“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
(1 Peter 5:8–9, NIV – adapted)
When Evil Feels Closer Than Ever
These days, we often hear about incredibly brutal stories in the news. Sometimes I wonder, “Is it because the internet is more developed now? Or have people truly become more cruel?”
Through all kinds of media, we hear about crimes so violent and so inhuman that it’s hard to believe a human being could do such things.
It almost feels as if a demon, wearing a human face, has gone out and done these things.
There is real evil in this world. We all know that.
And yet, I’ve sometimes met Christians who deny the existence of evil spirits.
They believe in the unseen God, but refuse to believe in unseen evil, even though Scripture clearly speaks about it. I always found that quite strange.
The Reality of the Enemy
Until the Lord returns, evil spirits are at work in this world. This is a biblical reality.
The enemy moves about, acting like a ruler of this age, and in very clever and intelligent ways tries to lead people—those made in the image of God—onto the road of destruction.
With all kinds of lies, he seeks to rule their lives and push them away from God and away from salvation.
He uses whatever he can—wealth, reputation, popularity, approval from others, dreams, self-love, relationships—almost anything to become an idol in people’s hearts.
Called to Be Awake and Pray
As Christians, we cannot be indifferent to this.
We have been commanded to be sober-minded and alert, and to watch and pray.
We have been given a calling to pray for ourselves, for our families, for the church, and for the whole world.
Yet many Christians live in almost the same way as those who do not know Jesus.
If we keep bowing down to money in the same way the world does, if we chase the pleasures this world offers without stopping, and if we do not pray—what will we be able to say when we stand before God?
We need to return to the place of prayer.
With our own strength, we can never protect people from the enemy’s clever, subtle, and destructive schemes. We simply cannot help them by our own power.
Except through prayer.
A World Under False Peace and Deep Darkness
We live in a world where drugs, alcohol, death, human trafficking, gambling, addictions of every kind, sexual immorality, and pleasure-seeking are everywhere.
Thoughts that oppose God, and evil spirits that rule these systems, seem to reign in many places.
People who have not received Jesus as their Savior often live caught between a false sense of peace and deep depression and anxiety.
They live under the influence of the enemy, moving weakly under his shadow. And these very people pass us by dozens of times a day.
Standing Firm in Faith, Reaching Out in Love
I believe God wants His children to stay awake in prayer, so that in the midst of this world, we will reach out our hands to those who are under the rule of evil spirits and darkness.
We are called to share Jesus Christ, who is life.
We are called to help people step out of a life of slavery to sin and death, and into new life, a new identity, and the path of becoming children of God.
This is the kind of intense spiritual battle that is going on.
In such a time, we must be awake and we must pray.
The enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour—even at this very moment.
And yet, in Christ, we are not helpless. We can stand firm in faith, resist him, and pray for a world that so desperately needs the light and life of Jesus.