Be On Your Guard
"Be on your guard" means that you should be aware of your vulnerabilities and watchful for the intent of others. "Be vigilant," conveys the same meaning concisely, but I chose "Be On Your Guard" for the title of this article because you can web search 1 Corinthians: 16:13-14 and see those words in the guidance from the Apostle Paul, who wrote it between 53-54 AD (number of years after the birth of Jesus Christ).
The verse warns all mankind of a spiritual war that began when the first man and woman cooperated in a lie offered by God's favorite angel, Lucifer (later known as Satan), who disguised himself as the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent's advantage was craftiness (using deceit and indirect means to achieve its goals). Craftiness fit well with Lucifer's intent to move God's favor away from the man and woman and back toward himself. Be on your guard. Although Lucifer was exposed and he and his followers were condemned to be apart from God (heaven and the Garden of Eden), both the man and woman were also set apart because they had cooperated with Lucifer to defy God.
Web search 2 Corinthians 2:11 to read plainly on whom we must always be on guard and why. Read in Revelation 12:9 how Satan (Lucifer) was called the "great deceiver" of the whole world. We are the world. We are what is important in the world, because we human beings are still loved by God. He wants each of us to find our way back to him, in spite of the efforts of the great deceiver. Satan or one of his followers will visit you at any time, while you are awake and while you sleep. Don't expect to be attacked by some monster under your bed. Instead, it will happen by trickery: an angry, or selfish, or mean thought in your mind that may grow in you to become a plan and your act to get something for yourself at the expense of others. You may be confronted by another human being, one who has been deceived by Satan and acts against you.
You cannot prevail against Satan in a spiritual war by using weapons that you devise, just as you cannot fight a cyber war with bullets and tanks. Web search Ephesians 6:10-13 to see that you must turn to God and ally with him. Read how prayer, the word of God (the Christian Bible), and your belief in the sacrifice of Jesus (the promised Christ) are your armor and weapons to use when you face the deceit and cunning attacks of Satan and his followers. Be on your guard.
Gloss