We Close Ranks, Let Us Protect the Nest

We have seen a turkey vulture flying, followed by four little birds that kept pecking at her. It was incredible to see the enormous bird fleeing in fear from those brave little ones who were, clearly, united in defending something precious, something like a nest.

Our nest is the church, and we are the church.

Sometimes we see Satan as something so huge that he makes us tremble, and we do not dare defend ourselves against him. Faintheartedly, we let ourselves be cornered, allowing him to gain ground in our lives and shake us about as he pleases. “But Jehovah is with me like a mighty giant; therefore those who persecute me will stumble and will not prevail; they will be greatly ashamed, because they will not prosper; their confusion will be everlasting, never to be forgotten.” Jeremiah 20:11

We are warned in Matthew 12:43–45: “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it wanders through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it arrives, it finds it empty, swept, and adorned. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits worse than itself, and they enter and dwell there; and the final state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it will be with this evil generation.”

In fact, we have living examples of this situation. I knew a brother who led an active life in the church, won Bible-verse memorization contests, and was the head of a construction crew. But he had a serious problem: he loved money more than the Salvation Christ had given him, and he succumbed to temptation, causing losses to the church. Thus began a descent that ended, brutally, in prison.

But that prison was not the worst one in his life. Sin became an invincible giant that crushed him, and the house of his heart, swept and adorned, was invaded by unclean spirits. From his first fall, he did not have the foresight to seek out other little ones who would unite to defend his spiritual life and peck at the evil one through prayer.

How hard it is for us to acknowledge our demons when they invade us!

Is it so hard to know when we transgress, when we displease God?

Is it so easy to leave the door carelessly open?

When we see it in someone else’s life, we are horrified and think:

“How could this happen?”

The terrible thing is that it can happen to any of us. We are tightrope walkers on a rope held up only by the intimate relationship established through prayer and fasting, for, as our Lord said, some kinds come out only through prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21).

Let us not be afraid to let our brothers and sisters know about our sins; rather, let us fear letting the unclean spirits that can corrupt the soul into our lives. The best army a Christian can have is their brothers and sisters: those little ones around us, gentle and imperfect, who become fierce when it comes to snatching a life away from Satan.

So: No matter how great the enemy is, when the children of God unite in the name of Jesus (Matthew 18:19–20), there is no giant that cannot be defeated.