Today’s Inspiration – D is for Devil
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9
Be sober — See 1 Thessalonians 5:6.
Keep your appetites and passions under proper restraint and government, or awake, as υηψανε also signifies; namely, to a deep sense of the certainty and importance of things invisible and eternal;
be vigilant — Watchful against the subtle and malicious designs of your spiritual enemies. As if he had said, Awake, and keep awake; sleep no more; be this your care, while you cast your temporal and anxious cares on God. How deeply had Peter himself suffered for want of the wakeful vigilance which he here recommends!
Because your grand adversary, the devil, full of rage, as a roaring lion — Fierce and hungry, walketh about — Watching for an opportunity to insnare and destroy you;
seeking — With all subtlety likewise, whom he may assault with the greatest likelihood of success, and devour — Swallow up both soul and body. This manner of speaking strongly expresses the insatiable rage of this enemy of mankind to hinder their salvation, and the danger we are in from his devices and snares. He sometimes attacks the people of God in person, though not visibly, and sometimes by his ministers, the other evil spirits who are in league with him; and sometimes by wicked men, his subjects, whom he instigates to tempt them by the terror of persecution.
This account of the devil’s malice is given with great propriety by Peter, to whom our Lord had said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31-32
Whom resist — As you regard your safety and life, be careful to oppose him in all his assaults; steadfast in the faith — Firmly believing the truths and promises of the gospel, and adhering constantly to, and confiding in Christ, in whom all these truths and promises are yea and amen.
To show the efficacy of faith, in enabling us to resist temptation, St. Paul calls it a shield, Ephesians 6:16, wherewith the fiery darts of the wicked one may be quenched;
knowing that the trials with which you are exercised are not peculiar to you, but that the same afflictions which you are called to sustain are accomplished in — That is, suffered by; your brethren that are in the world — Till the measure allotted them is filled up, and you may reasonably hope that the same grace which is their support will be also yours.
SOURCE: Benson Commentary
The inspiration for these alphabet verses came from Crossroad
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