8. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.9. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Satan is active. We don't have to look far to see the results of his dirty work - marriages breaking up, rise in sexual perversions, pornography, anti-Christian bias, racism, riots, greed, injustice, and poverty. You must not let down your guard for even a little bit for Satan will take opportunities and eat away at them. Many Christians give in to the temptations and as a result it affects their faith and others.             

Simple flirting, for example, quickly turns into affairs. Innocent borrowing of a little cash quickly escalates into stealing. A little distortion of the truth so as not to embarrass oneself soon becomes a series of outright lies. A little pick me up with some drug soon captivates our desires for more. Sometimes, to relieve tension, easily builds into focusing more and more of our time and attentions on hobbies, pleasures, and materialism rather than on spiritual discipline and growth.             

Satan is full of deceit.  He is a liar. He is deadly seeking to devour anyone he can just like a lion in sheep's clothing.  If he can fill you with pride, he'll do it. If he can fill you with low self-esteem to keep you from using your gifts, he'll do it. If he can keep you preoccupied with unimportant things, he'll do it.           

There are times when the evil one will smack us in the face with adversity and outright temptation, but, more cunningly, he attacks while we are asleep spiritually - not dependent on God, not praying, and not seeking God's will for today. We cannot stand upon yesterday’s victories.             

What can we do to utilize the power and protection of the Lord? There is strength given by God if we really want it and are ready to do what we can to resist temptation when it comes our way. We cannot always live on an emotional height, but spiritual growth is a daily walk of faith regardless of our emotional ups and downs. It is obeying God in good times and bad times. This is why we are instructed to be sober, or self-controlled. We must have our minds under control.

How we are thinking makes a difference as to our protection against Satan whose job it is to destroy you and me.  We must be vigilant and always on guard.  His strategy is to counterfeit whatever God does.  According to the parable of the Wheat and the Tares, wherever God plants a true Christian, Satan seeks to plant a counterfeit.  He could deceive us were it not for the Word of God and Spirit of God. The better we know God's Word; the keener our spiritual senses will be to detect Satan at work. The Biblical way to protect ourselves is to resist him. Take our stand on the Word of God and refuse to be move. Be stubborn. Our weapons are the Bible, prayer, and the armor of God.             

Never get the idea that you are the only one going through these battles, because your Christian friends are facing the same trials. We must pray for one another and encourage each other in the Lord. Peter's call is to remember the brothers and sisters who are going through trials. I am surprised when people in church think they are the only ones with a particular problem, sin or temptation. I have hardly met anyone who in a general way isn’t faced with something someone else has gone through. We all suffer in different ways. We all have burdens we carry. We all hurt and bleed in some area of our lives that others do not know about. Marriages in conflict, problems with money, infidelity, depression, sin, dissatisfaction with work, the list goes on. 

Whatever you are facing, you are not alone. Even people, that you greatly admire with strong faith, who have faith worked out have hard times trusting God in the dark as well as in the light. This is what causes faith to grow.  Instead of pretending, pray for one another and encourage one another.  Satan delights in getting us into the attitude or self-pity or just giving up because of repeated failures. Don’t believe him. Do not let Satan have upper hand.  Stand firm believing God not your emotions and with a steadfast determination trust Him, follow Him and believe Him, for Satan will do everything he can in his power to cause you to fall, fail, and quit. God will give you a way out and strength to endure it.
 

(Check out 1 Corinthians 10:13).