“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Right now the devil and his demons are waging war against you. Job 1:7 reminds us that our enemy does not rest. “The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”” The battle is constant, that’s why Peter reminds us to “be sober-minded and watchful.” Satan not only waits to devour us but also tries to out smart us. (2 Corinthians 2:11 He constantly is scheming and plotting on how to deceive us.) The Bible therefore encourages us in 1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” We must understand the battle is to use situation or circumstance to exhaust our mind, defeat our heart and dominate our will.
 
The Battle is to Overwhelm and Wear You Down in Your Mind.
The devil’s biggest scheme against you is to exhaust your mind. Imagine all the ways in which the enemy tries to do that on a daily basis. Our mind is drained from work both in your career and home, from petty fights and vain arguments, !red from failures, weary from anxiety, overwhelmed with depression, distracted with temptations, and most of all absent or unfocused from God.
 
The Bible over and over again commands God’s people to “stand strong”, “fear not”, “stay alert”, and “guard your mind”! Yes, its a command, because your greatest battle is not in your surrounding, it’s in your head. James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Alert minds are those that are washed and refreshed in God’s Word daily, that believe God’s Word over the lie of the enemy and those that don’t let their circumstance determine their relationship with God.
 
Now is the Time to Fight.
If you are fed up, exhausted, tired, letting temptation get you, running away in fear, then probably the lion has got you on the run! So this message is God’s Word to your soul = rise up and fight back! You cannot wage war if you have given up in your mind or are always fighting the past. You must wake up. “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” 1 Peter 4:7
 
Stop trying to make things happen on your own and instead lean on Him. Know who you are in Christ and the great purposes you have in Him, and stand in the truth and Pray! (Ephesians 6:14) “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6)
 
It’s time then, to worship like never before, to seek and knock like never before, to love Him like never before. Wage War like never before, don’t give in or quit— Fight!
 
In His Service,
Eric Barnes