We’ve been looking at the Apostle Peter’s exhortation to leaders in his first epistle. In my last post I talked about the call that all believers have to become a leader.

Now Peter gives us a warning. As you rise to leadership, the enemy puts a bigger target on your back. This is a realization that all Christian leaders need to understand.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8 NIV

In this verse, Peter literally tells us to stay sober and awake. I believe that he’s talking about not being intoxicated by the distractions of the world. Also, we need to be awake to the voice of the Holy Spirit, guiding and directing us.

The Apostle Paul talks about this same thing.

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 NIV

He makes it clear that we’re not like the world. We walk in the light of the Holy Spirit. So, we’re awake and sober, armed for battle. That’s the attitude of a warrior, trained for victory.

Yes, we’re in a battle. We need to know our enemy. Peter describes him to us in the above verse.

He calls the devil our adversary. In the Greek, that’s a compound word that means anti-right. He’s against everything the Lord stands for.

Unfortunately, many think the devil is simply a fairy tale. All I can say is that if you try to do a major work for God, then you’ll find out the truth of the devil’s existence.

This verse tells us that the enemy hunts like a roaring lion. But normally they’re absolutely silent. A roaring lion is one who has gotten too old for that kind of hunting. He may have even lost some of his teeth.
So, the younger lions move out in front of the prey, while the old toothless lion roars, and scares the prey so that they run right into the trap set by the younger ones. This older lion then lets the young ones rip the prey apart. Then he eats the carved-up pieces.
That word devour, in the above verse, literally means to gulp down in one bite. The roaring lion is not looking for a fight. He doesn’t want to go one on one with the prey. All he wants to do is to scare it into a trap.
As leaders, we need to realize the devil is looking for someone with a victim mentality. The last person the devil wants to deal with is a Christian fully armed and standing on God’s Word.
Stay in prayer and in the Word so that you are spiritually self-controlled and alert. Then you will not become the devil’s punching bag.

Question: How spiritually sober and awake are you?

© 2025 Nick Zaccardi