Title: Oppose the Devil! (1 Peter 5:7-11)
1. Don't worry.
“Cast all your anxieties on the Lord” (verse 7). Casting all your anxieties on the Lord is the most effective way to resist the devil. Because worry is the devil's way of attacking humans. You should know that there are no words anywhere in the Bible. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).
Therefore, those who believe in God should cast all their anxieties on God and believe in God's providence and power to prevent the devil from attacking us.
2. We must be awake and pray.
“Be sober. Awake” (verse 8). Just as a thief cannot enter a house that is awake and does not sleep, so the devil can never attack someone who is spiritually awake. Therefore, those who do not pray are not afraid of the devil. When the devil makes the saints fall, he blocks prayer first. It takes time to pray. God makes us pray, wishes for prayer, and loves and blesses those who pray. Those who pray awake because the devil cannot attack them, so if they pray, they will win, and if they pray, the devil will retreat. I pray that the saints will wake up and pray.
3. We must strengthen our faith.
“Strengthen your faith and oppose him” (verse 9). To strengthen your faith here means to arm yourself with the word. Because the Word is the foundation of faith, and the devil is afraid of faith armed with the Word. In Matthew 4, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, He did not oppose anything else, but only the Word. Because the devil fears the word of God the most, you should know that the word is a powerful weapon to defeat the devil. Because God's blessings are given through the Word, the devil keeps the saints away from the Word in order to prevent them from receiving blessings. It makes the Word trivial, and induces them to think that it is troublesome to listen to the Word and keep it. Therefore, listening to the Word carefully and keeping it is the way to resist the devil. I hope that you will be armed with the Word to strengthen your faith and become spiritually strong believers.