Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV).

The enemy’s strategy is to divide and conquer. A pack of African wild dogs epitomize the devil’s tactics. When a pack of wild dogs hunt, the first thing they do is separate the chosen prey out of the herd. Then, once they’ve isolated the chosen prey from the herd they harry and hound it, they start to wear it down, until eventually, exhausted, and no longer able to defend itself, they close in for the kill.

Be on your guard. Don’t allow yourself to be cut off from your church family. Don’t go it alone. God made us to share life – He made us for community. If something or someone is separating you from your church, isolating you from God’s people, or cutting you off from fellowship, then see it for what it is; it’s the devil’s ploy to divide and conquer.

Be on your guard. You may be leading a life of busyness and drivenness – going flat out all the time. The devil’s ploy is to keep you running – to burn you out in order to take you out. If you’re too tired to read God’s Word, if you’re too busy to attend Sunday worship, if you’re too exhausted to connect with a midweek Life Group, or if you’re just plain overwhelmed, then recognize it for what it is; it’s the devil’s ploy to take your life.

Be on your guard. God has made known to you the path of life (cf. Psalm 16:11). If you submit to Christ and resist the devil, you will find fullness of life, you will be victorious. So fight for your life. Because “the glory of God is man fully alive” Irenaeus.