The prowling lion.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Remember your enemy is a legalist. The ‘lion’ is looking for the ones they have ‘ties’ to and can legally devour. Where have you ‘agreed’ with the enemy? What secret sin are you harboring that the enemy can legally utilize to enter your life? What resentment or grudge are you holding that allows the enemy to mess with your soul? What property of the enemy have you allowed into your home? The ‘lion’ is seeking legal entry into you and your home. Have you been under a lot of spiritual warfare?

These are all good questions to ask the Holy Spirit. If you ask the Holy Spirit to highlight any sins or iniquities in your life, would you be surprised by what He shows you? Or do you already know? We often don’t realize the enemy can only legally deal with you within God’s prevue. The enemy still has to work within the legal boundaries God has already determined. The enemy is the ‘created’ as well and thus can only work within the Creator’s realm. All of the known universe and unknown universe is God’s. And Jesus is King over it all. Are you keeping a ‘clean’ soul and short accounts with the Lord? Are you aware the smallest prompting from the Holy Spirit and repenting quickly? Do you carry an attitude of gratefulness?

So now Peter’s advice at the beginning of this verse carries weight. Be sober-minded. Figuratively this means to be ‘free from illusion’, or to have ‘one’s wits about them’, which is the opposite of being irrational. Obviously, it also means unintoxicated as well. The word ‘watch’ here means to be awake, alert, and observing. Are you vigilant in your spiritual awareness? Are you constantly asking the Holy Spirit for discernment as to what you are encountering throughout your day? What is invisible is usually more important than the visible. Are you even aware of the invisible?

What does it mean to be devoured by the enemy? One can still be alive and yet be in this state. The Greek word devour here is καταπίνω / katapinó / (kat-ap-ee’-no) which means to drink down, i.e. Gulp entire (literally or figuratively) — devour, drown, swallow (up). This is someone totally possessed by the enemy. Does it usually happen all at once? Not usually. The enemy usually does the devouring in steps that legally give them the right to do it. People can and do ‘invite’ the enemy in. Then they enter ‘legally’.

The enemy may not have the ‘right’ to completely devour you – but you may have inadvertently given them a right to have a claw in you. This is usually the secret sin or the thing you ignored the Holy Spirit about and pushed Him aside, thinking it is ‘nothing’. That ‘claw’ of the enemy can wreak havoc in your life if not dealt with. How do you deal with it? The Holy Spirit. Ask Him what you have to do. Acknowledge. Confess. Repent. Make amends. Any sin dragged into the light is so much easier to deal with. Be vigilant to ask the Holy Spirit of anything in your home or your soul that the enemy has ‘ties’ to that would give them a legal right to mess with you. This isn’t just a ‘one time’ thing. It is wise to make it a daily practice.

Not only are we among the wolves … there are lions out there as well – all seeking to devour someone. Don’t be that one.

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6