Are Your Prepared For Battle (Revised)
1 Peter 5:8
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. NIV
Are Your Prepared For Battle (Revised 03/115/05 for Stewart Memorial funeral)
There is a battle of survival on your part going on out there in this world and the question that could be asked of each of us. “Are You Prepared For Battle” As a Christian we must be in battle position and have our battle armor on at all times. May I say even while we are sleep Satan will try and conquer us even during the time while we are resting in our beds and sadly to say even in Church. The news has been sing in the last few days over events that has taken place through out America. I say this not pour salt in to already fresh s, but to open all of us to what face. Seven worshipers in Wis. at Church lost their life in a matter of moments. I do not understand pastor, how could this happen? He, Satan will try and destroy you through your sub-conscious mind. In other words, your dreams.
So as Peter writes here, we must focus our attention on what he is saying to us.
First he tells us to be self-controlled. In some translations it says that we need to be sober. One cannot be self-controlled if he or she is drunk with the things of this world.
Self-controlled
1 strong, robust. 2 having power over, possessed of (a thing). 3 mastering, controlling, curbing, restraining. 3a controlling one’s self, temperate, continent. One must understand the these things come not by human strength or human power, but that they come only as a result of having a relationship with God.
He farther states that we need to alert. watchful, open-eyed, unsleeping, vigilant, wakeful, wide-awake. To be alert means that we need to see what is going on around us at all times. He is not tells us to look physically, but being able to see with a spiritual eye. We must stay connected with the Lord.
If being alert means being WATCHFUL, then what are some of the things we need to be on the look out for?
Alert—watchful
In readiness for attack Neh. 4:9–23
In prayer
Matthew 26:41
41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." NIV
In spiritual combat
Ephesians 6:18
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. NIV
In Daily living
1 Corinthians 16:13
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. NIV
Times of testing
Scripture ref; Luke 21:34-36
34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.
36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
NIV
Against false teachers
Acts 20:29-31 (Paul is here speaking)
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
NIV
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Ps 37:23
23. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
KJV
Are Your Prepared For Battle
He or she who is not sober cannot do the things that are required by God.
Romans 13:10-13
10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. NIV
The devil is your adversary. He is a very bold force. He is not afraid to attack you, but you must stay your ground and not give up or give in. No matter what the circumstances are we must, if you are a child of God stand with faith.
Look if you will at what happen to Job.
Job 2:1-10
1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.
2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
Satan was not just walking to admire the splendor of the earth, no, no He was seeking whom He may be able to devour.
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life.
5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."
The question before us this day is “Are Your Prepared For Battle”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. NIV
Someone may ask the question who is the devil?
He is the one who sows the weeds of life in the fields of this world.
Matthew 13:37-39 tells us;
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. NIV
We must not get tangled up with the devil, because he is a lie.
John 8:44
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. NIV
The question that is before us; “Are You Prepared For Battle”
If we submit ourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us.
How can you be sure who is on the Lord side and who is on the side of Satan?
1 John 3:8-10 tells us;
8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. NIV
The devil is like a roaring lion. When he is seeking its prey he goes about roaring. But we must stand fast with the Lord because;
2 Timothy 4:17-18 tells us;
17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth.
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. NIV
We must understand that Satan is not just setting idle by watching the world turn around and around. He is on His job twenty-four hours, seven days a week. He is seeking those who are available for His attack.
My bro. and my sis. That is why we need to be sober and not drunk with the things of this world.
When we are drunk we cannot defend ourselves.
When we are drunk we cannot walk in a straight and decent way. We will be straggling to and fro.
When we are drunk we will fall in to the pitfalls of life, and if we are not rescued in time it will be our destruction.
When we are drunk with the things of this world our spiritual eyesight is blinded.
We cannot focus on what we ought to focus on.
My brothers and my sisters;
“Are You Prepared For Battle”
When we are drunk we will get in to fights with any and everybody.
We must understand that Satan is like and compared to a lion of the real world. We know that lions of the real world only attack the prey that he knows that he can over-power. If he has come to the decision that his prey is more than he can handle he will wait until help arrive. When he has ample help, then he will launch his attack. They will band together so that they can reap the harvest. Well, is not that just like Satan? If He knows that He cannot over-power you He will get some more help. He will call for help and wait for the appointed time to make His attack.
{Let me if you will just say this for the record. You have never heard nor have you witnessed Satan and His helpers auguring over who is in charge}
Satan will not, if He need to get to you use one of your enemies to do His dirty work. He will get someone who is close and a so called friend to you.
Satan will not just attack at anytime, he will wait until the time is right to launch His attack. Sometimes Satan will restraint Himself if the time is not right.
Just like the lions of the real world Satan will wait until His prey (you) is with-in His range before He makes His attack.
“Are You Prepared For Battle”
See note on verses 8 and 9 of 1 Peter 5 (page 2265 in bible)
End message with Eph 6:10ff (use bible)
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