“Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers … Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:6-8).
Fowlers were professional bird-catchers in the days before firearms. They captured birds by spreading a net on the ground and attaching it to a trap or snare. They would sprinkle corn on the ground near the trap and then, when the birds ate the corn, the trap would spring and the net would fly over them and capture them. Fowlers sold the captured birds for various purposes — as pets, as sacrifices, as food.
Throughout the Bible we see our souls likened to birds: “My heritage is to Me like a speckled [bird of prey]” (Jeremiah 12:9). So if we are “birds,” who then is the fowler? According to the Bible, the fowler is the devil himself. Satan is absolutely determined to overthrow every believer who walks in holiness and complete devotion to Jesus Christ.
Since the devil is not omnipresent and cannot be everywhere at once, he commands multitudes of demonic beings, principalities and powers of darkness. These demonic powers are at work laying traps for Christians. In fact, Satan also uses wicked people to lay demonic traps: “The wicked have laid a snare for me” (Psalm 119:110).
The psalmist writes: “Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have purposed to make my steps stumble. The proud have hidden a snare for me … they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set traps for me” (Psalm 140:4-5).
While it is true that Satan has an army of some of the most crafty, skilled fowlers on earth, the good news is that none of his attacks will succeed against the devoted child of God. No matter what your failure, your hardship or your trap, rest assured that God is on your side. Even when you’re weak, you can cry out to him and he will come and tear away the net. Just stand still and see his salvation!
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.