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Monday, September
15, 2008
Watch Out
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: (9) Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
(KJV)
Strong’s definition for ‘sober’:
1127
gregoreuo (gray-gor-yoo'-o); from 1453; to keep awake, i.e. watch
(literally or figuratively): KJV-- be vigilant, wake, (be) watch (-ful).
If you were to take your family on an
outing for a day, let’s say somewhere in the woods away from it all, and
you saw a sign warning you about lions, I would think that you would be
alert not only for yourself but for those around you. Spiritually there is
a lion, or one that makes a lot of noise like one, seeking who he can
devour, and it is amazing how many walk right into his den and become easy
prey; mostly because they didn’t take the time to pray and were not alert
and watchful to the things of the Spirit. With all that the Lord has done
on behalf of mankind, providing a way of escape from this evil world, it is
amazing how many get trapped and end up devoured by false doctrines and the
deceptions of a roaring lion, one that tries to imitate the true Lion of
Judah, getting people running to and fro with his winds of doctrines.
Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore: for ye
know not what hour your Lord doth come. (43) But know this, that if the
goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would
have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. (44)
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of
man cometh. (KJV)
You know, you are responsible for your
own salvation, something you need to take the time to work out personally
with the Lord. Not only receiving the Lord into your life, but maintaining
a quality salvation, growing daily and not getting ripped to shreds by the
deceptions of the enemy. Spiritually you are in charge of your own house
and it is up to you to install a security system that won’t be broken into
or stolen from; or in other words, you won’t get caught napping. The Bible
tells us explicitly that we should be ready always, on guard, up and
operational so that our spiritual house will not get broken into and
robbed; or for many they end up being robbed blind and unaware the crime
was even taking place because of their complacence.
Luke 21:34-36 And take heed to
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting,
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you
unawares. (35) For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the
face of the whole earth. (36) Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man. (KJV)
With many heists that a thief will pull
off, they try to create a distraction so that while the person that should
be guarding the treasure is off and running in another direction they are
able to pull off the theft. The thief would like nothing better than to get
the believer all caught up and entangled with the affairs of this world so
that they won’t be watching and guarding the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge the Lord has provided for His people. By the way people, as long
as we are on this topic it seems many today, and that would include many
believers, are getting snared into thinking that they have to go through
the tribulation period. If one goes back and reads the entire chapter of
Luke 21 we see the Lord describing what is going to take place during that
time and that He has provided a way of escape for His people. Thus why we
are encouraged in verse 36 to watch and pray always so that we can escape
and not go through all these nasty things that are going to take place
during this period. However, if you wish to stick around for it that is
your choice; but for those who are watching and know the Lord, they know
that this period of time and tribulation is being poured out on the sons of
disobedience and not on those who are watching and awake.
Ezekiel 34:23-25 And I will set up one
shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall
feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. (24) And I the LORD will be
their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken
it. (25) And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the
evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the
wilderness, and sleep in the woods. (KJV)
Again if you were going to take your
family for a weekend of camping you wouldn’t take them somewhere dangerous,
especially a place full of lions or other beasts. Yet spiritually it is
amazing how many people are asleep at the wheel, taking their families
right into the lion’s den, or should I say liars den in the form of
religion and doctrines of man, literally feeding them to the beasts and then
wonder why they get torn to shreds? If you would have been watching and
praying, communicating with God, you would have seen the warning signs and
kept yourself as well as those around you from these danger zones.
Ezekiel 34:26-28 And I will make them and
the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to
come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. (27) And the
tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her
increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am
the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them
out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. (28) And they
shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land
devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
(KJV)
When going to the national parks they are
truly a thing of beauty, something to be enjoyed. However, one must heed
the warning signs as there are dangers also; something that can easily be
avoided if one is alert and watching. God gives us richly all things to
enjoy; not to be devoured with or to become easy prey for the enemy. The
question today is, are you alert and watching; seeing into the realm of the
Spirit so that you won’t fall prey to the enemy, one that is seeking to
devour those that are not paying attention.
Titus 1:10-14 For there are many unruly
and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: (11)
Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. (12) One of themselves, even
a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts,
slow bellies. (13) This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that
they may be sound in the faith; (14) Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and
commandments of men, that turn from the truth. (KJV)
Not much has changed over the centuries;
there are a lot of big mouth talkers out there, many that teach doctrines for
the love of money rather than a love for God; which instead of warning the
people they are turning them from the truth and back into the path of the
enemy. Many have been called, but few are truly chosen by our Lord because
their god ends up to be their bellies, seeking to feed the carnal man more
than the spiritual one. What are you giving heed to today, and do you know
the difference between flesh and Spirit so that you don’t end up letting
the fox into the henhouse and tearing it to pieces.
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