Satan's Desire to Devour The Ministry: RRARGH, or Meow?

If you want to avoid a counterfeit, you should study the real thing. The same goes for the Word of God, which educates on the real and the counterfeit so that when the counterfeit shows up, they are already exposed. This week, our Devotional Team addresses the topic, “Satan’s Desire to Devour the Ministry” and will address just how intentional we must be in our pursuit of our relationship with Christ and the Word of God! This is another “must have” scripture!

Understand this. The prowling and the roaring isn't solely for you. It is for someone else near, that matters to you, by which the adversary can trouble you and distract you from your ministry. James 4:7 puts it this way: "Resist the devil, and he will flee." Meoww! Even the true and mature believer can be affected by the trouble of others. [indeed, Jesus was affected by our troubling] That's how love does. Nonetheless a sober spirit, and alert awareness through the work of the Spirit can allow the necessary resistance for some others' sake, even victory over spiritual wickedness.

Now back to our fellow earthling Panthera leo [the lion]. It is rightly understood as one of the top land predators on the planet, an apex predator, which by roaring demonstrates its good health, and declares its territory. It is very social with other lions, and is primarily nocturnal, prone to resting in the day. When hunting, however, it is likely to be quiet, to sneak up onto its prey, hidden often in the tall grasses of the savannah. It is a stalker. There are also certain growls connected with the time of mating, and certain grunts indicating other things. Its roar in decibels comes close to the level of the sound of a jet plane starting up, and can be heard up to about 5 miles away.

Should we take the verse very literally, then the devil does tend to be sneaky, stalking like a lion...but then unlike a lion on the prowl, he is 'noisy' in an attempt to intimidate and seem powerful. The devil boasts fakery and imitation, and unless we don't buy into it, by not freezing up or fleeing, we can have victory. The call is to 'fight'. So be sober, and know your champion, as well as the adversary.

Be on the alert, brandish your tools, and recognize his tricks:

• "But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ... But you beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life." Jude 1:17, 20-21
• "...let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:8,9
• "...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
• "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." Galatians 5:25
• "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:10,11
• "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11

Meoww!

Prayer: Lord, dear Lord, find us to be delighted in You, and available to express rightly grounded desires in this freedom, and each opportunity brought. Rightly sighted, we shall feast upon your word, to the outcome of an effectively faithful reaching out, and equally faithful resistance to the adversary's ways. Help us to know, despite his noise, that thief ain't got no teeth. We shall fight with blessing, and let our light so shine, in Jesus' name. Amen!
By Bro. McNeal Brockington.