Chasing Away The Vultures

As I was reading my Bible the other day, a part of a story stuck out to me that has never stuck out to me before.  This can be found in Genesis 15:4-11....

4Then the lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” 5Then the lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
6And Abram believed the lord, and the lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.
7Then the lord told him, “I am the lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

9The lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. 11Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

God is making a covenant to Abraham and his descendants that he will possess the land that he is living in.  God asks him to prepare a sacrifice of various animals and to cut them in half to seal in this covenant promise.  Abraham cuts them in half and this probably creates a bloody mess everywhere which attracts vultures.  However; Abraham fights off the vultures and chases them away.  He will let nothing get in the way of this sacrifice to God, and will not let anything get in the way of the promised covenant that God is making to him.

We have several things that God wants us to have to the fullest ( health, joy peace..etc). What "vultures" do we need to chase away to receive what God has for us?  I know that if you belong to Christ and abide in him, he wants to richly bless you.  The enemy will use many things to try to take away your sacrifice of worship (serving and praising).  It is time to be bold and chase these vultures away!


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