Boy, oh boy. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so glad to see a Wednesday! Could anyone besides me use a day to sleep in? Bring on Saturday! (Oh, wait… I have to get up at 6:00 this Saturday. Rats. Never mind.)
This week, I Peter is on tap. I don’t know if your Bible is like mine, but I Peter is one of my more “highlighted” books. This is a tough one to choose just one verse from! If you would, check out the comments below and share what stands out to you in I Peter.
I Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)–Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
If I could, I would find a way to pour this verse out to every single person who crosses my path. This verse is a fact many of us ignore. For some reason, many churches will talk all day about God and Jesus but never address the fact that we have a real, live enemy who is out to take us down by any means necessary.
Hear this: there is no mercy in Satan. He is not going to take it easy on us. His favorite thing is to kick us when we are down and, let me assure you, those kicks can be quite subtle. The verse says he “prowls.” Yes, sometimes, he roars like a lion, stirs up dust, and you can see him coming six miles away. But other times… those are the times we need to be most alert. He can sneak up on us in a subtle gesture, a sly temptation, a slight weakness… And before we know it, we’re in the jaws of the beast.
The bottom line is, we need to know who we are. I had a friend tell me once that Satan has a “character study” on each of us. He knows just where to tempt us to make us turn our heads. He knows every weakness. So we need to know our own weaknesses in in order to be “alert,” and we need to know who we are in Christ, because those are our strengths.
The good news is God’s grace. He has that way of prying open the jaws of the enemy and setting us free. But how about we keep those teeth far from us in the first place?
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
1 Peter is one of my favorites because it was the first PWOC bible study I did when we first moved to Fort Campbell. That is the study where I made some of my best friends there.
I really love 1 Peter 2:15 – For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
I totally love the wording used in this verse. It’s such a good reminder that we don’t need words to keep people quiet. Our actions speak so much louder. I am someone who has written many times about my issues with my mouth. I have a hard time being silent and not “fighting back” with words when I feel I’ve been wronged. I always have to have the last say. This verse is a reminder that our actions over our silence can be so much more powerful!
Jodie says
Sometimes, I feel like I’m all words but no actions. Girl, you are all action! I so admire that about you…
Jessica R. Patch says
Preach it, sister! I like the picture of Satan having a character study on us. Not that I like him having one but for some reason it makes me angry and the angrier I get, the more on alert I become. And I agree it’s hard to pick just one verse!
Jodie says
I know exactly what you mean. And it makes me want to KNOW my weak spots!