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1 Peter 5:8b in the New King James Bible says, “your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” The Lord keeps showing me that the enemy is only “like” a lion, roaming about “seeking” someone he may devour. There are two points to ponder in this passage,  

1. The enemy is not a lion, only trying to be like a lion to intimidate us, and
2. He is “seeking” someone whom he “may” devour.

I believe this means he is not able to devour everyone or even just anyone. There must be something different and noticeable that makes the enemy believe he could overpower and devour those he chooses. What is it about them that catches his eye and makes him believe he could win? Or maybe the question should be what is different about those he steers away from that makes him turn away? If we read the complete verse in context with the surrounding verses, we find the answer: We must not be proud and we must cast all of our cares (worries) upon the Lord and resist the enemy (devil) in faith.

I like how it is written in the Amplified Bible:

1 Peter 5:5-10 (AMP)
⁵ Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.
⁶ Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,
⁷ Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
⁸ Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.
⁹ Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.
¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.

Once again we are told by the Lord if die to our self (die to pride and surrender our life to Him), lay our cares at His feet (trust Him), and stand firm in our faith, we will be established and strengthened by the Lord. He resists those who are proud and welcomes with open arms those who have a broken heart for Him. It is those who the Lord resists that the enemy seeks after to seize upon and devour. We must surrender our hearts daily (perhaps even hourly) to the Lord to be sure we will stand strong against all attacks of the enemy.

Just because the enemy may not devour you does not mean he will not take a “taste” out of you once and awhile, just to see how you taste (how you will react). Be strong in the faith and resist the devil by surrendering to Jesus Christ daily. Be willing to do whatever the Lord directs and lay down your own desires, wants, and emotions. We must count the cost of following Christ daily and not allow the “bite” taken by enemy once and awhile to stop or detour us from fulfilling the call of Christ.

We are to be the “mirror” of Christ for the world to see. Who are we reflecting today?

As we begin each day, we should be sure to realign ourselves with Christ before we even step out of bed, to ensure we present a good “copy” of Christ to the world that day. This could be something as simple as a prayer of surrender as we wake and take our first breath or a more complex and structured quiet time of prayer. No matter how the Lord calls you to do it, it is the most important part of your day and should be done with fullness of heart.

During this quiet time is when you should look into your mirror beyond the veil and ask the Lord to wipe you clean, so you are sure to start fresh, without blemish. It is also during this time that you are able to transformation from who your flesh wants to be that day into who the Spirit desires you to be. This is when you lay down your will and pick up His will for your life. You must decide who you will mirror that day, yourself or Christ. Who was your Master copy yesterday? How did that choice take place, willingly or accidently?

We often become “copies” of the images we are subjected to throughout our childhood and sometimes even adulthood. If we do not know who or what our Master copy is to be, then we duplicate, or copy, what we see and hear. Sometimes the duplication takes place inside of us without us even knowing it, we seem normal on the outside. We know something is not right and we often feel a void on the inside, but until we surrender our life to Christ Jesus, we will never be a genuine copy and feel complete.

Too often Christians “go to church” one or more times a week, sit and listen to someone “preach”, and then try to imitate or copy what someone says will bring peace, joy and fullness into our life or we try to copy someone who seems to have what we believe we are missing in our life. The problem is that when this takes place we are creating copies of copies of copies of copies etc, and when that happens, they become more and more flawed. This is what has happened for 2,000 years, man has copied man who has copied man who has copied man…But we should EACH be looking to Christ as our Master copy, not any man. We should be looking to Him for our everything and sharing that with those around us. We should not point others to ourselves or another person, but point them to the Word, where they can find Him.

We are each to teach one another, love one another, admonish one another, etc, but first and foremost we should be pointing them to Christ in everything we say and do each day. The Holy Spirit should be leading and guiding our daily lives, not our flesh or man. The only way to do this is to surrender daily to Christ, giving it all to Him.

It is absolutely AMAZING what putting the Lord first in my day can do. Yesterday was the first day in my new beginning, and it was awesome! I can honestly say I had NO struggle with eating/food. I am not saying that I will never have another struggle – just that it was a true change. It makes sense, if I am taking the time to fill my void with Him each morning (as it should be), then there is not room or desire to fill the void with food (there is no void needing to be filled). I pray that the Lord will fill me this day and every day and help me to stay filled up on Him. I am asking him to help me to remove the veil daily, repent of wrong choices, and allow Him to clean my blemishes within/on me.

One day last year as I discussed Ephesians 5:8-14 with our church, the Lord showed me that although we may be in sin, we cannot see the ‘blemish’ or ‘dirt’ in the darkness on or in us. But it is “exposed” to be dealt with as we walk in the “light” of Christ (v.13). We need to ask the Lord each day to fill us with His light and expose the unsurrendered areas in our life (i.e. – the sin, dirt, our “self”), and ask for Him to help us fully surrender those areas to Him every day. We need to be sure we continually walk in the light of Christ, and deal daily with the ‘exposed’ sin or weaknesses He reveals to us. It is through His strength and Spirit that we are able to fully overcome our own weaknesses in this world.

I am noticing that He is again teaching me about the veil we use to ignore the pain, sin and weaknesses in our lives. We cannot be cleansed nor strengthened by His blood until we allow the veil to be removed. Removing the veil we hide behind not only reveals our need for Christ, but also reveals His glory and power! Here are two verses (one is listed using two different translations), that I hope will help you understand the importance of removing our veil before the Lord.

2 Cor 3:16 (AMP): “But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.”

2 Cor 3:16 (NKJV): “Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

Hebrews 6:19-20 (NKJV): “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever…”

We must remove our veil and look into the mirror of Christ to see our need for His saving grace in our lives. It is only through this process that we can grow in the Spirit walk away from our “mountain.”