In Genesis 15:11 we find some interesting words. “Some vultures came down … but Abram chased them away (Genesis 15:11).

The Lord told Abram that he was preparing to make a covenant for him and he asked him to make a sacrifice. Abram was to sacrifice the animals on an altar he had built. He did as the Lord asked, and soon the birds of prey came swooping down on his camp.

There is a universal law in the spiritual realm that you and I should be aware of. When God’s people set themselves toward living in God’s blessings, the devil’s vultures will always be there to try and frustrate the effort. When you go before God to receive a covenant, you can expect the birds of prey to be right on your heels.

Vultures come in many forms.

You may have friends and family laugh at you, scoff at your faith, roll their eyes at your prayers, plant seeds of doubt in your mind. They’ve read the story of Abraham, and they remind you that you are “definitely no Abraham.” And the temptation will be to believe them.

When I was asked to consider going to pastor my first church 1980, I had well-meaning friends and family members who tried to talk me out of it. I had a great job with tremendous benefits at the time, and the church I was asked to take was small, defeated and unable to pay me a salary. Even my pastor urged me to make other plans. “Take a leave of absence from your job,” they said, “so that you’ll have something to fall back on if it doesn’t work out.” One pastor friend actually said that I was crazy for even considering it. But we went, and we enjoyed ten years of good success there. The vulture was shooed away, the sacrifice remained, and the covenant blessings of God came.

Some vultures get inside your head and manifest themselves in the form of negative thinking. Who do you think you are? Why would God take the time to make a covenant for someone like you? They’ll come to you at night and affect your dreams, bringing nightmares and visions of darkness. The excitement of beginning pastoral ministry in 1980 quickly gave way to feelings of uncertainty and insecurity. The sense that I was in over my head wouldn’t go away. I had inspiration, but it was desperation that became my best friend as it drove me continually to the Father and taught me to totally rely upon his guidance, wisdom and compensating gifts of grace. While in and of myself I am never enough, in Him I am always enough. The vulture was chased away and the blessings came!

And some birds of prey find it more effective to simply get in your way and blind your vision. They throw obstacles in your path and try to steal your time and keep you from praying. But don’t let them do it. During our ten years at our first church, we encountered many spiritual and economic mountains. Each one was eliminated by the hand of God as we walked by faith, not by sight. He truly is a mountain-moving Savior! When you’ve set your heart and mind on asking God for a covenant blessing, don’t allow the enemy to distract you. Stay the course and remain faithful until you hear from him.

What form has the enemy’s vultures taken in your life today? Have you let them discourage and distract you? If so, pray that God will help you chase them away as you seek his covenant blessing.

I did a Google search on chasing away vultures. I chuckled when I found a unanimous consensus among the articles that the #1 strategy to chase vultures from your property is to make loud noises such as shouting and clapping.

Psalm 47:1 (TPT), Go ahead and celebrate! Come on and clap your hands, everyone! Shout to God with the raucous sounds of joy!

Bye bye, vultures. And good riddance.