Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends, it’s the middle of the week already!
Once more may I bring us back to a powerful statement the apostle Peter wrote to Christians in the first century, and let’s take another fresh look at these penetrating words that are so relevant to us, no matter your age, your gender, your background or where you live in our world today.
Peter wrote: “Be alert and sober minded. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8) It’s a profound, powerful statement isn’t it my friends?
Why does Peter call the devil our ‘enemy‘? What is his objective as our enemy? What does it mean the devil is looking to devour someone? How can you or I defend ourselves against such a vicious enemy we can’t see, touch, smell, or hear? Wow… so many questions, and the truth is, if we took an extended time to deeply ponder these words from Peter, the questions we’d come up with might be in the hundreds, maybe thousands!
I think Peter calls the devil ‘the enemy‘ of the human race for two great reasons: First, we are the only species other than the angels, created by God with the capacity for morality and ethics! God has placed within us the ability to discern right from wrong, good from evil, AND furthermore, the ability to decide what we want to do whenever we are faced with a moral choice! In Satan’s hatred for God and God’s holiness, the devil and his demons will always try to turn every human being away from anything that is good and gives God glory!
Everything good and wonderful about the human journey, which God has created, the devil will attempt to distort or destroy. Examples are easy to see, just look at the devil’s distortion of Unconditional Love; or the wonder of a God honoring marriage; or the holiness of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife; or the miracle of human conception and pregnancy; or the magnificence and uniqueness of human gender identity; or the beautiful innocence of childhood. All of these and everything else God has created good…so badly distorted by the enemy of God who is also the enemy of our soul, the devil. The second main reason I believe Peter calls the devil the enemy of our soul is: the devil knows he is NOT redeemable! Jesus died on the cross to pay the death penalty for us human beings, NOT for Satan and the demons! Hold on to that and celebrate the wonderful truth that John 3:16 is for you and me and all of the human race, but NOT for Satan and his demons!
What do you think Peter meant when he wrote “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”? Does Satan have the God given ability and permission to ‘devour‘ us humans? NO, not as we would normally think of a lion devouring a fresh kill. But the devil and his demons do have the power to tempt us to devour each other through anger, slander, violence, maliciousness, murder and other horrific behavior.
The dark kingdom even has the power to tempt us to harm ourselves in a one-time act of self-violence, or an addiction by which we destroy ourselves over a long period of bondage, or even suicide. The evidence of all this horrific, powerful work of the devil is everywhere, it’s all around us, and maybe even in your own extended family. No matter the city you live in you probably expect the police or maybe the military of your nation to suppress extreme violence and protect you and your fellow citizens. But have you noticed the schemes of the devil are so widespread, so powerful, so demonic that sometimes those elected or employed to protect us actually turn against us and harm us?!
This is why Peter’s words call every person to personal responsibility: “Resist him, [the devil] standing firm in your faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” Ok my friends, so what have you developed as your personal best practices for resisting the devil and all his schemes and tactics against you?
Do you feel we humans are at a great disadvantage? We can’t SEE the devil and his demons; thus, we never know if there is one or are there 10 prowling around us trying to find a vulnerable place in our life to attack us! We can’t HEAR the devil or his demons so we don’t know what they are saying to each other about how to attack us, nor can we hear them rushing toward us!
We can’t SMELL them, so we have no advance warning that their prowling is getting very close to us. But watch this friends… would you agree we can FEEL the prowl of the dark kingdom? We feel fear, worry, lust, anger, resentment, bitterness and those feelings awaken in our minds sudden promptings to action: we run from fear or lock the doors or maybe even buy a gun. We call a friend or maybe binge drink or take some drugs to drive out the worry. We turn on pornography or demand things from our spouse to quench the lust. We plan an act of retaliation, or we lash out with words or fierce action in anger, in response to bitterness, or resentment.
But what would happen in our lives if instead, we reacted to the FEELINGS of the prowling devil, by doing what Peter suggests: “Resist him, [the devil] standing firm in your faith…”? How, my friends, how do we resist the prowling devil and stand firm in our faith? May I give you three practical suggestions?
1. Draw upon God’s Truth Scripture which you have memorized.
As we do that, we repeat God’s Truth to ourselves over and over, claiming the power of God’s truth to strengthen our soul. God’s truth will refute the wrong thinking in our minds. God’s truth will keep our hardening heart tender to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God’s truth will be used by the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin, teach us the right way, propel us to right words and behavior. God’s truth will draw us to God and in that place, we will be repulsed by the devil’s attempts to lead us into rebellion against God!
2. Speak God’s Truth to the enemy! Yes, my friends, as a follower of Jesus, you are empowered by the Holy Spirit and you can audibly speak, in the Name of Jesus, to the dark kingdom demanding that any demonic power or even the devil himself respect the truth that you are “In Christ”, you are adopted into God’s family, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, you are empowered with God’s truth, and therefore you have the right and authority to renounce any scheme of the dark kingdom to harm you or anyone who has come to you for help. You have the authority to demand that any dark spirit submit to the authority of God’s Word, the authority of the Name of Jesus which is above every Name. (Phil. 2:9,10)
3. Turn to Jesus and request that Jesus and His Holy Spirit defend you against the enemy, the devil and his demons. Ask Jesus to empower you to stand firm against the prowling devil. Ask Jesus to overpower those dark forces and drive them away from you.
I know I told you I’d give you three, but here’s a fourth…
4. Praise and worship our Lord Jesus for all that He is and all He has accomplished for our salvation, our security and safety and our protection in Christ!
Praise Him for coming to earth. (Luke 2)
Praise Him for living a sinless life. (1 Peter 2:22) Praise Him for teaching God’s truth. (John 8:31,32)
Praise Him for going all the way to the cross to pay our death penalty. (1 John 4:9,10)
Praise Him for rising from the dead and ascending back to heaven. (Acts 1:11)
Praise Jesus that He is at this moment at the right hand of God Almighty interceding as our advocate for you and me! (1 John 2:1,2)
Praise Jesus that He will someday return as our triumphant king and His people will reign with Him! (Rev. 20:4)
Now friends, that is a practical, tactical way to live 1 Peter 5:8 no matter where you live in our world! But it’s only possible in an authentic, dynamic, Holy Spirit empowered relationship with Jesus Christ! Do you have that my friends? If you do, then we can claim this final statement of Peter’s which I’ll unpack for you tomorrow: “And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. to Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen!” (1 Peter 5:10,11)
Oh my, just soak in that wonderful truth for a few minutes, and thank Jesus for it, and here’s a powerful worship song to help us praise Jesus, today!
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 5:8, 9.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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