1 Peter 5:8-9(NLT)
“8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.”
Our Heavenly Father tells us in 1Peter 5:8 to stay alert, and watch out because we have a great enemy, the devil. As we contemplate our own lives and the struggles we endure, we might have to admit that very few of us are as alert as we can and should be. 2Timothy 1:9(NLT) declares, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time–to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” As God’s sons and daughters, there’s a call upon our lives. We have responsibilities as followers of Christ, and we have been equipped by our Heavenly Father to walk in the power and authority of our beloved Redeemer, but our sadness, disappointment, and doubt suggests that we are not standing as firm as we should. We’re leaving ourselves exposed, and this is something we must address spiritually, and do so as quickly as possible.
To remain alert and stand strong in our faith as our Heavenly Father commands, we must have some level of understanding of the threat we’re standing against. We are spiritual beings with a soul, and we are housed in a body. We are God’s spiritual children, and He tells us that we have a great spiritual enemy. This is a reality that greets us when we awaken each morning and also when we lay down our heads at night. Our Heavenly Father didn’t keep the enemy’s dastardly deeds a secret, but He brought it out in the open so that we would be aware and guard against the enemy’s attacks.
God is always willing and able to help us. He has all power in His hands, and He knows everything there is to know about us. He knows every detail of our existences, so He’s never surprised by anything that we do. He always knew that we would be His and that we would bring glory to His name. Acts 17:26-28 tells us that He appointed the times and places of our births, and it is in Him that we live, move, and have our being. He tells us in Ephesians 1:11(NLT), “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” Way before we entered our mother’s wombs, God chose us to be His very own. Romans 8:29(NLT) affirms, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
As God’s called-out ones, we carry the power and authority of Jesus Christ. This was given to us when we accepted him as Lord and made him the head of our lives. Ephesians 1:3(NLT) says, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” God has equipped us with His spiritual weaponry through Jesus Christ, and He has placed His precious Holy Spirit inside us. He’s made sure that we have everything we need to live powerfully in the earth as we walk in the love of Christ. To lay claim to all that we’ve been given, it’s our responsibility to renew our minds to God’s Word. We must humble ourselves before Him and be obedient to what He’s told us to do. We don’t always do this, sadly, and these are the things that Heavenly Father warns us about.
He has warned us that satan is the accuser, and he will use our sin to trap us if we don’t stay alert and stay strong in Christ. We sometimes learn the hard way how fiercely the enemy can come against us. We are often shocked by the severity of an attack and we are sometimes in denial about the degree to which we let our guards down. We thought there would be no consequences for our poor choices, bad behavior, and wrong actions but the enemy was watching us, and he does so for quite a long while. When he goes before the courts of heaven, satan doesn’t do so with false claims because he is well aware that our God sees and knows everything. The sin we’ve committed is what our accuser brings up in the courts. Praise God that He’s given us an advocate, a lawyer in His courtroom, and that advocate is Jesus Christ!
1John 2:1(NLT) tells us, “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.” There are no shenanigans in heaven. God’s system of justice is based on His laws and the enemy knows this. It’s a mistake to think that satan can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. The access and entry-points he takes are those we provide through our sinful actions. We need to stop doing this. We need to stop allowing the enemy to steal from us and stand firm on the truth, so that we can abide continually in God’s peace.
James 4:7(NLT) tells us, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” God has given us this strategy for remaining alert and standing strong, and it works with perfection, so we must use it continually. We make a mistake when we blame God for works that satan does. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t punish His children, and we have to stop thinking like that. Let’s renew our minds so that we close the openings where demonic tricks, plots, and attacks might land. Let’s pray and ask God to help us to be more watchful, aware, and diligent. If we will do everything that we possibly can to get closer to Him through prayer, and reading and studying His Word, our faith will increase. We will become sharper spiritually and recognize when the enemy is trying to trap us. Don’t let him in. Repent, stay alert, and stay strong in God’s Word.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Stay Alert and Stand Strong”, written by Reverend Fran Mack. Edits by Kim Times and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.