Living in Dark Times
10/26/2025
Halloween is coming this Friday. There are those who believe it's the most satanic holiday and no Christian should ever participate in anything even remotely associated with it. Others say it's just a fun time for kids to dress up and go 'trick or treating'. (I have to admit...my kids will be dressing up and collecting candy in my in laws neighborhood so their grandmother can show them off to her friends.) I suppose it has to do with your intentions and your focus.
However - whatever you may believe about Halloween - we cannot forget that evil is real and there's a very real spiritual battle going on around us. So how do we deal with this spiritual battle as we live our everyday lives? If you'd have asked me my views on raising kids before I had kids, and then compared them to my views on raising kids now - there might be some glaring discrepancies. Experience has a way of teaching us more than any instructional video or text book can.
So when it comes to spiritual warfare, it seems that two Biblical writers carry more weight than others. The Apostle Paul would be the first as he wrote of his battle with temptations, his struggle with 'a thorn in the flesh', and his teachings on the 'armor of God'. Paul had a very keen understanding of this thing we call spiritual warfare.
The second is the Apostle Peter. Throughout his life, he had his own battles of faith. When Peter was simply trying to protect his Lord, Jesus rebuked him and said, "Get behind me, Satan!" When Jesus was being taken to the cross, Peter denied Him three times. Peter experienced how Satan can subtly influence the life of a believer. He knew, first hand, how easily this could, and does happen, and he warned people about...
I. The reality of evil
We live in a world that can be hostile toward believers - a world filled with hatred, injustice, immorality, and suffering. Turn on the news and you’ll see violence, corruption, and degeneracy. Evil is alive and active.
And this isn’t new. The first-century Christians that Peter wrote to were also surrounded by evil. They were persecuted and pressured to abandon their faith. They were asking the same question that many ask today - how do we live faithfully in a world where evil seems to be winning? Based on Peter's personal experience, he wrote this, in 1 Peter 5:7-11 (NIV)...
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (8) Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (9) Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
(10) And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (11) To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
If we're going to live faithfully in a dark world, the first thing Peter calls us to do is to open our eyes - to be aware that the devil is real and active. There is a spiritual battle raging all around us. It's a battle for the hearts, minds and souls of every one of us. What we see on TV and social media, and sense in our culture, is all about getting our attention off of God and spiritual things and onto ourselves. In this daily grind it's sometimes difficult to keep a spiritual perspective. But Peter urges us to be self-controlled and alert.
Some may think a message like this is simply a “boy who cried wolf” sort of message. But for believers, we must understand the Biblical reality. We can close our eyes and try to ignore it, hoping that it'll all just go away. We can minimize it, 'it's not really that bad'. Or - we can face it, and resist it, with the proper Biblical worldview.
Evil is real, the devil is real - and some of his tools are...
A. Fear and Anxiety
Let's look at that very first verse once again...
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
It’s no coincidence that this verse comes right before the warning about the devil. Satan often begins his work in our minds — through fear and doubt. When we're overwhelmed, when we feel forgotten, when we’re perhaps afraid of what tomorrow might bring, the devil whispers, “God doesn’t care about you.” But Peter says the exact opposite — God cares for you!
The word 'cast' here means 'to throw upon'. It’s the idea of taking a heavy burden off your shoulders and tossing it onto someone strong enough to carry it. That’s what faith does. Faith doesn’t deny the reality of evil or the weight of everyday life, but it chooses not to carry it alone. Fear is one of Satan’s favorite tools, but trust in God is one of the greatest weapons! When you give your worries to God, you’re not giving up - you’re giving control to The One who already knows the outcome. Don’t let fear or anxiety isolate you from God. Let it drive you to your knees in prayer!
The Apostle Paul wrote, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)...
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Scripture clearly teaches that we are in a battle! Can you imagine walking through a battle field or minefield and not having any idea of where you are, or what's going on around you? We can't let fear or anxiety force us to 'stick our head in the sand' or just disengage. Peter wrote to “be alert!” The idea is, 'To keep awake, keep watch, and never be caught off guard'.
Back in the early days of our nation's frontier, little towns and forts began to dot the landscape. The native tribes were attacking these new settlements. So every night, sentries were posted on the walls. Their job was to sound the alarm if they saw any threat coming. Falling asleep on duty as a sentry was a capital offense. Why so serious? Because every life in that settlement placed their trust in being alerted by the sentry, thus falling asleep on duty risked the lives of the entire population - man, woman and child.
However, what would have happened if the sentry sounded the alarm, but no one responded? - Certain death and destruction. Don't let your anxiety or fear of conflict keep you from Biblically responding to evil. We have to be ready, because evil...
B. Targets the unprepared
And I'm not trying to scare anyone, but we do have to acknowledge what scripture says here. Again...
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (9) Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
The imagery is vivid - a lion prowling, watching, waiting. Lions don’t usually attack the strongest; they attack the weak, the isolated, the distracted. Satan works the same way. He looks for those who've grown careless in their faith - those who've stopped praying, stopped reading The Word, those who've stepped away from fellowship, who've let small compromises go unchecked.
