BE SOBER

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion who walks about seeking whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5:8

 This is a teaching found in Rick Renners' book Healing.

Be sober literally means to be sober and not drunk. It pictures someone who is free from alcoholic intoxication, free from deliriums, delusions and hallucinations that may accompany drunkenness. Free from silly thinking and hence able to have presence of mind, clear judgement and in control rather than being controlled by urges, impulses, whims and fluctuating emotions. No doubt we can put drugs into this picture as well.

The word means to have one's wits about oneself, to be rational as opposed to irrational, or to be free from a drunken state or drug-induced state in which one drops one's guard and is more likely to give way to foolish behaviors, unreasonable conversations and detrimental decisions. Simply put, the word sober in the verse means to be serious-minded. Why is this so important? Because you open yourself up to demonic attack. The word sober is used 6 times in the New Testament.

In 1 Peter 1:13, it says, " Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober” In early Roman times, when a runner ran, he would gird up his loins by grabbing the loose, dangly ends of his skirt, tucking it under his loins so it would get caught up in his legs and hinder him from running the race. This verse means grab all the dangling stuff in your life, all your loose places, your distractions and everything that would hinder your race and get them out of the way. So you run and obtain your goal.