The Prowler

 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

I Peter 5:8

I recently heard a popular Christian singer named Tasha Layton speaking on James Robison's "Life Today" program. She was detailing all the chaos and devastation she had experienced in her life, mostly because she had lived under the power of the enemy's deception. She said, "Satan is not powerful enough to destroy us, but if he can get us to believe a lie, we'll self-destruct."  I believe we're seeing the evidence of this statement's truth on an increasing basis in both the world outside of as well as within the Body of Christ.

I have always been impacted by the power and truth of I Peter 5:8. Layton is correct in that the devil has no power that can destroy a follower of Christ, but it is equally true that he can deceive us into choices and pathways that result in our destruction. If not eternal, then certainly in the earthly realm. Our safeguard is to live in the conscious presence of Christ and to walk and live in the power of Holy Spirit discernment. Discernment that is able to "see" and identify the ways of the enemy as opposed to the ways of the Spirit. Satan's favorite tactic is to get us to believe what is a great lie and accept it as a truth. When he does this, he has succeeded in constructing what the Bible calls a spiritual stronghold in our minds and spirit. A stronghold is a lie that we believe is true and gives the devil a place from which to carry out attacks against us. Attacks meant to lead us to some kind of spiritual shipwreck. There are so many within the Body who are suffering at his hands because they are accepting his lies, as did Layton, and living as captive to fear, anger, destructive habits and addictions, and a host of other "prisons" we have never been meant to live in. Christ proclaimed that "He who is free in Me is free indeed." The enemy has convinced too many that this is not true, at least not true for them. The Prowler has approached, roared out his lies towards them, and convinced them that they're true. In Christ, we have the power to destroy and pull down every one of these strongholds that Satan has constructed. One of the keys is to remember who it is that is truly the Lion.  

I Peter 5:8 says Satan roars "like a lion." That's where the deception begins. He's not THE Lion. Christ is. Jesus is the Lion of Judah. At His roar, every lie must fall, along with the author of all lies. Christ is the Author of Truth, and it is for us to believe Him, trust Him, and receive what He says to and about us. When we stand in His Truth, we recognize the lies of the enemy and we have the power to put him to flight. He can never stand against Christ's Truth. May you and I live in the power and strength of His Truth, and put the Prowler to flee in its presence. The Prowler is a liar and a coward. He will always run from the truth found in Christ and His Word. Live in it. Walk in it. Overcome in it.

Blessings,
Pastor O