the demands of life, I often feel like the plate spinner at the circus, running from one pole to the next, trying keep it all humming.

As we’ve told our kids, time is your most valuable non-renewable resource. We can’t recover the 24 hours of it that we spend today, and we have no clue how many of those 24 hourses are left before Jesus returns or before God calls us home.

Budgeting time is like budgeting money: we tell it where we are going to put it so that it will have the most impact. To do that, we must drop in the non-negotiables first, like tithes and offerings, and then ask God for wisdom to prioritize what’s left. Time management is exactly like that.

Above my desktop computer is this reminder: If it’s God’s life, it’s God’s time: Don’t waste it!

“Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

I ask myself: am I first dropping the non-negotiables into my day, week, and month -- scheduling time where I feel God is telling me to spend it? If so, the rest will fall into place.

Supernatural living is a joint venture. If I’m wearing myself out spinning too many plates, maybe it’s because some of those plates are not mine. Jesus promised me the Holy Ghost to be my anointing and strength; my Teacher, Helper and Coach.

Some of those plates are His. I need to take my hands off them.

I don’t need to tell Him whose mind He needs to change because they don’t agree with me. I don’t need to give Him advice on how to deal with my unsaved loved ones. I don’t need to tell Him how or when to heal my body. I don’t need to worry about whether people get saved or healed when I witness to them.

My job is to put it everything in the Lord’s hands, to love and pray for these folks, and to let Him do that work that only He can do.

When I let go, I get to watch and cheer from the sidelines as He does “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

I can rest in the knowledge that it will all happen on His timetable, not mine. It’s a great stress reliever and He gets all the glory.

Like Peter and John, I can simply say, “such as I have I give you” – and they’ll know it’s obviously not me; they will see it’s all because I’ve been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

Isaiah 40:31 says, “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.”

The term wait on the Lord may be understood in the sense of a waiter. A servant. Trusting Him and serving Him. As we partner with Him in His work on the earth, He provides all the strength we need.

He provides Holy Ghost anointing and adrenaline. It’s a rush!

That’s why you always come home from an outreach so invigorated. There’s nothing like leading a soul to Christ to reignite your spirit and excite your weary old bones. As Reinhard Bonnke said, “God sets driftwood on fire. Dry old sticks can burn for God just like Moses’ bush did.”

The Holy Ghost wind beneath your wings sets your heart ablaze and raises you to the next level where you find that new current to soar again like the eagle.

You readjust your eagle eyes and you see Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith, and immediately your heart is transported to that spiritual realm with Him, and you want to tell the world!

Peter says, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty” (1 Peter 1:16).

And here’s where godly FOMO shows up. With your eagle eyes, you get a clearer perspective and begin to see exciting new opportunities to share the Gospel everywhere.

You see the ocean of lost souls all around you as you go through your day, and you want to dive in and go fishing! Jesus is coming soon, and there are still so many who don’t know Him! Souls are the heartbeat of God, and God said He wants to use His kids – not the angels… us (go figure) – to tell them about Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out! It’s addicting, exhausting, and exhilarating!

And yes, it’s definitely FOMO. But godly FOMO is a good thing.

As you place these opportunities at the top of your time budget, the other concerns falls into place (sooner or later), as your eagle perspective inspires you with new ways to reach people.

You grab some tracts and take your little eagles fishing on a neighborhood outreach, talking to cashiers, tellers, and receptionists about Jesus. You give those eaglets a chance to pray with someone and learn how it feels to soar.

As God brings people our way and we tell them about His love, we can rest assured that He’s also off making divine appointments for someone else to witness to our loved ones, wherever they are.

Never fear: He is on it. He loves them more than we do and He hasn’t forgotten them. Hebrews 6:10 says that God is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love as you minister to the saints.

The view from the aerie is this: Time is short. Jesus is coming very soon. What matters most now is partnering with God in these last days, making ourselves available to do His work in the earth.

As we put Him first, the rest of life will find its place and fall in behind, where it belongs.

“Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).