In 1 Peter 5:7 Peter instructed his readers to cast all their care upon the Lord. Cares can weigh us down. Mark 4:19 says that the cares of this world will choke out His word so that it becomes unfruitful. Peter went on to remind his readers that satan prowls around to see who is weak in their faith. When God’s word is not active in our heart, we can easily fall prey to satan’s wiles.

Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. What ‘cares’ are weakening your faith? What lies of the enemy have you believed that are controlling you? What unresolved issues restrict your faith? The Lord designs trials that will purify our faith to make it strong and resistant. 

1 Peter 5:9 Amplified says, “Withstand him; be firm in faith (against his onset–rooted, established, strong, immoveable, and determined), knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.”

Resist means to set against, withstand, and oppose. We do this through our faith. Note again the words in the Amplified: rooted, established, strong, immoveable, and determined. Our shield of faith is an offensive weapon. We need to actively and aggressively counter attack with faith each time a fiery dart is lobbed at us.

First we need to establish truth which will become like an internal sentinel to warn us. It is experiential truth that fuels our faith to be combative. We stand in His truth, wielding it like a sword to cut down every fiery dart before it can land and penetrate. Think of the word combative. We must counter any attack through the truth that is seeded in our hearts.

The Lord is our Defense. Psalm 71:1-3 says, “In You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me. Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.”

Psalm 94:22 says, “But the Lord has been my defense, and my God the rock of my refuge.” Deuteronomy 33:27 says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, Destroy!”

In order to thwart the devil’s design to devour us, we must continually build up our faith. We cannot be slack in this discipline. There will never be a time on this earth that we are not stalked by the evil one. He has countless workers doing his bidding. He has myriad ways to tempt us so that he can devour us. His design is to shipwreck our faith through hidden sin.