Picking up where we left off yesterday…
Today’s Truth: 1 Peter 5:7-8
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Cast your care…ALL your care.
Care here is the Greed word, merimna, from merio..to “divide” and noos, “the mind”.
The word “Care” denotes distractions, or a distracted divided mind. I think we can all relate to that, right? How often my mind seems like it is going in two different directions…distracted and then when worry sets in, anxious!
We are to give to God the distracted part of our minds.
The devil is prominent in the next verse. He is called an adversary or an enemy, and we are told how he acts, approaches us and what he plans to do with us…devour us! He is not a Halloween character, but a real enemy in the spiritual realm. We can’t see him, just as we can’t see the angels all around us, but according to Scripture, he is prowling, waiting, watching….and his greatest plan is to destroy us and our faith in God.
As believers our lives can be thwarted by three enemies: the devil, the world and the flesh. The devil roams like a lion. When lions hunt they look for weak, young, isolated, ungaurded animals. The devil’s agenda is to destroy us. He does this when he gets us to bow to the circumstances, pressures, and our fears…hoping to make us yield to him as we move into anxiety and lose focus on Christ’s power at work in us and on our behalf.
BE VIGILANT
The word vigilant means, alert watchfulness.
That is how we are to live. Casting our cares upon Jesus, and then living in alertness and watching for the sneaky way the devil tries to come in and distract our mind. We are to resist the devil the same way Jesus did, with the Word of God. ( Matthew 4:8-10)
Much to think about today….but I challenge you to think of these things and how they apply to your own life. Don’t be eaten alive…..
Today’s Prayer
Lord, teach me to walk in you, resist the enemy, living instead in the Truth of your power and presence with me.
This is so very true in our world today. The enemy is roaming about, “seeking whom he may devour”. And standing vigilane in Gods Word is our only protection. We should be watching all of our “doors” so-to-speak. Because as we have one “door” or area of our life guarded, sure enough the enemy will be knocking at another. Our daily personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to walk confidently and surely through this world. Lean into Him, and know that we belong to Him.
With the strength of the Holy Spirit I can remember daily that the enemy of my soul is a defeated foe. So I shall not live on bread alone but by every WORD that comes from the mouth of God.Where else is there medicine for my mind to keep it well?