One day, a thought came to my mind, and it consisted of visiting a certain preacher of the Gospel, already fallen. Previously, I knew him as one of the most blessed tools of God. Miracles and signs were taking place through his mediating prayers. He did not fall directly into sin, but as it seemed, he became totally useless for the service of God. No one could help him. During the time he was trying to blame others for his limping and paralyzed state, I said to him I would pray to God, on bended knee. As quick as we kneeled, God gave me a vision of a large and stately stork with very long wings. Then I spotted a big hand with giant scissors to cut the wings and the feathers of the neck, to give a more modern look for the bird. Not far away was another stork, which opened its wings and flew, and as soon as it was very high, it began to soar in the air. Following example, the first stork with its wings cut, also tried to take flight. With difficulty it reached several meters high, then it fell like a sack. It tried several more times, until wounded and exhausted it fell to the ground. Personally, I did not understand the connection of this vision with our meeting. And suddenly, I perceived two arms raised and I recognized… Moses, who on top of the mountain was raising his arms to God, while Joshua fought the Amalekites, and Israel took the victory. Instantly it became clear that the wings represented our spiritual life, namely, our prayers. I told the preacher what I had seen. It did not last a second when the effect appeared. He began to cry and said: “Now I know where my shortage is. It was neither this brother’s nor that mission’s fault, but it was me. I allowed the devil to cut my spiritual wings. From the time I was converted, God put it in my heart that every morning, early, I need to spend some time praying, and having a relation with Him. While I was obedient, in my service God blessed me, and I easily overcame temptations. Over time I began to be very busy and increasingly I shortened my time devoted to pray. At the end, there was almost nothing. But then came other temptations that – because I was without the force of praying – defeated me”. Me testimony for this worker of the Kingdom of God was, that I told him that God was leading me in the same way. He taught me that every morning, first I must seek His presence and have a relationship with Him, before seeing anyone. In fact, it often happened that we went to bed very late and we woke up early as we could, when we were traveling. In such cases I decided to “recover” the lost time and the relation throughout the day, however, I always saw how my good plans were disastrous. On the way, we struggled with difficulties, we lost hours fixing the car or we faced problems that we could have avoided if spent that time with God early in the morning. I finally came to the conclusion that Got has given us wings, spiritual wings to rise above earthly things and escape from enemy that lurks constantly prepared to move against us.
Sometimes I watch how cats hunt little birds. Stealthily they approach, so that with a single jump they can catch the birds in their claws, but, how happy I became when the bird flew away at the last moment, and rose to the sky leaving the cat stunned in the ground. In a similar way, God has given us these wings, which allow us to escape from the enemy that is lurking constantly. Not for nothing David prayed with these word: “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” /Ps 55:6
One day I witnessed the following incident. Several boys tried to catch a small bird, which with difficulty with a broken wing was flying through the sky. They were having fun while they were trying to knock it down with stones. This, the method they used, even made me see a strong image of the devil. The devil tries to cut the spiritual wings of God’s children or to damage them, so they can not use the wings, and he can take them away from God. In this way, we can not stop the functioning of our wings.
Not all the birds have the same lenght of their wings. Every Christian should know, how long his wings should be. For one, it may only be ten to fifteen minutes of faithful prayer. Another may need three or four hours. A swallow can not fly with the wings of a stork or an eagle can not fly with the wings of a sparrow. Many are only satisfied with the wings of a chicken. Indeed with difficulty they reach the fence, and when they do, they make so much noise which might be thought that they reached the sky. Clipped wings, thanks to God, can regrow. The same way the wings can regrow for the preacher, like the hairs of Samson under the captivity of the Philistines.