“Be on Alert” (Jeremiah 29:11 & 1 Peter 5:8)
Dr. Jonathan Fowler | Improving Lives Church
This week, Dr. Jonathan Fowler opens with an encouragement to acknowledge and celebrate God’s faithfulness in sustaining us to this point. “If you’re still alive,” he says, “God’s not finished with you yet.” He channels a word from the Holy Spirit to help us remember what God has in mind for each of us. For you, God has a:
- Plan for your life – which means there was forethought before you encountered any besetting obstacles
- Promise for your life – which always comes before something big
- Purpose for your life – which means living with no distractions and no delays
Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Dr. Fowler says, “You’ve got to get an expectation and an anticipation, so you can walk into the full manifestation of what God’s gonna do before the end of this year.”
Then Dr. Fowler dives into today’s message concerning spiritual warfare and the methods The Enemy uses to attack us in expected ways. He says, we have enemies who are:
- Silent – we won’t be able to detect them
- Secret – they have camouflaged themselves to look like they’re for us, but they’re actually against us
- Subtle – coming in a form that is small and consistent enough that it eventually wares down our peace and spiritual well-being
Dr. Fowler warns us that, if we aren’t aware of these enemies and how they attack, we’ll encounter them without being ready to recognize and fight them. 1 Peter 5:8 exhorts us to be on high alert against these enemies, saying, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Listen as Dr. Fowler breaks how these enemy spirits operate and how to stay vigilant against them.
