1 Peter 5:8


Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 ESV
            There is a Devil who works against the Kingdom with his demonic horde. He is a liar and the father of lies John 8:44. He seeks only evil ends by evil means. Peter here tells us he is like a roaring lion seeking to devour whom he can. The lion does not want to be seen until it is too late. So it is with the Devil and his ilk. They disguise themselves in many ways, even as angels of light 2 Corinthians 11:14. Foolish cartoons of an impish pitchfork wielding devil also serve as his camouflage making him to silly to be taken seriously. Better than this is when the whole idea of a spiritual dimension is ignored and disregarded.  Even great portions of the Church ignore spiritual realities, these no longer see their enemy the Devil anywhere and so he has them. Other portions of the Church become hyper aware of the enemy seeing him everywhere and so the enemy has them as well.  Both delusion serve the enemy equally as C.S. Lewis noted.
            So long as he is not seen where he is, he may work his ill intent freely. He seeks to devour men, not in the flesh, but in the spirit subjecting their wills to his own. The devil wants to consume the very hearts of men in any way he can. There are enumerable ways he can succeed, but only one real aim to keep men from Christ. Those that are in Christ he would keep from faithful service, especially from sharing the gospel. He attacks us to get to God. Whatever his motivation he is out to get us. As the lion attacks its prey in isolation, and in weakness so to is our adversary lying in wait for our weakness to be apparent. He is a master of strategy and tactics who takes advantage of every opportunity large and small to work us woe. So we need to be aware and watchful.  We ought to know our enemy so we can more easily penetrate his disguise and see him where he is
            Firstly, there is only one Lucifer and he is not omnipresent. He can only be in one place at one time. He does however have with him a legion of demons whose exact number is unknown. These beings are more powerful than we are in every way. They operate on our souls placing ideas into our heads and keeping ideas out. In this they use lies and so our best defense as is clear in Ephesians 6:10-18 is the knowledge of the truth found in God’s word. 1 Peter 5:9, and every verse regarding our warfare against the Devil, makes clear we are in a defensive posture. Nowhere are we told to search and destroy, or to make any sort of attack. The Devil is an obstacle to the spread of the gospel; we should not be distracted from spreading the gospel by trying to hunt down the devil and his demons. This would be redundant anyway as the Devil has already been thoroughly defeated by Christ.  Before mentioning the devil and cautioning the Church to be watchful against His advances Peter commends us to prayer. The Devil is more powerful than we are, but our God is far more powerful than he is. It is the armor of God we wear, it is God’s word we fight with, and it is God we look to as our ultimate refuge and salvation. We do well to stay in constant contact with our Commander the King in Heaven. We are not afraid, but sober minded and aware, watching while we carry on the gospel mission.

Prayer
Father you are perfect in power, Lord of lords and King of kings the only true and living God, there is no other like You. The enemy would be Your rival, but You cast him down like lightening, and hold him like a dog on a leash. Christ our Savior and Lord has crushed in his head in death and resurrection, and will end his cosmic farce of rebellion with a single word on the final day before Michael Your servant cast him into the lake of fire. You have foretold it, and ordained it and so it shall be. Until then we pray you help us to be sober of mind and clear sighted to see where the enemy lies in wait against us that we may well resist and so glorify You. We thank You for the armor which You have given us in Christ, and for the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God sharper and more capable than any weapon forged by human hands, let us wear the armor well, and wield the sword with skill and precision. We thank You that though often hard pressed by all who oppose Your Kingdom and righteousness, we are neither crushed nor defeated for You are our invincible shelter and our help. To You alone be the glory of every victory. Your will be done. In Jesus’ name we ask all these things. Amen.
Song
A mighty fortress is our God
Further reading
Lord Foulgrin’s Letters by Randy Alcorn

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