On Being Sober and Vigilant
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
A few weeks ago the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night with this verse quoted above. The words that kept coming back to me were ´be sober and be vigilant.´
While I meditated on these words, I was unaware of the attack that was coming our way. When the attack did come, once again those two words were reminded to me. God had warned me!
After the attack, I went to prayer and the Lord showed me how subtly the enemy has been creeping in. While in prayer, the Lord gave me a battle plan.
We have begun using this battle plan, and almost immediately things began to calm down. While it may be difficult to not fall into our old ways of doing things, we must keep with the Lords strategy to obtain full victory.
In all of this, the Lord showed me a path, and it was not only my path, but the path that the Lord has laid out for many out there doing His work. This path was covered with debris, leaves and it was dirty. As I saw the path, I began to walk on it and with the sword of the spirit I began clearing it away so that I could walk on it correctly and without failure.
The enemy has tried to cover not only my path, but many paths as well. It´s time to take out our sword, to clean it up, get a clear direction and began walking out our calling for Him.
The enemy is out there seeking whom he may devour, but we have the upper hand. Coming to the Lord in prayer, asking for guidance when all seems to go berserk is the best strategy that any of us could come up with.
While the battle is not yet over, because of Jesus we have already won. We continue to pray and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. ( Romans 4:17.)
Blessings in Him
Love this post Yvette! Thanks for sharing! Yes, that ol’ devil is definitely trying his best to wreak havoc and put all sorts of debris in our paths. But thank you Lord for Your sword of the Spirit and the shield f faith!
I am reading an awesome book that really speaks about Romans 4: 17. The book is titled…”Discovering the Secret to a Successful Prayer Life” by Suzette Hattingh. She founded Voice in the City Ministries – http://www.voiceinthecity.org
God bless:)
Wow! Love this!
The Lord has been speaking to me the same thing for quite sometime. Preparation for warfare.
Paul instructs us again and again “Be alert”, “be sober”, “be vigilant”, “stand firm”, “put on the full armor”….all of them are instructions telling us to be awakened to the schemes of the enemy.
Thank you Yvette.
Sid
God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. (I John 1:5) In fact, the very first creation that God recognized as “good” was the creation of light. (Genesis 1:4) Keeping this in mind, it would only make sense that the children of God (those that, by the spiritual birth of regeneration through faith in Christ Jesus, have become partakers of God’s divine nature) would be children of light.
Children of light should be awake and alert, watching and working, staying ready for the coming of the Lord, which could happen at any moment. Physical sleep is something that promotes growth and good health when done in proper balance, but spiritual sleep – for the sons and daughters of the Most High God – is to be avoided. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (I Thessalonians 5:6)
Great post Yvette! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you also for coming by my blog and leaving a comment. Take care and God Bless you!
~hugs~
Thanks again for an excellent teaching.
If I may add something, I did a small word study on this word sober. I found part of it’s meaning was to be in control of our emotions – especially when everything seems to be going beserk : ) I can really relate – especially for the last few months.
Sometimes it’s very tempting and/or easy to become intoxicated with fear, anger, jealousy, or other emotions, but by the power of the Holy Spirit we can stay sober in our emotions in order to stay focused in Christ and His goodness in our lives. I also found out the word adversary means more than just an opponent. It means someone who is anti-justice or anti-right.
The devil does not want us to experience the justice of God through Jesus Christ so he throws all kinds of nonsense at us to try and intoxicate us with our own emotions so that we make decisions based on fear, anger, covetousness or whatever.( sounds like the garden of Eden and the tree)
I don’t go looking for demons under every problem but I also can’t deny the scripture ” we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities etc.”. Part of the justice of God, by the way, is that we have been declared righteous, holy, redeemed, the seed of Abraham and David. God Himself has placed us in Christ Jesus through faith in Christ and seated us in the heavenlies far above all principalities. Because of Christ we have been adopted into the family of God and are now partakers of His Kingdom and nature. We have been justified by grace through faith.
That’s what Satan tries to devour: our inheirtance and identity in Christ, so he throws fiery( beserk ) darts at us hoping we won’t use our shield of faith ( another gift of grace ) to quench them.
Hey sister, I think I’ve preached ( typed myself into health and joy ) Think I’ll go listen to Kirk Franklins song Stomp. : ) then get up and go put more stuff on my site !
I found Stomp on youtube if it’s okay to share it here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5-SEzT0nY&feature=related
Powerful post Yvette! I love and thank God for you blog. I would like to present you with an award! I hope you will stop by and pick it up!
Love you1
Preach it! I always appreciate your feedback and insight Dan.
Blessings