Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Victory Through God's Presence, Prayer, and SurrenderSample

Stay Alert

The apostle Peter liked to say things exactly the way he felt them. His letters are full of strong exhortations about things he wanted people to understand. One of those is found in 1 Peter 5:8: “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (NLT).

It’s no wonder that Peter said this so bluntly. A few years earlier, Peter had experienced probably the greatest disaster and shame of his life through his own failure to discern Satan’s attack.

On the night that Jesus was about to be betrayed and executed, Jesus told his disciples that all of them would abandon him that night. Peter vocally protested, promising that he would stand by Jesus regardless of what anyone else did. But hours later, when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus.

Jesus forgave and restored Peter, just as he does when we fail. But Peter never forgot that night. No longer would he assume that he was too strong to fall victim to Satan’s attacks or too wise to be fooled by his lies. And he wanted his readers to be alert as well.

Satan hasn’t stopped looking for ways to distract us, tempt us, intimidate us, and—if possible-destroy us. He isn’t passively waiting for us to fall. He is actively hunting, looking for a weakness he can exploit.

He is not foolish or inexperienced. He has been attacking humanity since Adam and Eve, and he knows what works. If he can find a weakness in us, he will exploit it.

The apostle Paul, who had at one time been so deceived himself by the devil that he actively persecuted Christians and approved of their deaths, challenged the early church to act carefully and wisely “so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes” (2 Corinthians 2:11, NLT).

The word “schemes” in the Greek is noēma, meaning “mind,” “thought,” or “purpose.”

It refers to mental attacks—plans to influence and twist your thinking away from truth.

He wants you to believe his lies, just as Adam and Eve did.

But that is not your destiny. The Holy Spirit lives in you, guiding you into “all truth” (John 16:13) and helping you avoid Satan’s traps.

Stay alert. Use the wisdom and discernment God has given you. You can stand firm in the face of the lion’s threats. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can silence the roar of the enemy with the voice of truth, the Word of God.

Reflection Questions

1. What is a time I fell victim to one of Satan’s traps? How did God restore me? What lesson did I learn from that?
2. In what areas of my life today do I need to be more alert to Satan’s schemes?