Seeking

Seeking

12/21/17

All of us have sought something or someone in our lives.  Seeking a career or eternal mate is just a few of the “somethings” that we try our best to find.  But at the same time we must contend that some of those who walk around is not on the same peaceful level that we are and when we see these individuals we must be on guard or we will not be to defend ourselves when they attack those who they have targeted, a procedural advancement of Satan’s own kingdom.  This occurs not only in the physical but in the spiritual also and if we are adequately prepared for our defense our protection level will be noticed and therefore a chosen target.  God is the only one that can perfectly provide such a protection and guide us through such troublesome times and the only way to understand how to receive this protection is to live under His Word and to listen for His voice.

I am going to start out by asking a question and that question goes like this.  When you are out shopping for anything, whether it be groceries, gifts, or cars do you always pay attention to what is going on around you or do you hear every word that is spoken from others who are passing you by?  We all know that it is impossible for us to know every little detail that goes on around us and that we cannot always be looking around when others are close either.  For if we did the people who we were conversing with would believe that we were not interested in what they had to say and basically wasting their time.  With the world that we live in today it is easy to become distracted with all of the issues and gadgets that are around us and that we possess, but at the same time if we place these issues aside and when the opportunity arises we can understand what is going on systematically and know how to be prepared.

While that is a great utopian belief, we all know that the state of peaceful attractions just does not exist.  So we confine ourselves to our own little drawn out spaces of comfort and try our best to ignore what goes on around us, marking a dangerous game that our enemy counts on for his competitive edge.  Why would we even subject ourselves to such an environment or weakened position?  But we do, and we live throughout each day in this mode and one by one we are paying for it dearly.  We seem not too worried when we hear about one or two people that lose their lives in a certain manner but take it out on others when a fellow like-minded conditioned person dies in some tragic manner or if a large scale atrocity is committed by another human somewhere else in the world.  And yet, through all of these tragedies no matter how big or small we still fail to understand the importance of life, who is directly behind such ugliness and who to call upon to end such devastating settings.  In 1 Peter 5:8 we come to the last portion of this verse and the mission of the roaring lion (Satan) is finally exposed and it is through this phrase which gives us the truth about what the goal is for Satan when it comes to our lives.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

A couple of words here that we must focus on in order to grasp the real and deep meaning of this verse and what Peter is trying to get across to the church.  The first is the verb seeking, and it comes from the Greek word “zeton” which means something is seeking in order to find a specific object.  It gives us that Satan is looking for a specific target at this moment and he has a specific plan as well and not just haphazardly going around in some type of disorganized fashion.  He is serving a purpose and has a reason as to why he is at that specific place.  We have always been taught that Satan is out to get us and that he wants nothing more than to see our lives suffer and it is this portion of Scripture that gives us the proof that what we have been taught is correct.  This Greek word alone sets the tone for what type of determination Satan has and through this action of his, he is gaining strength to complete the mission he has set forth against you.  This is advancement and one that is subject to his presence and command and when the time is right that line of advancement strikes and ends your life.  You wanted an example of Satan’s kingdom at work, now you have one.  The most frightening portion of this word is that it is an action verb which means that this line of advancement is always on the move looking and searching for someone to destroy.

The word “tina” is the next important word that we come to and has the Greek meaning of “whom” which serves as a pronoun.  Now, most of you are aware that I am not an English major nor do I have a great command of the English language and I am not going to go overboard on the meaning of a pronoun but when this word is used here it is brilliantly placed in such a way that while meaning one thing gives way to a specific target of people for a part of the definition of a pronoun is referring to a noun that does not need to be named specifically.  Satan does not care who he targets as long as it is a human being who draws breath.  If we have no real clue how God’s Word lives and how it should direct our life, then we are sitting ducks especially when we are spiritually looking at our phones and not paying attention to what God is trying to tell us.

