Chapter 10: THE STRATEGY

Everyone then turned to look at me. Finally the old eagle spoke up.

"What is your plan?"

"Please give me just a few minutes," I said as I withdrew just a little to pray and seek wisdom.

I could not help but to think about the irony of this situation. I have been the major cause of this trouble, yet I am supposed to have the plan for overcoming it.

I also could not help but to think about all of the congregations that had been destroyed in this city, and people lost, because of my immaturity and foolishness with the weapons I had been given. I grew mad at myself but also wanted to lash out at the old eagle. I wanted to ask him why he did not come up with a plan since he was the old, wise, experienced one.

Finally peace came over me. I knew this was not a time for bickering and that a statement like that would only sow doubt in everyone. They did not need any more of that. I breathed a quick prayer for help and then just started talking.

"I need to know your leaders and all of the capabilities they have," I said to the man and woman leading the little band.

"I want them formed into companies according to their weapons and abilities, and I will assign at least one eagle to each who will serve as their eyes. We will march and fight together, but we need to organize. Our unity and organization itself will help to push back this disorganized mob."

I then turned to the old eagle, "Get your best scouts into the air at once and have them find the weakest part of the mob where they think we can break through and then the shortest path from that point to the root of the tree."

"Done," he replied and immediately began sending the scouts out.

"Please report to me the information I need as soon as you get it," I said to both the old eagle and the man and woman.

"We would like to have this mature eagle come and help us determine our weapons and strengths," the woman asked, partly looking at me and partly to the old eagle.

"That is a very good idea," I responded, and the old eagle acknowledged by going with them.

I then went to sit down to think and pray. When I did, the weight of what I had caused settled over me. I could not keep back the grief for all of the great churches which had been destroyed in this city. It had once been renowned for its culture and empire, and now I knew it was known more for the stench of this rotten tree and its fruit.

The mob had thought that the fruit was good food, and they had obviously come from around the world to eat what was in fact killing them. It then occurred to me that if we succeeded in cutting it off at the root, these people would think that we had deprived them of their source of food.

"You give them something to eat," a voice behind me said. When I turned to see who it was, I was astonished.

It was the girl from the valley. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I have been fighting with these people."

"How did you get here?" I asked, still amazed to see her.

"I don't think you know me," she replied. "I understand that there are many who look like me in other places. You must be mistaking me for one of them."

"Your likeness is remarkable if you are not the same person I was thinking you were. Looking at you more closely, I can tell that there is a little difference, but you must be sisters, if not twins. And how did you know what I was thinking?"

"Some people think louder than others. I can sometimes hear other people's thoughts. I am gifted that way so I can help people."

"I see, but you did not just hear my thoughts-you told me what to do. Where did you get that? How could I give them food to eat?"

"My gift is to know people by the Spirit, not just by appearances. This gift awakened in me when I started spending time with the eagles. That is one of the things they do best- awaken the gifts which are in others."

"How did you do that when everyone here was so offended by them?"

"I had to do it in secret, but I had to do it. Most of the younger ones here have also learned from the eagles. They taught us to hear the voice of the Lord. The Lord was the One who told me to tell you what I just did."

"You seem very sure of that for one so young," I replied. "Can you tell me more?"

"I don't really understand what I did tell you, or how you could feed those people, but I know it was the Lord who told me to tell you. One of the first things the eagles teach is that you do not need to understand to obey, but after you obey you will start to understand," the little girl replied with a disarming attitude of confidence and humility.

"As I have continued to look at you, I know that you are a teacher and a shepherd," she continued. "It is your job to give the sheep their food at the right time. The Lord must have had me tell you what I did because those people must be His sheep too. They just don't know it yet. I think it would help us to look at everyone that way. To win this fight, it won't be by hurting those people, but by helping them."

"You're amazing. What else can you tell me that will help me?" I asked, feeling she was certainly one who spoke for the Lord.

"I can tell you that most of the ones who are very gifted and effective in both fighting, and dodging the evil, are the very young ones. If our leaders would have recognized this, we would not be nearly as small as we are, but we would have many thousands.

"If the congregations that have disappeared would have understood this, they would not have died. I believe I am here to tell you that if you will choose your leaders according to their anointings and gifts, instead of by their ages or appearances, you will succeed."

I knew right away that this was the word of the Lord.

"Please go, find, and bring to me the man and woman who are your leaders as well as the old eagle," I said.

As soon as they walked up, I could tell that it had not been going too well in identifying the weapons and strengths of the people who were left.

"So, you've had a hard time agreeing," I said, stating the obvious.

"Yes," the man replied. "I appreciate the wisdom and gift of such a mature eagle, but he does not know these people like I do. I have been with them for many years. Some of the things he says about them I know to be the very opposite of the way they really are. We are having a hard time agreeing on just about everyone."

"What do you say to this?" I asked the old eagle.

"It's true. I don't think we've agreed on anyone."

"Sir," I said to the man, "the main reason your congregation has become so small is not because of the battle that you are in, it is because you have not discerned the gifts and callings of the people."

