Come and Get Me, By Chaplain and CFC Executive Director Dave Harvey

Monthly Devotional

By Chaplain and CFC Executive Director Dave Harvey

COME AND GET ME

1 Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” “Come and get me!” That is the cry of thousands of cowboys and cowgirls around the country who are opening the door in the morning and trying to take on the world after a good night’s sleep (actually after a night of tossing and turning, worry, strife, strain and heartache) totally defenseless. They didn’t get a good night’s sleep because they started yesterday the very same way that they are starting today: again, totally defenseless. Each one is so absorbed in their daily routine of life – work, play and family – that they forget that there is an adversary out there seeking someone to destroy. 1 Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This is certainly the truth – and we need to heed these words of wisdom from the great Apostle Peter.

I have counseled many cowboys and cowgirls over the years about the danger of the devil and his desire to destroy everyone he can. But so many just do not see or understand the danger, and they all seem to have the same start to their day – and it is usually at least five minutes (for some, a half-hour) late. They are behind before their feet ever hit the floor, and they stay that way all day long. My thought for today is this: “Running to catch up sure takes a bunch more energy than waking up five minutes early.” But this is not about being early or late. It is about being prepared to fight the battles of the day; it is about each one of us being “armed and dangerous” when we consider the adversary seeking to destroy our peace, our well-being, our very lives. And, cowboys and cowgirls, you cannot be “armed and dangerous” against the attacks of the devil if you don’t spend time in equipping yourself and preparing for battle. 1 Peter 5:8 is not a joke, a catchy phrase, or a little half-thought that the Apostle Peter jotted down one morning while he was running to catch the bus on the way to the synagogue. He was completely and totally serious and he was stating fact. Each and every one of us has an enemy who would love to destroy us – our families, our marriages, our children, our grandchildren, our homes, our jobs, our very lives – and we nonchalantly take on the morning of each day seemingly unknowing or uncaring. Now, I don’t think that is what we call “blind faith”; I think it is more accurately described as “blind foolishness.”

I certainly don’t want to be too blunt, but “facts are facts” and “the truth is the truth.” It is totally impossible for us – in the flesh, under our own power – to take on the enemy, the adversary, the devil himself, unless we are prayed up and studied up. We are weak, or we are deceived into thinking we are strong on our own; and because of his deception, we are robbed of our strength when we think we are doing it on our own power. Folks, our power to withstand, to stand, and to fight the good fight comes from the Holy Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit – and if we are not recharging our spiritual batteries before taking on the day, we are trying to run on a “dead battery.” We are not only trying to run on a dead battery; we are trying to “start” on a dead battery: start our lives, start our families, start our job, start our children, start our marriage, and start “the day that the LORD has made” – totally defenseless. Or as I stated above, what we are actually saying is, “Satan, come and get me!”

So, you may be thinking that I have all of the answers and are maybe asking, “what do I do?” Well, my take is to go to bed about 15 minutes earlier, then set your alarm 15 minutes earlier and get up and “pray” and read the Holy Word of God and start the day off “armed and dangerous.” You will be charged (if you want to get “super-charged,” set your alarm 30 minutes early) and you will be ready to take on the adversary who has been having fun beating you up, making life difficult, disrupting your family, causing strife in your marriage, taking away your joy and your peace of mind, and making your life a “living hell.” That is what he does, and that is why we need to be prepared to take him on in our daily lives, because he is there whether we want to admit it or not. His job is to rob, steal and destroy, and he is good at it; just look around if you are questioning that fact. Jesus tells us in John 10:10: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that

they may have it more abundantly.” I think we need to take heed to the warning in the first part of this verse, because Jesus would not have warned us to be prepared for the thief if he wasn’t there to steal, kill and destroy.

There is also a second very important part of this verse: Jesus tells us that He has come to give life, and to give life abundantly. If Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then you have the answer right with you; you have the Source of power to take the adversary on, and you have the power to win – but you have to “charge that spiritual battery” to keep it strong and ready to start every day. You must connect up to the Source to recharge every morning. Now, I am certainly not saying that you are not to spend time in prayer and studying His Holy Word in the evening; that is a given, because you are lying there all night in restful sleep as His angels watch over you and your family when you start the night that way. So, don’t get the silly idea that “prayer and studying His Holy Word” is just for the morning, because it is for the evening, too. The Apostle James tells us how to do it in James 4:7: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” As you resist by submitting to God through prayer, study and reading His Holy Word you have God’s promise that the devil will flee from you. God bless and keep each one, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.