8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 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. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
The devil is real. As Christians, he is our enemy. He is waiting with deceit and temptation in his heart. Failure is what he thrives on. Setting traps and snares in our paths, he wants to see us fall. Sadly, we play right into his plans at times. Verse 8 describes his intentions...
The devil is illustrated in this passage as being a roaring lion. Lions are ferocious animals. If you have a cat as a pet, just magnify it by a thousand and pump some steroids in it's veins. Then smack it across the face with a newspaper and see what you've got. He is looking and waiting for someone to devour. This isn't a playful lion cub who rolls around and nibbles on things. This is a full grown, adult male, angry and abused lion. It wants revenge so it's going to devour you...and as verse 9 explains, it's going to devour me as well.
The devil is going to rip off our arms, our legs, our ears, our eyes, our heart, our everything. We are the body of Christ and he is planning to do harm to each of us. When body parts start missing, the church or Christ's children begin to fall apart and miss the mark. We each play a role, maybe we are the arms, but it's hard to hold out our hands and give to someone with out arms to support our hands. When the church becomes disabled, the ministries of Christ begin to dwindle and become desolate. He tempts us with what hurts us the most. It could be addictions, or lust, or theft, or greed or anything that causes separation from our heart and God's. There are so many avenues the devil uses against us and when we give in, it distances us from God. This is a battle that must be fought.
The devil is our enemy. He hates us. Satan wants to see us die. We should have our defense up at all times. Our spiritual guns should have our crosshairs on his head and ready to pull the trigger. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as squeezing off a round into the devil's head. We have to be smarter and stronger, spiritually. See, the devil is smart. He knows our weaknesses and he knows what can pull us away from God's will.
Verse 10 explains that through Christ Jesus and the suffering that he endured and that we will endure through oppression and temptation, we will become stronger and resistant to this kind of behavior. The word says that he will bring restoration to our lives. We are truly blessed to have such a loving and almighty God who is willing to train us and work with us, through our failures and mess ups. The devil only wants to see us fail and fall. Between the two, I believe serving Christ is the most logical and perfect way to go. The power is found in God our Father.
Pull the trigger...defend yourself with the Word.
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