Closing the Gangplank on the Enemy

Our loved ones constitute a major assignment in our lives. God has created a family accountability that each one of us must take part in. So while you may have closed the spiritual door on the enemy, we must take the extra step of closing the spiritual gangplank which may be the link between your family and the world.

When there are ungodly ties between the world and your family the gangplank must be closed. The enemy looks for a potential stronghold or weakness in families from which he may attack. But God gives us the example for keeping our family from the enemy through the gangplank. A gangplank is an additional barrier between the door frame of our house and the outside world. This separation is the place where God fights for our family.

In the book of Genesis, we find the example of Noah as a model for closing the gangplank. When the ark was built Noah took charge of counting the animals that entered the ark, making sure there were two of each kind for the offerings to the Lord (Genesis 7:1-3). Then Noah went on to oversee in verse 8 and 9, two by two they went in, other animals that would be be saved from the flood waters that would devastate the earth because of sin. Finally, Noah made sure each one in his family, his sons and daughter-in-laws, and his wife made it safely onto the safety of the ark before he himself boarded the vessel and closed the gangplank of the ark (2 Peter 2:5).

Noah’s job was to be the accountability for his family and put them in a position to be saved by God through his obedience.

Nehemiah was a cupbearer for King Artaxerxes. He had a position of high honor in the kingdom. But he learned that the walls around Jerusalem, the place of God’s chosen, had walls that were falling down. In Nehemiah 4:13-14, it describes how he took on the accountability, because of his position, for the household of God.

We must keep a watchful eye over our area of responsibility and our family. Like the families in the book of Nehemiah that rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, they kept a sword at their side when they were rebuilding. We must keep a spiritual sword at the ready when maintaining and rebuilding the walls around our family spiritually.