“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)

In one of the most striking passages in the Bible, we have a telling glimpse of how Satan operates. “One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 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” (Job 1:6-7).

Satan then asks God to remove a hedge around his servant Job, whom without wasting, he strikes with all manner of terrors (vv 13- 19). Here, we see that Satan is never at still, and works 24/7 looking for his prey.

The Apostle Peter shares in our leading verse that there is always an enemy hovering about, here and there. Satan shows up wherever God’s servants are steadily working and is certainly never amused. So he quickly starts waging warfare through all manner of attacks, of which he has mastered since he fell from grace (Isaiah 14: 12-14).

This is why nothing in the life of a Christian counts as being ever on guard. One of the elements of being on guard is also being discerning. Because he is a cunning and full of deceit, Satan does not penetrate his targets just anyhow. He very often starts by concealing himself as an “angel of light” with a good cover until one day he reveals fully who he is.

To grow in discernment one has to be filled with the spirit of the Lord, just as Christ was and his disciples were after Pentecost! The spirit of the Lord enables Believers to constantly be aware of Satan’s range of dirty schemes. The Holy Spirit empowers us to expose and cast off, all the dirty schemes of Satan, at any time, for all what they are!

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray to be ever on guard against the wiles of Satan and be filled with your Holy spirit for discernment to arrest and overcome all his devil’s schemes, this I pray in Jesus’ name.