Don’t drift through life unguarded. Be alert to what’s happening in your heart and in your world. The Bible says the devil wants to devour your faith, your family, your joy, your testimony! But Peter wrote, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” And how do we resist? By knowing the Word of God, by staying connected to God's Church, and by constantly praying to God for grace, wisdom and strength!
And Peter reminds us that we’re not alone in this struggle, “you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” When you feel like you’re the only one fighting evil, remember - others have fought, and are fighting, the same battle alongside you!
An Old Chinese Philosopher wrote, “If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear 100 battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy for every victory you’ll suffer defeat. If you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you’ll succumb in battle every time.”
Do not underestimate the devil - he is strong. Lucifer influenced 1/3 of the angels in heaven to rebel, he caused the fall of man, and according to Job chapter 1, he roams throughout the whole earth. He has the ability to take control of a lost soul and to oppress a saved person. He can set up a 'stronghold' in your life.
He wants to hold on to every soul that he has, so he does everything in his power to keep a lost person from hearing the Gospel. His desire is to discourage believers, to steal their joy, freedom, and peace. He would rather get a believer tangled up in sin than just about anything. Why? Because unrepentant sin in the life of a believer will make them cold, cynical and ineffective for God's purposes!
The devil knows that we're easily deceived and he'll do his best to deceive us into thinking that wrong is right. Just look around, we live in a nation where standing up for the rights of the unborn is shouted down as 'mean and sexist'. Protecting the sanctity of marriage is called 'bigotry and prejudiced'. We are deceived.
But if deception doesn’t work, he moves to 'plan B' which is distraction. Nowhere is this felt more than inside the church. When Satan gets God’s people to 'major in the minors', we lose our love for Jesus, reaching the lost, and making disciples. We don’t do this on purpose - it's just that we let other things take center stage.
The devil has a great potential to destroy. Look around at churches that are dying, leaders who have fallen, and families that are crumbling. Satan is having a 'heyday' among God’s redeemed, because many times we don't even recognize our enemy or his impact in our lives! So, acknowledge the reality of evil - it exploits fear and targets the unprepared. But even as I warn against the influence of the devil, do not ever forget, even for a moment...
II. The power of God
Evil is real, but it is not ultimate. The devil is powerful, but he's not omnipotent, omniscient or omnipresent! God’s love, grace and power are greater than all the darkness in this world! James, the brother of Jesus, wrote this in James 4:7-10 (NIV)...
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (9) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. (10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
The devil is very real - but do not forget the very power of God...
A. In you!
Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior have been given the gift of God's Holy Spirit in them! And let's continue in our passage from 1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)...
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Peter says, 'After you have suffered a while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.' Notice that phrase, “the God of all grace.” He’s not the God of some grace or the God of occasional grace - He’s the God of all grace! That means every ounce of strength, every bit of mercy, every breath of hope that sustains us comes from Him!
And also notice, He Himself will do this work! Not a messenger, not a preacher, not your own strength - but God Himself will do this for you! Peter lists four things here - restore, strengthen, make you firm and steadfast. - Restore: God mends what’s been broken and makes us whole again. -Make you strong: He infuses us with His divine power to keep going. - Make you firm: He makes us firm in our convictions and commitment. - Steadfast: He plants us on the unshakable foundation of Jesus Christ!
I read the words of one preacher who wrote, "If evil seeks to tear us down, grace builds us up. If evil aims to destroy, grace restores. You may have suffered. You may have fallen. You may feel like evil has taken too much from you. But God says, 'I’m not finished yet.' God Himself will restore what has been lost. Grace is stronger than evil because grace comes from God Himself."
And do not ever forget, that the power of God...
B. Is eternal!
Satan may seem powerful for a time, but his rule is very temporary.
God’s rule is eternal! And Peter closes this passage with this reminder and encouragement...
1 Peter 5:11 (NIV)
To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter reminds us that while evil may roar loudly, God reigns supreme! When Jesus rose from the grave, He defeated sin and death, and claimed victory over every force of evil!
When you’re discouraged and tempted to give up, remember Who is on the throne... God’s kingdom cannot be shaken! Our job is to remain faithful until the end - to hold on to our faith, and our hope, knowing that we serve the God of all grace, the One who reigns forever!
So What?
Evil is real. The devil is active, and it's undeniable that many will use the occasion of Halloween to indulge in evil and satanic things. So be aware, be alert, but don't live as a victim. That's not our role in this world. The devil would like for us to think of ourselves as powerless in the face of evil - but that's not even remotely the case.
Because there is evil in this world - we are called to be salt and light in this dark world. Don't cower in the face of evil because, 'You are from God and have overcome the world, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."
So maybe make a game plan - as those who do evil prepare for their big holiday - maybe you prepare as well. Maybe spend some extra time in prayer this week specifically for all of the kids who'll be roaming through your neighborhood this Friday. Maybe take the time to get to know the neighbors around you that you might not otherwise meet. Perhaps you could make it a point to make your house 'a very bright light in the darkness' this Halloween.
Evil is real - the devil is active - so let's make sure the Church is even more active in sharing the Good News of the hope of Jesus Christ!