THE VULTURES ARE CIRCLING

As she dragged herself towards home, a pride of lions saw her. They had pity on the poor deer and bandaged her wound and escorted her home and graciously delivered her to her grateful mother.

And everybody lived happily ever after.

Now, if I asked you where this story took place, you would immediately tell me it either took place in a story book or in Disney World, but certainly not in the real world.

The real world is not the same as Disney World. In the real world, predators don’t help weak animals; they prey on them. In the real world, predators don’t bandage the wounds of the prey, they take advantage of its weakness.

Who is the king of the animal kingdom?

In story books and Disney world, it is the Lion. The great Simba does what he likes in Disney World’s animal kingdom. But in the real world of Serengeti and other parks in the vast African savannah, the lion isn’t anybody’s king. He is almost always hungry because his food has legs and runs away from him.

Humans, in their story books and cartoons, crowned the lion, but the other animals don’t know anything about that, and neither do they care. What manner of king wakes up in the morning running after his subjects so that he can have them for breakfast? In what kingdom do the citizens see their king, and instead of shouting ‘your majesty’ run as fast as their legs can carry them in the opposite direction?

In the jungle, the law of survival is on the side of the strongest and the fastest.

And now I remember the vultures. These curious birds don’t hunt for their food. Their survival depends entirely on the weakness and death of other animals.

When they sight a weak and dying animal, they begin to hang around it. They fly and circle round and round that weak animal. Sometimes the wounded animal is a deer, a rodent, or a fox. Other times it is a big animal like a lion or even a hippopotamus. The vultures circle and circle, waiting for the death of the wounded animal.

The vultures are the first to know of an animal’s death. They are pitiless scavengers who partner with death and relish the taste of rotting flesh.

That is the jungle. And, brethren, that is the real world.

The world does not reward weakness. The strong preys on the weak. The vultures are circling, sniffing around for the smell of blood and putrefying sores. The sound of pain is music to their ears. Vultures love victims.

There is a reason the apostle told us to be “strong in the Lord and the power of His might.” We are told to put on “the whole armor of God…for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12).

We are in a conflict with vultures who will be so happy to detect weakness in us. When they smell weakness, they hang around, doing all they can to hasten our death. (Sometimes these vultures are even human beings who pretend to love us, but are indeed enemies).

Dear friend, your weakness is attracting the vultures. It is impossible to overemphasize the necessity of resisting spiritual, emotional and even physical weakness. A child of God who lives in a perpetual state of unbelief and keeps expressing himself with negative words is endangering his destiny. The lions are prowling, and the vultures are circling.

There is a reason the Lord told the weak to say, “I am strong!” There’s a reason we are warned to be sober and vigilant because the devil our ‘adversary’ is growling and prowling, seeking whom he may devour. (1Peter 5:8). There’s is a reason we are told to resist the devil so that he may flee. (James 4:7).

The ‘adversary’ is trying to use your weakness against you. The loss you have suffered and the pains you now feel can become the weapons the enemy will use to finish you off, if you allow him. That sin you call your weakness becomes a weapon of mass destruction in the adversary’s hand if you permit it.

The Word of God is not as sharp as a two-edged sword; it is SHARPER than a two edged sword. It is brutally efficacious against any lion and vulture in high and low places. Those who wield the Sword of the Spirit must do so consistently and skillfully. The Word is not one of our defenses, it is THE defense.

If you keep confessing weakness, death, worthlessness and failure, you are attracting the vultures. Remember, you are living in the real world not Disney world. “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” (Psalm 74:20). None of the forces we are up against pities the weak. If they defeat us, it is not because they are strong, but because we are weak.

The Word is the breaker of the world’s siege; it is divinely coded to confuse every organized efforts directed against us. The Word is given to us to be spoken against the fell forces of the fallen archangel.

When the Word is the prevalent force in your world, you will prevail in this world.

The Christian life is a militant life. Jesus didn’t bring us into the kingdom to sissify us. Pussyfooting and tergiversating Christians who live indisciplined lives, submit to all kinds of temptations and excuse all kinds of sins are unwitting partners with the devil. They make his work easier.

This isn’t a tale of woe. The vultures are circling, but the angels are circling, too. While fear and unbelief energize the wicked birds and stir them up to a maddening frenzy, faith moves the angels to work against the vultures.

Refuse to permit the dark shroud of doom to settle on your soul. Speak the Word to dispel the darkness. Not once, not twice, but always.

“Thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ.” 2Corinthians 2:14. You are not a victim, so don’t play one. Agree with what the Word says about you.

Vultures love victims and hate victors. You are a victor. Live victory. Speak victory.