This not only stunned the man, but had obviously offended him. I waited for a minute before continuing.

"There was a time when you could gather great crowds of people. You did it in a number of ways that worked, but the times have changed and you did not. You are a great leader, and you have fought valiantly for the truth with remarkable endurance, but the only ones who can survive and prevail in this battle are those who spend as much time making other leaders as they do leading. This has been your weakness and the others-those you think of as leaders are also weak."

I could tell the man was now even more offended and wanted to argue, but he restrained himself. He had been so humbled by continual defeats and was now so desperate that he was at least to a small degree open to considering that he had been wrong in some things, maybe even very wrong in his approach to both the battle and the leading of his people. As I watched him calm his own spirit down, I continued.

"Sir, please do not think I am implying that you have not done anything right. Your courage and endurance will be the foundation for which any future victory will be built upon. However, I think you must admit something very basic has not been working. Obviously, there must be a change in the way things are done, or the results will just be the same. There is a reason why you need the eagles. We must find the true leaders and raise them up quickly."

"I know you're right," the man finally offered. "I have been a failure in this, and now I can see it is why we lost so many battles... and so many people. I just did not see it. I guess that is why I needed the eagles, to see what I could not see for myself. I'll do whatever you say. I know there must be a change, and this is obviously it. I just hope it is not too late."

"Again, I think you are proving to be a true leader," I said. "The eagles can see, but they are not usually very good at leading. You really do need each other. For you to have the humility to acknowledge this will encourage your people, not discourage them.

"I do not think it is too late or we would not be here. I have learned that when something seems impossible, the Lord is about to move. We have definitely provided Him with a good opportunity to move now! We need the right strategy, but more than that we need Him, His grace, and His favor. He gives grace to the humble, and we need to all keep that in mind. You are probably the most genuinely humble one here. Now you must continue to lead your people, but we will help you."

"I really can see how I have missed it by not recognizing other people's gifts and letting them grow by using them," the man responded. "I also have not acknowledged the leadership that others have been given. I confess that I saw them as a threat.

"In the past, it was the gifted ones who caused the problems and the divisions. It was hard to give them more influence by letting them take some leadership. It's obvious, though, I failed even more by not letting them grow."

"Sir, if you only knew how badly I have failed and the kind of trouble my lack of wisdom and immaturity have caused, I think it would make all the trouble that either you or the young eagles have caused seem pretty mild," I replied. "Obviously, we have all failed in some major ways, but I have learned that what often disqualifies us in people's eyes is the very thing which qualifies us for the grace of God.

"We're all that He seems to have here, and He obviously still likes to use the foolish and weak to confound the wise and strong. Our weakness and foolishness is what I think has us here. But I also know that He does not want us to remain weak and foolish, just humble enough to seek His wisdom and His strength."

"Well said, but now we need the plan," the old eagle interjected. "Do you know how we are going to break out and attack the root of the tree? We do not have any more time to look at the past."

"I do have a plan," I responded. "First we must find the true leaders and the effective weapons which we have among us. We must then discern a point where we can break out and proceed to the root of the tree without distraction. Now go back and find the gifts and leaders who are in this group."

Looking at the man, I said, "Trust this old eagle and this young girl," and I directed their attention to the girl. "She has a gift that you need."

Both the man and woman raised their eyebrows as I mentioned the gift in the little girl.

They obviously started to protest and then just said, "Okay." With that they all left.

Soon thereafter, the scout eagles began to land and report. As they did, I began to think it had been a very bad idea to send them out without the old eagle. They all came back with seemingly conflicting reports. I quickly decided to just receive them one at a time, in private.

Soon it became clear that they were each seeing just a part of the whole situation, but because they were still so young, they had a tendency to feel that their parts were the whole picture. I felt that all of their reports were probably valuable; they just needed to be put together properly to get the whole picture.

To my dismay, after all of them had reported, I still felt I had a very incomplete picture. There had to be something that we were not seeing since I just could not believe our situation was so entirely hopeless. Not only were we completely surrounded by multitudes, with seemingly no weak points in their lines, but thousands more were joining them from every direction. They were growing in confidence and would soon come pouring in to finish off the little band and us with them.

I then wondered about some of the conflicting reports that the scouts had brought in. One would see one part of the line as the strongest point, and another would see it as the weakest. As I sat pondering this, I heard my little friend's voice behind me again.

"You don't know what to do, do you?" the little girl half asked and half stated.

"I could sure use a word from the Lord now! Do you have one for me?" I asked.

"Well, I may. I know it does not matter who is out there, but what matters is Who is in us."

"That is certainly true!" I said. "Do you have anything else?"

"I feel this means that we need to discern the gifts and callings that the Lord has given to us and go with the strength He has given to us instead of trying to find a weakness in the enemy."

"Well! I guess that is the whole picture." I replied.

"What do you mean?" my little friend asked.

"I'll explain it to you after we are resting on a big pile of firewood from that tree," I said.