Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Pray and See podcast. I'm Brian Brooks, your host. I'm glad to connect with you to share how God moves through prayer in our Youth for Christ ministries and some things I've seen in my own life.
Speaker: Does it feel like the world is getting louder while your prayer life gets quieter? Today on the Pray and See podcast, we dive into 1 Peter 5, 8 through 10 to uncover why the roar of the enemy is meant to distract you and how God's promise to restore and establish you is the ultimate final word. Let's pray and see what God does and who he is.
Speaker: Pray along with me. God, I have days like yesterday where I wake up feeling great, motivated to connect with you, to face the day. Then there's days like today where I wake up feeling de drained and the day has barely started.
Speaker: Days like this are hard to connect with you and pray, but thank you that you are a God who keeps your promises to us, that you want to personally restore us and strengthen us. Would you do that for each person listening right now?
Speaker: Amen. Wednesday night, I got to spend time with two of our leaders in training. These are young adults, recent high school grads that were mentoring,
Speaker: We're helping them learn how to be an adult, how to become a spiritual influencer and leader for students in YFC to point their friends, their families, their coworkers to God. We sit down and have dinner.
Speaker: and ask an intro question of, what are you thankful for? So I asked these two. Deja said, I'm thankful that God answers prayer. I prayed about something that was important to me, and I know that God answered the prayer. Well, after a little bit of coaxing, we asked her, what'd you pray about?
Speaker: Well, she was praying for her friend to be able to live in a more stable and safe environment. And that happened. It worked out. She says God answered her prayer.
Speaker: For Anthony, he shared about God providing a new job for him. and I asked him, how did you know it was God? Well, he shared about praying. He'd been asking God to provide a next step for him to get a different, hopefully better job.
Speaker: He did the interviews, filled out the application, and left the rest in God's hands to provide. And God did. Anthony sees that as an answer to prayer. Awesome.
Speaker: Way back in episode 15, we talked about seeing what is really happening. Praying to see the spiritual reality that God is involved in moving. In this passage today in 1 Peter 5, we're looking at being spiritually awake recognizing God in the midst of the dark and suffering. Today's point is wake up and stand firm. Over the last few episodes, we've been developing a practice of letting God's Word fuel our prayers, and we've been looking at 1 Peter 5. In episode 25, we saw how to turn your panic into prayer.
Speaker: Rather than hold on to anxiety and worry, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5 to cast our anxieties on God because He cares for us. There are struggles that are internal, that are inside of us.
Speaker: But the Bible also says there's a real external struggle outside of us. Listen to these verses from 1 Peter 5. Be sober-minded. Be watchful.
Speaker: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. After you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Speaker: To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. In these verses, Peter pivots from the internal struggle of anxiety to the external reality of spiritual warfare.
Speaker: He warns us we have an active enemy, the devil, looking for an opening. But he counters that fear with a massive promise. Suffering is temporary, and the global family of faith is standing with us.
Speaker: and God himself will personally restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish those who endure. Peter talks about God's people as vulnerable sheep.
Speaker: Not sheep who are stupid or brainless, but sheep who need a shepherd's protection from all kinds of threats. Like some animals in nature, they have other animals hunting them down.
Speaker: Here, Peter says the animal that's hunting us down is a lion, and the lion is God's enemy, the devil. Lions, they attack quickly.
Speaker: They attack in a vicious way when their victim doesn't suspect it, and they're going about doing their normal things. We need to wake up and stand firm. Watch out.
Speaker: Wake up spiritually to the reality that there is an enemy. It's not people. that are the enemy, but it's spiritual forces aligned against God, opposing his goodness and his people. Demons are involved here and they can influence people. That that influence from demons can take a variety of forms like outward persecution of Christians, slander and spreading lies, people being stuck in self-destructive behavior,
Speaker: or maybe even a sudden and unexplained wave of strong negative emotions and many other things. While it's wrong to and ignore the devil's existence, it's also wrong to shrink in fear before him.
Speaker: Peter tells us instead to resist him, standing firm in your faith. and resistance to the devil's attacks, they will be successful. Prayer is one of the ways we can resist the devil. Peter adds our experience of suffering isn't only unique to us, but it should be expected by Christians everywhere, all over the world.
Speaker: And that suffering is temporary. But in that context, the global family of faith is standing with us. and God himself will personally restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish those who endure.
Speaker: God will restore. it could be in this life, but it'll definitely also be in heaven when we're with Jesus face to face. all loss will soon be made right forever. Wake up and stand firm. This is talking about being vigilant. That may not be a word that you use every day. Here's what it means. means being watchful.
Speaker: Be on your guard. Be alert. Have your head on a swivel to see what's going on. Be attentive. Focus on God rather than getting distracted by the noise.
Speaker: Have situational awareness. knowing what's happening around you so you're not blindsided. Have spiritual clarity. This is the opposite of being drowsy. Be ready. Not just watch, but be on call for whatever God has or asks. Vigilance, it's really just the opposite of spiritual drift. It's the choice to stop sleepwalking through your faith and finally wake up to the battle and the grace that's around you. Wake up and stand firm Here's a challenge or two for you today. Spend a few minutes.
Speaker: Could be two, could be five minutes, doesn't matter. Spend a few minutes in silence before you pray to God. Ask Him to show you where you may have become spiritually drowsy, indifferent, or like my daughter says, meh.
Speaker: Ask Him to wake your heart back up to the reality of His grace. and to the needs of people around you. Peter calls us to be sober-minded, to wake up. Are there any digital or emotional distractions that you've been using lately to numb out?
Speaker: rather than connecting with God and other people? Talk to him about that. And then last, how does knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering, how does knowing that change the way you view your own struggles?
Speaker: Look up a country where followers of Jesus are being persecuted and suffering for their faith. Pray for them. Thanks for listening. Share this podcast with friends, family, and students who are interested in connecting with God or you think could be encouraged today.
Speaker: And if there's something you'd like to hear more about with prayer, send me a line at pray at C-O-Y-F-C dot org. Pray and See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
Speaker: Look us up on social media and we'll see you next time.
