“But take your stand against him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by the entire association of your brothers in the world.” —1 Peter 5:9

The rain fell in sheets that morning, soaking the streets of São Paulo in a gray hush. On the eleventh floor of a narrow apartment building, a young pioneer sister named Clara wiped the window with her sleeve and pulled her sweater tighter. Her Bible lay open beside her tea, its pages softly rippling in the breeze from the cracked window. She’d read the verse three times already: “Take your stand against him…”

But this morning, Satan’s assault didn’t come in the form of overt temptation. It came cloaked in weariness. Doubt. The kind that whispers: “You’re not strong enough. You’re not enough. Why bother?”

Clara wasn’t imagining a boogeyman. She knew better. Satan was real. Not a shadow, not a symbol. A cunning spirit bent on breaking the bond between Jehovah and His loyal ones.

The apostle Peter knew this battle intimately. When he wrote those words, “Take your stand against him,” he wasn’t speaking in metaphor. He had seen the Devil’s schemes up close—heard Jesus say that Satan demanded to sift him like wheat (Luke 22:31). He had felt the sting of personal failure when fear overwhelmed faith the night Jesus was arrested. Yet Peter also experienced the mercy of being restored, loved, and used again.

So Peter urges: Resist him. Stand firm. You’re not alone in this.

And neither are we.

Think of the Devil’s ancient playbook:

He used a serpent’s tongue to poison Eve’s thinking. “Is it really so?”

He accused Job, sneering that loyalty was only skin-deep.

He tried to derail Jesus at His most vulnerable, promising kingdoms in exchange for worship.

And after God’s Kingdom was born in 1914, Satan turned his rage toward those who represent it—Jehovah’s anointed and their companions. The war wasn’t over. It had simply changed terrain.

You feel it, don’t you? Not just in the world’s hostility or temptations that shout. But in the subtle, soul-wearing attacks:

– A sharp word that wounds more than expected.

– The gnawing sense of inadequacy.

– The pride that rises when we think we’re doing well—or the self-hate that creeps in when we’re not.

That’s where the battle often rages. Not in the noise, but in the stillness of the mind and the quiet of the heart.

So what about us?

The call is clear: Take your stand. Not with bravado, not with bravura—but with faith. Firm, grounded, humble faith.

We resist Satan not by charging at him, but by refusing his bait:

– By shunning pride, because pride made a perfect spirit creature become God’s enemy.

– By cultivating humility, the quality that moves Jehovah to lift us up in due time (1 Pet. 5:5-6).

– By praying—fervently, repeatedly.

– By clinging to our congregation, to our family of brothers and sisters who feel these sufferings too.

Even when our knees tremble, our stand is not weak. Why? Because we’re not standing alone. Jehovah does not ask us to resist Satan by our own strength. He arms us, He watches over us, and He strengthens us—personally.

So we return to Peter’s inspired words:

“Take your stand against him, firm in the faith…”

The battle may be invisible, but its outcomes are not. Clara finished her tea, closed her Bible, and smiled faintly. She wasn’t fearless. But she was standing. And that was enough.

Jehovah notices. He cherishes your loyalty. And when the storm howls hardest, He holds you fast.

Reference: w15 5/15 pp. 2–4