Stay Vigilant

The devil is on assignment to take us out and derail our lives. Most believers live their Christian lives not realizing that we have an adversary who is on assignment to steal, kill and destroy their lives according to (John 10:10)

-When trouble comes which it will do at some point in our lives, they cannot recover from those blows that the enemy deals them.

The word vigilant means keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.

Here are a few things to be vigilant against.

1 Loss- When people encounter loss in life it is one of the big setbacks that takes people out quickly in the body of Christ. Loss of a loved one, loss of a job, loss of business, loss of opportunities. We need to be careful how we deal with these losses when they occur in our lives.

Here are a few ways to deal with loss

-Job teaches us a profound way to deal with loss in (Job 1:21) after he had received numerous reports that his children and his wealth was gone he acknowledges that he came into this earth with nothing and certainly he will leave with nothing but the kicker is at the end after he laments that the Lord has given and has taken away, he says "blessed be the name of the Lord" In essence he says these things that have befallen me are beyond my control but I still choose to bless the Lord anyway.

-So when loss occurs and it's beyond your control, you prayed and a loved one die anyway, you did everything right and the business failed because of the economy or something not of your doing, choose to bless the Lord anyway!

2 Disappointment- be vigilant against disappointment

The way disappointment comes mostly is when there is unfulfilled hopes or expectations. In (John 11:21) Martha was disappointed because what she expected had not happened as she hoped. She expected that Jesus being their friend would come right way once he heard that Lazarus was sick but Jesus waited and came when Lazarus had died.

So many people in life and in the body of Christ are mad at God because He has not done what they expected him to do, He did not heal their loved one's and they eventually died. A marriage failed so their are disappointed. The business did not take off as they expected it to do so.

How do we deal with disappointment then?

We have the same man we looked at earlier Job after he lost everything and his friends told him to curse God and die in (Job 13:15) he refuses and declares even in difficult times he will trust God. So when things don't work out the way you expect them, choose to trust God, the enemy will seek to pounce because that is when you are most vulnerable after encountering setbacks and disappointment but choose to bless God anyway.

- David in (1 Samuel 30:1-18) returns from somewhere and finds the enemy has taken captive of their families and his men where disappointed and wanted to stone him because when things don't work out in life people are always looking for someone to blame.

In verse 6 David was distressed and disappointed but listen to what he did the last part of that verse...

"but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God"

So sometimes you just have to encourage yourself in the Lord your God sometimes there will be no one to encourage you, just encourage yourself child of God.

-Another thing David did verse 8 he enquired of the Lord, meaning he prayed, sought God's guidance, when you suffer disappointment don't just wallow in the defeat, seek God's guidance, pray, fast, seek counsel, God will speak to you and give you guidance. The Lord responded to David and told him to pursue the enemy and he was able to recover all. God will respond to you as well, He is the same God, He has not changed, his ears are open to the cry of the righteous.(Psalm 34:15)

3 Be vigilant against offenses

Another little fox to be careful is offense

-A lot of people have left great churches, marriages and jobs and opportunities because they allowed offenses to take them out. We need to learn to address offenses not run from them, when someone offends us let's address and not run from the relationship.

Jesus addresses this in (Matthew 5:24) he tells us that even before you go and give your offering, first address the offense before you even give.

-Address it with a spirit of humility and reconciliation the Apostle Paul declares in (2 Corinthians 5:18) that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation to be able to reconcile and bring restoration in relationships and conflicts.