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1 Peter 5:8<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Stay on the alert and don\u2019t be intimidated by our accuser.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cSober<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word n\u0113ph\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto abstain from wine\u201d or \u201cto be sober.\u201d Metaphorically it means \u201csober minded.\u201d In other words, thinking clearly and not allowing your mind to be clouded by any distractions. It is expressed here in the imperative mood, indicating a command.<\/p>\n The word \u201cvigilant<\/span>\u201d is translated from, gr\u0113goreu\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto keep awake\u201d or \u201cto be watchful.\u201d This word is also expressed in the imperative mood, indicating that it is not merely a suggestion, but a command.<\/p>\n Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Peter has told us how to behave when we are suffering under affliction which has been brought on by the providence of God. We are to allow ourselves to be humbled and we are to toss all of our worrying onto Him. Lest we think that enduring suffering is a passive event, however, Peter now tells us what action we are to be taking. We are to be sober minded and vigilant even while we are being humbled.<\/p>\n That is, we are to keep our minds clear from distractions; we are to remain sharply focused on God and to be ever watchful. The implication is that we are to be constantly on the alert for some impending danger. Why? Because \u201c<\/span>our adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.<\/span>\u201d<\/span> The word translated adversary means \u201copponent,\u201d particularly an opponent in a legal battle. The word \u201cdevil\u201d is the Greek word diabolos,<\/span><\/em> which literally means \u201caccuser.\u201d But why did Peter use legal jargon referring to Satan? Because we are<\/strong> in a legal battle with him! He is constantly accusing us of being unrighteous.<\/p>\n for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.<\/span> (<\/span>Revelation 12:10b<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n And our accuser is walking about like a roaring lion. This verse does not say that the devil is<\/strong> a roaring lion; it says he is like a roaring lion. Have you ever watched a courtroom scene where the prosecuting attorney is roaring at the defendant trying his (or her) best to intimidate the defendant? This is precisely what Satan is doing in front of the great Judge of all creation right now. Fortunately for us, we have the best defense attorney in all of creation. In 1 John 2:1<\/span><\/strong> it says:<\/p>\n And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:<\/span><\/p>\n So, as we are humbled by God and we toss our cares upon Him, we need to be alert and watchful. We are to keep ourselves from succumbing to temptation because there is one who is watching for us to stumble so that he can accuse us before the Father. But, when that does happen, our advocate presents His own blood as evidence of our righteousness.<\/p>\n Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Do you feel like you are under attack or that there is an adversary making threatening noises against you and what you believe? If so, be humbled, quit worrying, think clearly, and be ever watchful, resting in the arms of our loving Savior.<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Truth to Learn Stay on the alert and don\u2019t be intimidated by our accuser. Behind the Words \u201cSober\u201d is translated from the Greek word n\u0113ph\u014d, which means \u201cto abstain from wine\u201d or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[180,181,182,183,184,185],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adversary","tag-alert","tag-devil","tag-devour","tag-lion","tag-sober"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-cD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"\/signature.gif\")
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