If this word was replaced with a specific title or group then it would be easy for us to shy away from such an occupation, origin, or position, but God’s Word does not say this and Peter writes it our brilliantly when he uses the word that God gave him to use.  For it allows us to understand that Satan is searching for anyone that is around him that does not know what his presence means or what his kingdom wants to do to your life.  This means that anyone who does not understand and is actively living through the Word of God is singled out for such destruction.  It does not matter what type of condition you are in or have just come through nor does it matter what political divide you adhere to and it really does not matter what ethnic group you hail from either.  This word alone and the meaning of its definition proves that God does not care about any of your physical groups or life origins, He only wants your heart and spirit to be lined up correctly with Him under His Ways.  Another way of defining this word here is anyone who does not understand the ways and methods of the enemy AND who does not understand and know the Ways and Means of God either.  It has always amazed me to have God show me how a single word divinely positioned within a verse or passage that has the power to change the substance of our physical and eternal lives.

We have previously talked about how Satan and his kingdom understand your life and what your presence with God eternally means.  Satan also understands that we have a tendency to forget about this eternal side of our lives and live just in the present and physical, which it is Satan who has tricked us to live in such condition.  Every day we hear about someone being subjected to a harmful or embarrassing setting and they instantly give up and decide to end their life.  When things go bad for some of us we give up and do not try to understand the true meaning of our lives and turn to other substances for comfort instead.  I could go on and provide many more instances and examples but I believe you understand the point that is being made here because even when people who call themselves Christians fall into temptation or disbelief they too lose sight of the truth and fall prey to the roaring lion.  It frustrates me that more people do not understand that Satan has the home court advantage and yet we automatically turn over the valued prize (us) to his kingdom without knowing why these attacks are occurring, talk about giving him more control and space to devour us.

We now come to the reason why the devil, our adversary, who is roaring like a lion, walking around freely and without agitation, is hanging around and that is to devour our lives with the processes of his kingdom.  The word devour that is used here is the Greek word “katapiein” which is directly translated as to devour or swallow up and furthermore, to destroy.  Can this word provide a clearer definition of the purpose of Satan’s kingdom than this word alone?  This word is not associated in any way with god or the things God represents but of Satan himself for it is his name that Peter uses here in this verse.  Why would we give an enemy any advantage over us especially one who has the direct message of destroying our existence, and why would any being have a goal of death and destruction towards any other being?  That question is easily answered by knowing just how much hatred lies within that kingdom leader.

Here lies a huge problem with humans and that is knowing who is an enemy, who harbors hatred within and who do not exhibit such qualities.  We must keep in mind this word devour here and focus on the purity of the word itself.  Just as with the word “tina” used in the same verse this word is a specific yet general verb because it gives the description of a process but it does not define a single pathway to obtain such completion.  This means that there are numerous ways that our enemy can complete his mission against us but he must follow a certain path in order to obtain his goal.  This is where we must NEVER forget that Satan is a defeated loser and must have direct access in order to mess with our lives.  If we voluntarily give him this access or if we have doors that we have refused to close, both spiritually and generationally, his motives and opportunities are unlimited.  It is this portion of our lives that we need to recognize then close before Satan has the opportunity to use them against our lives.  This is exactly how Satan gets his claws into our lives and torments us with things that involve us with the world.  The world is a literal death trap and the spirit that it holds shall destroy our lives without even blinking an eyelid.

It is through this process of devouring that we lose our place in Romans 8:37 where Paul teaches us that we are more than conquerors which means if we are more than conquerors then there must be a huge error in our ways in order for us to go from being a conqueror to being prey and being devoured by our enemy.  Prey is separated from the herd and singled out for the predator.  Also, the predator knows exactly who the prey can be, for a Gazelle will not be a predator against a lion the order is not correct here.  If God’s Word says we are more than conquerors then why have we allowed the Gazelle (us) to become the prey of the defeated one (Satan)?  Romans 8:37 should not be regarded as a conditional statement or truth but we have allowed it to become one because we have disowned God’s Word from our heart and bought into the lies of the enemy which promote selfish reasoning instead of unity with God being the center of our existence.  It is heart-wrenching to watch people de in eternal separation from God because the Church has become so divided on who is right or wrong instead of teaching the Word of God in its entirety.

