A Roaring Lion

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Have you ever watched a child and the family dog? In typical kid fashion, my 4 year old grandson Josiah loves to boss around their dog Connor. My daughter got Connor, a labradoodle, so that he could be her service dog. She has taken him to training classes since he was a pup, and continues to train him daily. Josiah watches mommy tell Connor to do something, and Connor does it. So in his mind, Connor should do everything that he tells him to do too.

Unfortunately, Connor does NOT listen to Josiah! Lol!  In fact, he pretty much doesn’t pay attention to him at all, even when Josiah is rolling all over him, climbing on him, or yelling at him to drop his toys. It’s not that Connor doesn’t understand Josiah, because I’m sure he does. But he just sort of stares at him and basically ignores him. It’s almost like Josiah is Connor’s adversary. Connor knows that Josiah is not his boss and he doesn’t have to listen to him.

If Josiah gets really upset with Connor, he turns to mom and pleads, “Mommy! Help!”  My daughter Jillian will then correct Connor, and he instantly does what she says. Why will Connor listen to Jillian and not Josiah? Well, it’s because Connor is her dog. He’s been trained to listen to Jillian’s voice and hand signals. She’s his master.

We have an adversary, an opponent, who never listens to us, who taunts and torments us every chance he can. He finds it easy to mock us, laugh at us, or even circle around us, preparing to attack as soon as we look away. That adversary is Satan.

No matter how loud we yell at Satan to leave us alone, when we tell him that he’s caused enough trouble in our lives and want him to go away, he does not listen to us, because we are not his master. But, he does have to listen to his real Master.  When God talks, Satan must listen.

James 4:7 tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  The way to overcome the devil is not to shout at him, but to first submit to God, and ask Him to intervene on your behalf. The only way to have authority over Satan and win is by having the authority of Jesus. When we have God’s support and are connected to Him, then we will be able to cast the enemy away.

If we cast Satan away once, that doesn’t mean he’ll stay away forever. He is determine to destroy us and get us to lose our faith. He wants us to take our eyes off Jesus so that he can wedge himself into our lives again. We need to be forever diligent in our prayer life and spend time in His word. Prayer is the most powerful defense we can have because it keeps our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus.

A strong prayer life and time spent in His word is so crucial.  We need to be prepared for when Satan is circling and planning his next attack. Because he will be back. Are you ready?

Have a blessed day!

~ Bev

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