Like a roaring lion

https://odb.org/2026/08/07/the-conqueror

1 Peter 5:6–11 (NIV): 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Before he became famous, the Mongolian warlord Genghis Khan (ca. ad 1162-1227) killed his own half brother to advance his position in the family. As he solidified his power, he began to build an empire more expansive than Alexander the Great’s, stretching from Asia’s Pacific coast to Eastern Europe. Ruthless, the Khan and his army left a trail of death and destruction everywhere they advanced.

Today we face a vicious foe even more intimidating than a marauding army—an enemy who wants to conquer and devastate our souls. The apostle Peter cautioned, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). This enemy is cunning and dangerous like a great warrior and is much more than we can handle on our own. The apostle John wrote, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). This “one who is in you” is the Holy Spirit Himself. We need not fear the enemy. (Bill Crowder, Our Daily Bread 7th August 2026)

What does the New Testament tell us about our “enemy the devil” (1 Peter 5:8)? First, it gives him a variety of names: “Satan,” which means “accuser” or “adversary” (Revelation 12:9-10); “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:24); “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4); “the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2); “the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3); “the great dragon” (Revelation 12:9); and the “ancient serpent” (20:2; see 2 Corinthians 11:3).

Second, Satan’s mission is “to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is opposed to God and seeks to drive a wedge between Him and humans. James says, “Submit yourselves . . . to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). The Holy Spirit will help us resist the devil and stand strong in Christ. (Alyson Kieda, Insight, Our Daily Bread, 7th August 2026)

By now we should all know who Satan or the devil is. He is the one who tempted Jesus after His 40-day fast just before Jesus started His ministry at the age of 30. Most importantly, the devil came in the form of the serpent and tricked Adam and Eve into sinning when they ate of the fruit from Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil by creating a doubt in their minds whether God actually disallowed that. But a trivial fact we should all know is that the first person to ever sinned against God was Lucifer (Satan’s angelic name), and not Adam and Eve, when he rebelled against God and he brought along one third of the angels down to earth after they were banished from heaven. That is why there are legions of demonic forces on earth. Satan was however not human but an angel. Thus his sin did not separate humanity from God.

Jesus refers to Satan as the ruler of this world. This is partly because Satan, amongst others, controls the 7 mountains or spheres of influence in society and over us as individual human beings. As revealed to 3 American evangelists/theologians separately – Bill Bright, Francis Schaeffer and Lorren Cunningham – we should first exert authority and break these 7 strongholds in the lives of individuals (in the spiritual realm) for us to reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is as Paul asserts in Ephesians 6:12, our fight is not against flesh and blood. The 7 mountains of influence in an individual’s life are: (1) religion, (2) family, (3) education, (4) government, (5) media, (6) arts & entertainment, and (7) business, and these form part of our culture and upbringing no matter where we live.

What I like to highlight this morning is not who the devil is, but the fact that he is a roaring lion that prowls around looking for someone to devour. While it is apt for Peter to use the analogy of a lion to describe the devil, Satan is actually worse than a real lion in the wild. A lion is ever-ready to kill for the next meal like all other brute beasts but they rarely make the effort when they have had their fill. Meals are hard to come by for carnivores in the wild but once they have eaten, they can sleep for hours and even days. But not the devil and his cohorts. They are never satisfied and their purpose and intent is always to kill, steal and destroy. They strive to kill off our relationship with God, steal away our peace and joy in the Lord and destroy our inheritance in the saints. They don’t do all these “in your face”. Instead, they are subtle and are great deceivers and temptors.

That is why Peter advises us to be alert and of sober mind. That means be vigilant and not reckless. The bird is already in our hands (our salvation). Don’t throw it away to catch two other birds (as in pursuing our own dreams), we may end up losing what the Lord already gave us. Or another illustration – when we were taking exams, we were taught not to spend too much time on one question as there are many more we need to answer in that allocated time. Dwelling too much and too long on one aspect of our life may well be a way the devil is subtly distracting us to bitterness and hatred or even depression and thus away from God and His calling for us. A lost love, a missed opportunity, a healing or promise that has yet to come to pass. Move on, the race is in progress. We need to strive on to reach the finish line.

Finally, when it comes to dealing with the devil and his evil plans, James teaches in James 4:7 to resist him and he will flee from us! For indeed greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Stand firm on our faith and God Himself will restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast (1 Peter 5:10)! Amen!