It is clear here that Satan is seeking out those who he can destroy and the definition of those who can be destroyed are the ones not living under Romans 8:37 which is now the majority of the world and has been for eons of time previous.  We must never forget that this portion of this verse is a constant, for as the previous portions state our enemy is in continual pursuit of who he may devour.  Many times in Scriptures we find God’s people falling asleep or not paying attention to their surroundings but never do we find where our enemy is lax or taking a break in any form.  His divisionary tactics have taken a toll on our lives and have split the Church into many sects that cannot seem to gather any truthful momentum and represent God to a dying world.  We have blended in with the world so much that we do not recognize this lion and his roar as being a threat and if we do not see this noise and know who our enemy is then there is no way that we can effectively proclaim the true Hope to those who do not know God.

It is also sad to stand by and watch Satan devour our friends and family that stand right next to us or walk right in front of our spiritual eyes.  But this is of no consequence to our existence either for we have isolated the physical as being the center of our attention which means that we are numb to the spiritual and the eternal.  It is for this reason alone that when people leave this earth we hear nothing about their eternal placement for we care not to think about it then which in turn means we do not think about it while we draw breath either.  How can we even say we are followers of Christ if we are more concerned who is politically accurate and which side Jesus may represent?  Our show means nothing to God and He could care less if you are political or not because we have been tasked to teach the Gospel to the dying world and NOT gain political votes for a physical candidate.

To call out our enemy when he attacks a family member or when he harasses a friend is recognizing the enemy and represents a person who knows when his presence is around.  When our enemy is recognized and then called out through the name of Jesus that is the prime example of understanding Kingdom principles and knowing the definition of the two kingdoms involved for your eternal placement.  There is nothing good about the kingdom of Satan and the opposite is true there is nothing bad about the Kingdom of God but we need to keep this verse in our hearts at all time for if we don’t we shall be easily fooled of what is the world and what is from God.  Matthew 7:7 states that we will find whatever we seek and that verse includes either kingdom, for if we seek the world we will definitely find the world and vice versa when it concerns the Kingdom of God.

Lastly, we must consider the ending to the word devour for once one is devoured there is no hope of rescuing them.  Their lives are over and have reached a point where they lay in ruin and dead.  They are mush with no recognizable formation present and thus thrown away for no energy or life remains inside them.  At this time, our enemy has advanced his kingdom of death and it now includes your eternal separation from God.  It does not matter if I am talking to a single person, a small group, a large congregation of a church, or a nation when this time arrives, Satan has won and your life is destroyed.  You have ignored the warnings you have failed to learn how to be sober and have refused to be vigilant so you have not noticed your enemy creeping up on you either.  Satan has sought you out and has accomplished his mission all because you did not know the things that had been fed to you were complete lies.  Being devoured means to be in a completely devastated and destroyed state, to be eaten and then cease living.  This is what the kingdom of Satan wants for your life and nothing less.

I have great news for each one of you and that is whoever is reading this article has not reached the point of being devoured by our enemy.  You still have a fighting chance to win and to come out of your condition as victorious but you must return to God in order for this to occur.  Church, we have messed up royally as the phrase goes but there is a small window of opportunity to turn our mission and hearts around and to once again go out and see the harvest.  Satan sees the harvest as well and he is in the process of cutting down that harvest for himself and he has had that privilege way too long.  God is the only way possible for our salvation and through His Son our path is easy but it is a choice of 100% or none at all because these two eternal kingdoms can never mix on any level.  This verse defines this truth and through its words gives us the knowledge of what our enemy desires and it also gives us the authority to advance God’s Kingdom as well.

Church, let us dive into not only the meaning of this verse but every verse that God has provided us in His Word.  It is the knowledge and wisdom that God gives us through the Bible that prevents Satan from even getting close to our lives.  It is this hope and harmony that we all want to live in and to display so why don’t we turn to the One who can provide it for us?  It is a simple question and has an even simpler answer but for many of us our pride and our selfishness come first and at the end of the day we go to bed with both of these killers.  Separate yourselves from the world, Church and fulfill what Christ wants His followers to do.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God and I guarantee that your seeking shall never be in vain and the seeking that our enemy has for us shall be noticed immediately.

DLB