I had a dream last night that was kind of disturbing. I was in a house with lots of people, children, adults, old and young. People were in different rooms talking, basically just living. And there were two lions prowling about -- a male and a female. They were full-grown and they were roaring and running. I saw them and wondered why no one else seemed to care or even notice they were in the house. I wanted us all to run or to do something, but everyone just kept ignoring them and talking to each other. The female lion had a cub by her side for a while who had a quilt over him. One of the women in the house took the quilt from the cub and laid it over my son who cannot walk. He was lying on the floor in this house sleeping. I got after her. I told her -- why did you do that? I quickly grabbed the quilt and gave it back to the cub. The woman who did this seemed totally unaware where she had gotten the quilt. She didn't realize she had put my son in danger whatsoever. She did it all with a smile on her face.
As I thought about this dream I thought about how real it is spiritually. Peter writes, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
How are we devoured? Either by being afraid and having no faith or by being totally ignorant of the enemy's schemes. Both of these attitudes are prevalent in our world, even in the church. People aren't the problem. The enemy is. He will use anyone and anything to get our eyes off God and the spiritual realm. When we forget we put the ones we love in spiritual danger in a sense. We have to stay on the alert.
This doesn't mean you get paranoid or isolationist like. NO! The power is on our side for God is with us. We are to go and conquer in His name. How? With love, with faith, with joy, with peace, with the good news that God has reconciled us to HImself and He invites all to partake in the glorious life of joy and peace.
In Him even the weakest of us are mighty!