Lewis Memorial UMC

There are so many occasions when staying alert is so very important! When driving a vehicle you need to stay alert! We are teaching Jessica how to drive now and just like when we taught Jordan how to drive we are constantly saying – stay alert! The holiday season is upon so we stay alert looking for a parking spot or for that perfect gift. The military teach soldiers to stay alert as it may just save their lives. Staying alert is great advice throughout our lives because the more alert you are of your surroundings the better off you will be. The more alert you are the safer you will be! But have you ever thought about that as far as your spiritual life is concerned? It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. The more alert we are of Satan’s power and presence in this world then the safer we will be! God’s promises of always being with us and never forsaking us gives us hope and that restores, supports, strengthens, and establishes us as God’s children.

The best way I have found that helps me stay alert is keeping my focus on Christ. I wish I could say that I always do this, but that would be a lie. Oh I try, as we all should, but I sometimes find my focus on so many other aspects of my life. What’s interesting to me is that these other things are not bad or negative things at all. We can get so busy and so focused on our jobs, families, and even our church that we sometimes loose focus on Christ! THAT is the work of Satan as he tries to get us to see everything else so we take our eyes off of Jesus. When we loose focus of Christ that is when Satan really focuses on us! So Peter’s words are a warning to us today that we need to stay alert in our spiritual journey to help keep Satan at a safe distance! We can do that with God’s help and by staying focused on Christ!

So sometime earlier this year something weird started happening to me! All of a sudden my arms got shorter and it appeared that someone came into my office and shrunk all of the words in my Bibles and my other books. I could not seem to get my eyes to focus clearly on the words. It became difficult to read and study as the words were a little fuzzy. So I had to get some reading glasses – cheaters – to help me focus.

In our spiritual journey we also need some help to keep us focused. Staying in God’s Word, keeping our prayer live active and healthy, surrounding ourselves with God-loving people, and trying to live our lives after the example of Christ are all ways to help us stay alert and keep our focus on things from above more than things of this world.

We focus on the wrong things sometimes and that’s when Satan moves in! He tries to distract us with things of this earth and things that the world says is important.

But Peter tells us that we are to discipline ourselves and to cast all of our needs and anxieties on God and we are to remain steadfast in our faith! When we put our trust and our faith in Christ alone then we are more likely to stay focused on Him. When we surround ourselves with good, positive thoughts and strive to live in God’s will then we are more likely to stay alert and be keenly aware of what is going on around us. Peter says that we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and if we do this then I believe we be able to fight off the temptations and the luring power of Satan. We must remember Peter’s vivid portrayal of what Satan is like – a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour. Don’t let that someone be you! It can happen to any of us when we stop focusing on Jesus! It is when we loose our focus on Christ when things start to go wrong.

One of the ways we loose our focus and keeps us from being alert is being tired. When we are tired we are just not as alert and that’s when Satan is like a roaring lion. Some of the reasons we are so tired is because of the things I mentioned earlier – our jobs, our families, and yes, even our church. These things keep us so busy sometimes that we suddenly start slacking off in our prayer life. We are so tired from job responsibilities and getting the kids to practice and school activities and dance and piano recitals and ball games of all sorts that we complain about having to go to a church function and if we go then we get home late, get the kids in bed, and collapse on the couch! It is very hard to be alert at this point! Our focus is probably not on Christ as much as He deserves!

Don’t take this the wrong way! These are pretty much daily issues families deal with these days. The important thing is how we handle them! How do we juggle family and work and church? How do we keep from drowning in the sea of business? Without Jesus being in the center of ALL that we do there is a chance we will not be able to stay alert or stay focused. Satan loves that! The busier we are with EVERYTHING else we have to deal with then Satan is hoping we just won’t have time left for God. Satan even tries to busy us at church so we might loose focus of what we are here for in the first place! Maybe if we get so busy “DOING” church and serving out of a sense of duty then Satan will be able to keep us from experiencing God fully and keep us from serving out of love. If we get to the point where church life is a burden then we do what the author of Hebrews warned against and stop meeting together as God’s family. At the end of any worship service on Sunday mornings you should feel like you have been in the presence of God Almighty and you know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus loves you! Staying alert in our spiritual walk with the Lord keeps us from the traps and snares that Satan sets for us every day. So stay alert and keep focused on Jesus!

Our alertness and focus does get attacked sometimes and when that happens we experience suffering to some degree. Peter wrote about that as well. Look back with me at 1Peter 5:10. Peter described Satan as this heart and soul seeking lion and he encouraged his readers to resist evil and remain faithful. Peter states that suffering happens all over the world because it is not always easy to be a follower of Christ. But here in verse 10 he continues by saying, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”

When we stay alert in the love and presence of God and stay focused on Jesus Christ then God will restore us when we have strayed. God will support us when we have fallen! God will strengthen us when we are weak! And God will establish us as His children!

Guard yourself against ever being too busy for God! Give to God what is right – not what is left! Protect yourself against the trappings and temptations of Satan! There is a spiritual war going on between God and Satan and we are the battle field! So keep focused! Stay alert!