Be ready and Alert

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  1 Peter 5: 8 NKJV

I was watching our cat this morning as he sat on the window still. Even though he was looking rested and content, he was fully alert to what was happening in the garden. Birds were feeding on the lawn, gulls were flying over head and wood pigeons and other birds were perched in our tall Sycamore tree.
At any moment he would have been ready to pounce, if the window would have been open. You see, he's conditioned, a bird, mouse or a slow worm would stand very little chance if he was up close to them. He's doing what is natural to him.

When we go out, he has this built in clock which tells him when we will return home. He sits and waits for us at the gate. When it's meal times he knows. He doesn't wear a watch, his inner sense lets him know the time is right. He's conditioned and alert to what is going on around him.
We could learn a lot from a cat's behaviour. they know when it's time to rest and they'll take the time to do this. They are curious animals and walk around looking into whatever takes their fancy. However, they're careful how they go about it. Their conditioning is what we need to think about.
God has given us all we need to live in this world today. However, if we don't read the Word of God, we will suffer from lack of knowledge. Conditioning ourselves means, getting into the bible and feeding on the promises God gives us. That should be the natural thing we should do. Then when we meet up with a situation, we will know how to address it, with prayer, quoting the scriptures that we need, thus taking action against the devil's attacks.

Vigilance - being on total alert is how we should live 24/7. That as Christians, is the natural thing to do. But it's difficult to be fully alert if we're too tired because we haven't rested enough. This may be because we've taken too much on and are finding it difficult to work, run a home, go to church and try to be involved in as much as we're asked to do there. A cat is conditioned, it knows when to rest but it remains on full alert because it pays attention to its needs.
Are you doing too much, whether at work, in your leisure time or at church? Do you need to cut back a little? When we're tired, we leave ourselves open to attack and we can end up snapping at our loved ones and generally not flowing with God the way He wants us to.

Don't just re-charge your batteries so you can face another day. Analyse if changes can be made to the way you live and work. Your health needs it. Your spiritual health too. Do something about it so that you can be fully alert!