There’s a Lion in My Living Room!

I Peter 5:8 says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

If there was a lion in your living room I’m sure he would not go unnoticed. I’m sure he would not be allowed to prowl around nor would we get close enough to him to be devoured. However, the devil is just as real, just as dangerous and just as hungry and in my home, he’s prowling around freely, devouring my family with teeth sharpened by hatred, anger, bitterness, malice, gossip, lust and those fleshly habits that have gone unchecked and unchanged. He has become like a welcomed guest, almost like a family pet that we feed each other to and there’s plenty of division and discontent to keep him well fed, fat and happy for a long time. Being the fixer that I am, I’ve tried to bandage the wounded instead of dealing with the lion in my living room. I’ve allowed him to intimidate me with his size and silence me with his roar. I’ve even, in ignorance, let down my guard and gotten bitten myself a few times. Instead of being like Daniel in the lions dens whose faith saw God shut the mouths of the lions that threatened his life, I coward in the corner, helpless and afraid letting this lion in my living room feed on my family day in and day out. Oh! I’ve fasted and prayed for God to remove the lion, open the eyes of my family so they can see the lion and avoid him, I’ve even tried to tame the lion, all to no avail. Then recently God brought me to 2 Corinthians 12:7 which talks about Paul’s thorn in the flesh that was used to remind him that God’s grace was sufficient for him. Paul realized that God had allowed this thorn, this messenger of Satan, to keep him from exalting himself. In that moment, I realized – that this was the lion in my living room and this lion had a divine purpose for being there. Please don’t hear that Satan ever intends to be divinely used by God to accomplish His plan. However, God does allow Satan to buffet us to expose our weaknesses so we will place no confidence in the flesh. Our weaknesses teach us dependency on Christ and as we boast of them, we exalt the power of Christ that dwells in us. Therefore my hearts desire is to say as Paul did, “I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” However, many of us suffer for a lie thinking we’re suffering for the sake of Christ and believe me when I say, I now know the difference.

Do you have a lion in your living room feeding on your family? Is pride or self-reliance keeping you from boasting about your weaknesses or trusting in the power of God? Remember, Jesus publicly humiliated this roaring lion, pulling every one of his teeth when he rose from the grave and conquer sin and death once and for all. Our pride and self-reliance are like a set of new dentures, we give Satan so he has the power to devour us and suffering for that lie, God cannot redeem. However, God’s grace is sufficient to handle anything that Satan can dish out if we are willing to see the truth that God’s power is perfected in our weaknesses. In Christ, it’s okay to be weak, vulnerable, and powerless because when we are weak, in Him, we are strong! Suffering for His name sake is a strength the world sees as weakness however, He will always redeem it for His glory. Remember when Christ laid down His life the enemy thought he had won too. However, God’s grace was sufficient to raise Christ from the dead and defeat Satan and when we lay down our life and find our sufficiency in God, we will do the same.

“Father, show us the roaring lion prowling around seeking whom he may devour and help us to fight him with Your strength, girding ourselves with Your spiritual weaponry that extinguishes his fiery arrows. Let us see our areas of vulnerability or weakness as an opportunity to grow in our dependency on You and let us truly find our sufficiency in Your grace; the power that raised Your Son from the dead, defeated sin and death once and for all, put the enemy to shame and public humiliation, and saved a wretch like me from my sin. Amen”