"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong" - 1 Cor 16:13 (NIV).
Many people around the world with valuables feel a need to take on a guard. A typical job description of a guard normally includes an expectation of someone who will be on alert making sure there is no interfearence from intruders. A good guard is constantly on the watch and is tuned to sense anything that could border on intrusion and quickly warn the concerned. Guards tend to be muscled as they may have to fight off or scare away dangerous intruders.
The Christian life requires of us to be constantly on guard. This is because there is an enemy constantly hovering about us ready to intrude and cause harm. This happened to the Lord Jesus himself. Once after predicting the events leading to his crucifixion, "Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!' (Mathew 16:22). But Jesus was very alert. "Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns" (vv 23).
Jesus was on guard, quick to sense that an enemy was prowling about and had to be warded off. That enemy is never asleep. As Job 2:2 notes, "And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” Satan is of course on a mission to "kill and destroy" (John 10:10).
Effective guards must have weapons that can aid them in warding off the enemy. One of the weapons the Lord has given us is the power of his word. When Satan once sought to tempt Jesus, up on a mountain, after a fast, he was duly rebuked: "Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mathew 4:4). May the power of His word indwell in us to fend off the enemy, Satan, in all his guises.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, may I constantly be on guard against Satan's schemes and through the power of the Word cast him off asunder, this I pray in Jesus's name.
