1st Book of Peter, chapter 5, verses 6-14.
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
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Peter reminds us that we have an enemy, that the devil is a real force that seeks to take us out. Just as the Holy Spirit motivates us, and we have angels at our disposal, there are fallen angels who are at work in the human population. Satan and his evil spirits are our real enemies, the ones we make war against.
The devil and his angels, for whom hell is reserved (Matthew 25:41), are quite effective at exploiting our weaknesses. That is why we are warned not to give a place to him (Ephesians 4:27), and to resist him (James 4:7), and not to be ignorant of his schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). We are explicitly warned by Paul: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons…” (1 Timothy 4:1).
Because we live in a world where God is seldom acknowledged, nor do they submit to Him, the door has been left wide open for every unclean spirit to come in and spread their master’s social contagions of confusion and fear. While our thought leaders and their institutions have expunged the knowledge of God from vast swathes of the population, the devil has come in to fill that void. But he does not have to fill YOUR heart and mind. As God himself warned Cain, “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7 NIV). The choice is yours.