Be Alert!

We tend to like comfortable lives. No sudden diagnoses or tragedy. No critical decisions resting on our shoulders. Just regular days like all the rest. While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a harmoniously steady life, it can often cause us to drift into unawareness.

Scripture warns us to be alert. We have an Enemy who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Jesus tells us that the Enemy “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). When we’re not watchful, Satan can more easily attack us with lies and accusations. Part of the reason we have become so relaxed about him is that he has already fooled us into believing him to be harmless or funny or not really that bad. Or not real at all.

Revelation is full of images of the reality of God’s enemy, who is our enemy. Chapter 12 refers to him as the Dragon. He uses our wounds and turns them against us. And if we are not alert to his schemes, we will fall right into his trap. But, as Overcomers, if we are watchful, we become a threat. There is a war going on, and like with any war, in order to fight the enemy, we have to be ready. We’ve heard plenty of stories of battles where an unvigilant army was caught by surprise and defeated. Let’s not allow that to be us. When we are alert to the Enemy, we won’t allow him to fool us with lies and accusations because we’ll know God’s truth about us and the victory Christ already won on the cross.

Lord, help me to be alert to the Enemy’s schemes. I don’t want to be caught unaware and I need Your help to know Your truth.