5-22-2015

 Good Morning All!!

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

    I used to watch a TV program called “Hill Street Blues”.  It was a police drama that ran in the early to mid-1980’s.  The show always started with the same intro.  A group of policemen were in a meeting room going over what to watch for in their next shift.  Soon it would break down in a raucous exchange until the sergeant would yell, “HEY!, let’s be careful out there.”  This always quieted everyone down as they all realized that what they were doing was a dangerous profession.

    I wonder sometimes if, at the end of a worship service, I should make the same statement.  “Hey! Let’s be careful out there.”  I wonder sometimes if we get complacent about our world and about our life.  And yet when we leave that service or when we end our devotion time, perhaps even during it, the devil is prowling around seeking someone to devour.  This is scary in itself but the devil has an ally and it is our own sinful nature, our own sinful heart.

    So when the devil comes around and whispers in our ear often times our heart is willing to listen.  He whispers things like; “you’re so smart, you know what you do will always be right.” Or “all this wealth you have; it is proof that God loves you more.”  Or “you are aware of so much in your community; you need to make sure everyone knows.”  Or “if only others were as good as you.”  We hear and listen and if we are not careful; we can be ensnared by the devil.

    This is especially true for pastors.  I often think they are under the devil’s greatest threats.  If the devil can destroy a pastor, he can cripple a church.  But there are so many others in the same situation.  If the devil can destroy a teacher, he can cripple a classroom of students.  If he can destroy a husband or a wife, he can cripple a marriage, a family, a whole community as it takes sides.  If the devil can get a parent, he can ruin a child for years to come.  We are all under this threat and this attack.  If the devil can get you, he can wreak a lot of havoc and damage.

    So what do we do?  “Be careful out there!”  Read the Scriptures, know God’s Word and come to him often in prayer and confession.  Come to your fellow believers in honest confession as well.  But above all know that you, as a Christian, are a target for the devil and that your fellow believers are as well.  So pray for each other and when one slips and falls; encourage, repair and restore one another in love.  We are safe in God’s loving arms but we need to take care; the devil seeks to destroy.  “HEY! Be careful out there.”

Father, you guard and protect me from all evil.  Yet often times I wander away and become trapped.  Keep me from harm and danger.  Keep me from harming others through my foolishness.  Keep all safe. Be with those who are especially being afflicted by the devil.  Strengthen them from all the devil’s hurls at them.  Hide us in the shelter of your wings.  In the precious name of Jesus, our Ascended Lord we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret