The Roaring Lion

The Bible tells that the that the devil is our adversary, and he stalks us as a lion stalks its

prey. Lions are stalk-ambush predators. Once a lion has spotted a potential target, they will usually approach the target slowly and carefully, to avoid alerting the prey to the imminent danger. The enemy approaches us the same way.

1 Peter 5:8-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

I wanted to show you some characteristics of Lions that mirrors the enemy, which will help you live your life safely, and never be devoured by the enemy but to overcome him and live your life the way God intended it to be.

1.    Lions are nocturnal.

You are safer in the daytime, not at night. Lions sleep most of the day, but at night they are very active. They hunt for their prey in the cover of darkness. In Africa you have these gaming camps where sightseers and hunters would stay, the first thing they do is sign a waiver that says if you are killed, they will not be held responsible.

So, you get to this camp where you stayed in bungalows, these bungalows were not connected, they have no phones and you talk to everyone in the main lodge. The dining hall is some way from the bungalows; the bungalows are scattered all over the campgrounds. So, when you come back from sightseeing you go to a bungalow and get ready for dinner.

Now this pastor tells a story where he and his wife go on a safari, they go sightseeing afterwards they head back to there bungalow, the guide tells them that he will be back in 45 minutes, do not come out of your bungalow there are wild animals that come into the camp at night, we will come back to get you for dinner armed. They got ready for dinner, but no one ever came. So, they waited and they waited for about an hour, he told his wife they weren’t coming to get us.

He opens the door and says to his wife “I can see the light to the dining hall. She screamed out close the door they told us that there were wild animals out there. He says I don’t see anything out here. I could see the light to the dining hall we can make it there. She tells him again close the door, another hour go by nobody comes, he stepped out onto the porch looks all over and says, “I can see people down there eating, I guarantee you they are walked over there, she says close the door. Another 30 minutes go by and there is a knock on the door; he opens the door and its an armed guard. The guard says I am so sorry for being so late I could not come up because you had a leopard under your bungalow by your front door.

It is dangerous at night; darkness is the devil’s domain, you’re safest in the light. Lions are nocturnal, you must stay in the light, stay out of the darkness, lions hunt at night under the cover of darkness.

Spiritually we must stay in the light and that light is Jesus Christ.

2.    Lions are peri-visual

The lion has excellent night vision, with eyes 6 times more sensitive at night than the human eyes, they see things around and about or near, but they do not see details. That’s why when you go sightseeing, you’re in a vehicle with no ceiling, with half doors, and you go out amongst the lions and they are all over your vehicle, but they don’t see an individual in a bigger thing they just see something too big to kill and it doesn’t smell good, they see a thing that is not a threat to them or their food source.

But if you get out of the truck, they will attack you. The danger of being amongst these animals is that you tend to forget how dangerous they are because you are in the protective covering of the vehicle.

There was a Japanese family on holiday in Africa on a safari and the Japanese father stepped out of the protection of the vehicle to take a picture and Lions pounce and kill him; they ate him in front of his family. Once Lions see an individual profile, they attack.

The devil loves the lone sheep; he wants to get you alone, so he can devour you. Just like a lion, when they hunt they go after the pack trying to separate and isolate one of the smaller or weaker animals and then they attack.

3.    Lions are territorial 

Everything in the wild is about territory, will see the male Lions marking their territory by urinating on trees and different areas letting all the other lions know that this is their territory. So, if you were to come up on a lion the first thing he would do is a territorial display, he will be prowling around, he will roar hoping that you would run and if you run, he will attack you.

A guide takes some tourists on a nature hike without a gun, one of the tourists asked him why are you out here in Lions country without a gun and he said I don’t need a gun they fear us and as long as you don’t run you’ll be okay. So, they see a bull elephant approaching them, this bull elephant was rooted out from his herd and he was in heat. So, when he sees them and starts wagging his head and starts going at them, the guide turns to them and says don’t run and get behind me.

So, they make a single line behind this guide, and this elephant is rushing towards them and all he does is clap and the elephant stops, the elephant come again and the guide claps his hand, and he walks away.

The purpose of a lion’s roar is to intimidate you so that you will leave his territory. They do a territory display, which is what the bull elephant was doing. So, if you run, they will charge. But if you show them no fear, they know that you are not going anywhere and you stand your ground.

2 Timothy 1:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The roaring lion is a spirit of fear we have good fears that is temporary and circumstantial, bad fear is chronic and debilitating.

Fear will give you - anxiety, confusion, difficulty concentrating, and disorientation.

God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind. No human was ever born with fear it is an added extra that Satan uses to control us.

Fear is a controlling spirit by the devil that he uses to keep us away from God’s promise on your life. You have to stop dealing with fear as your weakness as your emotions, you have to begin to start understanding that it is a separate entity from you. And you must begin to take authority over it. You have to bind up that spirit of fear in the name of Jesus Christ.

You have a promised, a destiny that God has given you and you have the enemy standing on your promised land roaring at you. Telling you that you are not good enough, you not smart enough, you are never going to do this, “who do you think you are.” And he is roaring like a lion, he implants this spirit of fear inside of you, because it is a controlling spirit, so he implants this fear, but he does not tell you that it is him and we think it is us.

When you realize that this is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one, you will start seeing fear as a spiritual reality. God has given us two weapons to win the spiritual battles with fear, and that is prayer and worship. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, do not run you need to attack him run towards the roar he has already been defeated.

Remember Lions are nocturnal, Lions are peri-visual, Lions are territorial, if you understand that, you can live free from debilitating fear.

God bless, Israel.