1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. v.9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (Nkjv))
We have a wood pigeon who comes every day to sit in the tree outside our front bedroom window and she coos a lot which is really annoying at 4.45 a.m.! so we regularly chase her away. Now she's decided she wants to build her nest there, so every day she brings a few sticks and every day we knock down the few sticks she's found to stop her doing it, and ....we chase her away. She's very persistent but so are we!
The devil is like the wood pigeon. We can't prevent him flying into our hair but our job is to not let him settle and make his nest there. We have to chase him away, resist him, make him flee! Notice it doesn't say to pray and ask God to deal with him, it says we have to do the resisting. Is he persistent? Most definitely and his temptation is to wear us down and make us give up and just let him carry on but God commands us to resist him because he's prowling round like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That implies he may not if we don't let him.
We are God's people and we need to show the devil he may not devour us! We have to be more persistent than he is and use all the weapons of our warfare when necessary to make him flee. He may look like a roaring lion but roaring is all he can do - he's a defeated foe. Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. At the cross Jesus disarmed the devil and his cohorts. Hallelujah!
A roaring lion's weapon is his teeth but Jesus has disarmed him so he's pulled his teeth out! So the next time the enemy comes roaring in your ear just remind him he's all gum and he's had his teeth removed so he can't intimidate you any more. Resist him the moment he shows up!
For instance, the moment I get a pain or a symptom anywhere I'm learning to resist it. I say "No devil you're not putting that symptom on me. It is written by Jesus' wounds I am healed and I was healed (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:4 -5) so take it away. I resist you. You have to flee! Go in the name of Jesus, you bow the knee to Jesus." I have to be more persistent than he is like with the wood pigeon. Every time the pain comes I say "No, you go in Jesus Name." This is my health at stake here and I'm not letting him steal it!
Let's be doers of the Word and do some resisting in the coming days and give Jesus all the glory.
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