STAY ALERT! SCRIPTURE: 1 PETER 5.8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” A beautiful morning to anyone listening to this message. I want you to take a few deep breaths. Allow your mind to slow down because God is near, and He is longing to spend some quality time with you today, starting from this morning. Amen! Have you ever been in a position to secure something precious to you: relationship, properties, life etc. and you let down your guard when you are not supposed to? Probably, you got lazy. Maybe you got distracted. Maybe you cared too much about someone else’s opinions. Maybe you got tired of standing your ground. When we take a careful look back at history, we have come to see many great men, women, boys and girls who went down, due to one of those reasons listed up there. Peter, one Jesus’ closest disciples, would understand your situation right now. And he will understand better. He left everything to follow Jesus. He loved, trusted, and believed in Jesus. But when associated with Jesus threatened his own security and reputation, Peter denied his LORD and Christ whom he at one point of his life, confessed to be “the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16.16). And this denial went on for three times (Matthew 26.34, 74; Luke 22.34, 55-60). Thankfully, Jesus forgave him (Luke 22.31-32), restored him, and even empowered and entrusted his gospel and key to His Kingdom to Peter (Matthew 16.18-19) that the Bible says Peter preached with boldness on Pentecost day, the same day we read of 3,000 people were saved through baptism and the church of Christ began (Acts 2.14-47). It was the same Peter who writes: “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Therefore, stand firm against him and be strong in your faith. Remember that Christians all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are experiencing.” 1 Peter 5.8-9 (NLT) When we think about what it looks like to follow Jesus, it is important to remember that we have an enemy who doesn’t want us to go closer to God. But when we take it as a priority to live our lives closer to God, though we encounter divers form of darts thrown at us by the devil God is always there to give us victory. However, if we are going to resist the devil, we must stay on both the offensive and defensive. The offensive: stay focus with the LORD. Stand firm by daily equipping yourself with God’s word. Make friends of God’s dear children (Ephesians 5.1). Fight for time and constant connection with Him. Remind yourself that there are others fighting in prayers with you. The defensive: if someone is twisting the truth of God’s word, call it out. If you notice an injustice, do something to help with humility. If your enemy the devil is wreaking havoc in someone’s life, marriage, and spiritual journey, have the courage to confront that situation. We need to stay alert because the devil is not happy seeing God’s people doing well for God. When marriages are peaceful, he always finds a way to distort it. When an addict is struggling to push that lifestyle away, the devil brings new friends and ideas and ten thousand reasons not to discontinue such deadly habit. We must be aware of the wiles, vices, and tactics of our enemy the devil. The reason why many of us fall prey to the devil’s attack is because of our negligence in studying God’s word. Dear friends, for the times you have already let your guard down, do not allow yourself to stay stuck in guilt and shame. We have all had moments where we have slipped. What do we do? We simply ask for mercy. Let us be like Peter who despite his mistake never considered taking his life like Judas Iscariot did but genuinely sought for forgiveness. As a wife, you may have broken your marital vow to defile your bed and the guilt is running down like drops of sweat. As a husband, you may have cheated on your wife and made her look like a fool, and you are not comfortable with your action, don’t think of killing yourself. God understands your weaknesses, and He expect we acknowledge our wrong and seek His mercy. What about the young unmarried ladies who for one reason or the other got themselves involved in acts that are shameful to speak of among the unbelievers: abortion, prostitution, double-dating, lying, drug and hard substance intake, nudity etc. and you have realized these things are unhealthy, Christ is here to recalibrate you. To wash and cleanse you of your dirt. The invitation? Come, just as you are! Same goes to the young men into fraudulent activities, drug and substance intake, Jesus is calling and waiting for you. When Jesus came back to life, He found Peter, broke bread with him, He gave him another chance. You also can have another chance today. Come just as you are. Do not stay broken because you were carried away from your guard post. Come, we members of the Church of Christ will help you come back to Christ, where you will find peace, and a new purpose for living. Let me pray for you: Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for calling us your own. Thank you for grace you have made sufficient to us. This we will never take for granted. Father, we truly long and desire to live our lives for you. All we ask is your help for us to stay alert throughout today and always. Help us to be aware of the things you want us to pay attention to, both good and bad. Give us the courage to step out in faith when you ask us to. Help us to discern what is holy, so that we can please you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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