Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 4.1MB)
PROGRAM D-7663
Have you ever been on a safari? Because I have traveled to Africa many times to teach, I’ve been privileged to take a few short safaris in Tanzania and Kenya, and it is something else to see those lions in their natural habitat. As beautiful as they are, none of us jump out of the touring van in order to pet those lions, because we know that they would love to have us for lunch!
In 1 Peter 5:8 we read:
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
We’ve seen how lions use darkness as a cover, and in the dark hours and moments of your life, you have to expect an attack from the devil. Our enemy is also clever, like a lion, to attack us when we least expect it, and that’s why we must be self-controlled and alert.
If you watch a lion stalking a group of wildebeests or gazelles—and I have literally seen this happen—you will notice that they attack the one who strays from the herd. The lion will patiently wait, hiding in the weeds, until that one just strays away and then it becomes an easy prey for the lion.
My dear friends, this is one of the main reasons we need to be actively engaged in a local church; we need to be a part of a close fellowship, a small Bible study group, and we should faithfully attend services, participate in serving at our churches, and stick close to our Christian “herd,” as it were.
I’m amazed to hear the excuses people come up with for not regularly attending church:
- Don’t like the preacher
- Too many hypocrites
- Nobody is friendly to me
- Church is too big
- Church is too small
- Don’t like the music
- Service is too long
And the list goes on. We are admonished not to
“give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
What Day is approaching? The Day of Judgment, when we will be called to give an account to God for the stewardship of our time, money and talents here on earth.
If you are a believer, and you’re not firmly connected with a good Bible-teaching church, you are a sitting duck for that roaring lion. You need others in the Body of Christ for protection and cover, so please make that a very high priority in your life.