The Roaring Lion

I have heard it said that you can hear a lion’s roar on a clear day for five miles. It seems to me if you were standing close to one and it was angry it would be a scary sound at high volume if it roared.  Why do you think that the enemy of our souls was spoken of in the way he was in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”

What does a lion do?  It kills and steals from the family that the animal belongs to that he kills and then destroys the life of the victim and makes a mom sad.  I know he is just doing what comes naturally, and many of us think nothing of it; it sounds a lot like our enemy, he does what he does naturally also and we have to be aware of it.  Let’s read some more of what Jesus said about our enemy in John 8:44, talking to the Jewish leaders, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

What kind of lies do you hear from him?  God doesn’t love you. You are not good enough, God can’t or won’t forgive you.  You are stupid or ugly or you are a failure or you don’t fit into God’s plan.  The list could go on and on.. like God’s Word isn’t true, God doesn’t keep His promises.  You just think you are saved but you’re not and at times he uses people to try to discourage you.  And when you feel down he might say I told you so, but you wouldn’t listen they are all the enemy’s lies.  What you need to do is stand on the promises of God and not be moved.       

Our enemy is also stealing the word out of the hearts of some who hear it, read Matthew 13:19, “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.”

I am writing these things to show you how cunning the evil one is and how he will try to deceive the very elect, if that were possible.  He will devour anyone that he can, so Christians need to stand strong in the faith, putting on the whole Armor of God daily.  When a person is born-again they are taken from the hands of the enemy and he wants them back, not that he cares for them he just wants them to be miserable in the end like he will be.  That’s why it is important to be prayed up and walking in the Spirit with the whole armor of God on so that you can resist the devil and he will flee from you.  When Jesus was in the desert, when He was being tested, He came back with scripture every time and the devil had to flee from Him and the angels ministered to Him.  There are believers that are not prayed up and are still walking in the flesh and grieving the Holy Spirit and the devil loves it because he can harass them, trying to put them back in bondage again.  For the believer that is walking in the Spirit, prayed up and standing on the promises of God, the enemy has very little hope of pulling him or her in the wrong direction because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, praise the Lord!!  What does the Bible say about this?  It is not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit sayeth the Lord!!  This is something to think about and have a super day and may God bless you and yours!!