September 9, 2024

The Importance of Staying Alert

“Remember to stay alert and hold firmly to all that you believe. Be mighty and full of courage.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 TPT

“So that no advantage be taken of us by satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” 2 Corinthians 2:11

The word “ignorant” in this verse is from the Greek word agnoeo, which means to be “without knowledge or understanding of.”(1) Our English word “agnostic” is derived from it. Technically, an agnostic is not a person unsure if he or she believes in God, although we now use the word primarily in this way. An agnostic is a person who does not know or understand, regardless of the subject. We also get the words “ignorant” and “ignore” from the same root. In this verse, we are urged not to “ignore” or be an “agnostic” - without understanding - where the devil is concerned.

“Schemes” is from the word noema, which literally means “thought.” The verse essentially says, “Don’t be without understanding of the way satan thinks.” Noema came to also mean “plans, schemes, plots, devices” because these things are products of our thoughts.(2) For greater insight, let’s insert these definitions into the verse: “Don’t be without understanding of the way your enemy thinks and operates - of his plans, plots, schemes, and devices.”

What happens if we are unaware of satan’s schemes? The verse says he will take advantage of us. The word “advantage” is derived from pleonekteo, which is a compound word meaning “to have or hold the greater portion” (pleon - “the greater part;” echo - “to have or hold”). It is easy to see why this is a word for “covet.” It also means “overreach.”(3)

In boxing, the person with the longer reach has the advantage and usually gets in more blows. The word pleonekteo is also translated as “make a gain;” satan makes a lot of gains on those who are unaware of his tactics. The Greek scholar Bullinger, says pleonekteo means “to make a prey of, to defraud.”(4) Now, let’s put the definitions of all three words into the verse: “To the degree we are ignorant of the way our adversary thinks and operates - of his plans, plots, schemes, and devices - to that degree he will gain on us, prey on us, defraud us of what is ours and have or hold the greater portion.” 

Not good!

Satan wants the greatest portion of our jobs, marriages, families, health, communities, money, government, nation, and more. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Church in America was without an understanding of what satan was planning, and he took the greater portion of our schools, government, media, and much more.

As we walk in our roles as watchmen, two other New Testament verses are meaningful. The first is Ephesians 6:18: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” The King James Version uses the word “watching” for the phrase “be on the alert.”

The second verse is 1 Peter 5:8: “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Again, other translations use the word “watchful.” Significantly, the context of both verses is spiritual warfare. Each mentions our adversary and challenges us to alertness or watchfulness, both for ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to draw four very important conclusions from these two verses.

1. Protection from the attacks of our enemy is not automatic, including for believers. There is a part we play in protecting what has been assigned to us. Though God is sovereign, this does not mean He is controlling everything that happens on earth. He has left many decisions to us. If God were going to protect or safeguard believers from satan’s attacks, regardless of what we did or didn’t do, these verses would be totally irrelevant. In our theology, we must factor in human responsibility. Our decisions and actions have consequences, both for ourselves and for others.

2. God’s plan IS to warn or alert us to satan’s tactics. This is a simple deduction. If God says, “Be on the alert” for satan’s attacks, He is obviously willing to make us aware of them. God would not ask of us something He was not enabling us to accomplish.

3. We must be alert - remain watchful - or we will not be aware of God’s warnings and alerts. If these attacks were always going to be obvious, alertness would not be necessary. Isaiah 56:10 speaks of “blind watchmen.” What a striking oxymoron! I am afraid it has been a fairly good description of many of us in our watching roles. We are too often like Christ’s disciples of old, whom He said had eyes but at times couldn’t see (see Mark 8:18). We must do more than casually glance; we must alertly watch!

4. If we are not alert and watchful, if we are ignorant of satan’s attacks, he will devour and take advantage of us. Sadly, many are destroyed due to ignorance or a lack of knowledge (see Hosea 4:6).

   
   

Satan and demons are real. They seek to oppress, deceive, steal, kill, and destroy. We must not deny the reality of or ignore spiritual conflict. Obviously, we are not to be preoccupied with satan; but neither are we to live in denial or ignorance. The results of both can be disastrous.

The story is told of a desert nomad who awakened from hunger one night and decided he’d have a midnight snack. Lighting a candle, he grabbed a date and took a bite. Holding the date to the candle, he saw a worm, whereupon he threw the date out of the tent. Biting into the second date, he found another worm and threw it away, also. Deciding he might not get anything to eat if this continued, he blew out the candle and ate the dates.(5)

Sometimes we, too, prefer the darkness of denial to the light of truth. Though the truth may not always be what we want to hear, denial does not change it. Satan is real, is aggressively warring against us, and has made great gains in America. Thankfully, God has raised up a company of watchmen who have re-lit the candle! They know their authority, are alert and informed, and are determined to take back this nation for Christ. And we will!

Pray with me:

Lord, because of a lack of diligence, we are sometimes taken advantage of by satan. Yes, You defeated him and removed his right to steal from us, but he is a thief and will trespass when not stopped. We are learning to do just that. We are not unaware of his schemes and are growing in our ability to discern his activities. 

We are discerning at this crucial time that he has an attack of some sort planned against our nation. We rise up in the spirit against this, declaring that it will not succeed. No attack against our elections or our leaders will prosper. No attacks against us individually will prosper. We are in the secret place Psalm 91 speaks of, under Your shadow, protected from the serpent. 

Lord, again today, we ask You to comfort the families in Wilder, Georgia. Wrap Your loving arms around them. We know that evil will occur in this life, but You have overcome its power to win, and Your peace is always with us. Help those affected by this tragedy to drink deeply of Your grace and peace.

And we bind every attempt to sidetrack the Ekklesia and hinder the growing revival in America. Thank You for the recent event at Ohio State University in which many students were impacted. Thank You for giving boldness to the football players, enabling them to stand for You and share their faith. Multiply these outpourings on campuses. More, we ask for more! Revival has begun, is growing, and will not be stopped. 

All of this we pray and decree in Yeshua’s name and authority. Amen. 

Our decree:

We decree that satan will not take advantage of us, for we will remain alert. 

Portions of today’s devotional were taken from my book Watchman Prayer.(6)

Click on the link below to watch the full video.

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1. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 50.

2. Ibid., ref. no. 3540.

3. Ibid., ref. no. 4122.

4. Bullinger, Ethelbert W. A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament. Kregel Publications, 1999.

5. “An Old Story Tells Of A Desert Nomad Who ...” Sermon Central, 18 June 2007, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/60425/an-old-story-tells-of-a-desert-nomad-who-by-sermon-central. Accessed 20 February 2021.

6. Sheets, Dutch. Watchman Prayer: Protecting Your Family, Home, and Community from the Enemy's Schemes. Baker Publishing Group, 2019, pp. 11-25.