I recently found a Nigerian prayer which begins like this:
“God in Heaven,
You have helped my life to grow like a tree. Now something has happened. Satan, like a bird, has carried in one twig of his own choosing after another. Before I knew it, he had built a dwelling place and was living in it.”
It reminded me of how easy it is for bad habits to take hold in my life – little twig by little twig – until the nest built becomes home for even bigger growing sins that can threaten my spiritual life and bring down what God has made me into and created me for. The very twigs used could be from my own tree. My vulnerabilities and weaknesses potentially contributing to my own destruction. How I need to pray more for protection! That I will be alert and never complacent. I need to read God’s Word and digest it so it builds me up from the inside out, there as a resource when my stability comes under attack. I need to surround myself with the good air of healthy relationships and fellowship with Godly people to keep me breathing in the Spirit. Ever thankful for the salvation wrought by Jesus on another tree 2000 years ago.
The prayer ends:
“Tonight, my Father, I am throwing out both the bird and the nest, Amen.”