Don't Give In...

I would like to start of by asking, what goes on in your darkness? In daylight you are ministers of the word to the world. You go to work in the office; supermarket, gas station and you spread seed for the harvest. Showing Christ’s love to the world by living the example. But when your home, doors closed, do you hold strong in your self-control or does your other half come out? Is your righteousness like a light switch? Can you flip it on and off, so you can live life just like a hypocrite?
1 Peter 5:8-9 reads, “8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This poses a question, doesn’t it? Why would Peter choose to describe satin as a roaring lion? It seems that throughout the bible there have been times that those who threaten Gods people have been described as a lion. David wrote Psalm 22 and he says, “roaring lions tearing their pray open with their mouths wide against me.” In Jeremiah 50:17 it says, "Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon." In 1 Samuel 17:33-37 it says, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
Lets take a look at this for a minute. Here we see David is trying to get Saul to allow him to go out and fight Goliath. Saul is telling him you are only a boy, your to small, he is much older then you and has been fighting since he was around your age, therefore has a lot more experience than you. And David then says, but I have gone after a lion and a bear when they would take a sheep from my care. I would rescue the sheep and when the lion and the bear turned on me, I killed them. This is a lot like the verse in 1 Peter isn’t it? In 1 Peter it says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” Resist him, this means to stand firmly against attack, to be unwavering in resistance. It doesn’t mean bail at the first sign of trouble. When the lion comes in the darkness and tries to take away your righteousness by tempting you with the pleasures of this world, resist him! Stand strong against his attack and trust that through God you will prevail. That’s exactly what David did, he didn’t run and say, “Well now I am down another sheep.” He knew that if he did not go after that lion and take back what was his, the lion would keep coming back till he was totally striped and left with nothing. That is what verse 8 and part of verse 9 is trying to say. Be aware of your lion because he is there looking to devour you at any sign of any weakness.
That is not the end of verse nine though. Not only does Peter tell us who is out there looking to destroy us and how to handle him, but he gives us words of encouragement. He could have easily told us, Hey, be alert cause satin is out there looking to ruin your lives. And oh yeah, resist him and stand strong in your faith when he does try. But that is not all that he gives us. He tells us how to concur such a huge feat. He says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing through the same kind of sufferings.” Here he is telling us, Hey, your not alone. There are people all over the world that are going through the same kinds of sufferings. We need to take advantage of that and act as one body. You need to find someone in the church that you can trust to hold you accountable and feel comfortable talking to knowing there is no judgment being cast around.
Finally I would like to end on the story of Sampson. He had an issue with temptation and sin too and it crept in slowly. He was lust driven and had a real urge for revenge against anyone who did him wrong. As a Nazarite you are not allowed to have wine or vinegar even grapes were off limits, but that did not stop Sampson he continued to approach the vineyard. Then a young lion approached roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he tore the lion up. He later passed through were he left the carcass and saw there was bees and honey in it. But as a Nazarite you must consider all dead bodies to be unclean. That also didn’t stop Sampson; he scooped out the honey and shared it with his parents. Lastly he was not allowed to cut his hair, but while he was sleeping, Delilah the woman he loved, cut his hair. The Philistines came and gouged his eyes out and sent him grinding in prison. Later he was in the temple were the Philistines were teasing him for there own pleasure. There the Lord avenged Sampson and allowed him to push the pillars out and bring down the entire temple. He killed three thousand men and women, but his story has a bad ending because he went with them. So I ask you, “How are you going to finish yours, Christian”?

Grace and Peace