Hans R. Waldvogel emphasizes the urgency of being vigilant and sober in the face of spiritual warfare, as the devil seeks to devour the unsuspecting. He warns that many Christians have fallen prey to complacency and sin, neglecting the power of the Holy Spirit to transform their lives. Waldvogel encourages believers to draw near to God, cultivate humility, and maintain purity of heart to experience His grace and strength. He illustrates the importance of watchfulness through personal anecdotes and the example of the Kirchheim Church, highlighting the need for a genuine, holy life. Ultimately, he calls for a deep commitment to living in the presence of God, as true transformation comes from Him alone.

Selected Verses: I Peter 5:8-10. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. Opening: And something is happening. While I travel around the world, I find things are happening all the time at a very, very rapid pace. And they’re happening to you. I’d like to hit your right in the solar plexus with the “sword of the Spirit” and make you realize that something… And the Bible tells us what is happening. Look, “be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion…” well that isn’t modern anymore to believe in the devil! Well, don’t. “…as a roaring lion goeth about…” trying to find a hotdog sandwich someplace. Let’s see what does it say? What is he looking for? … Selected Quotes: Everywhere, I find Christians that have already been devoured. They have not watched; they have not prayed; they have not allowed God to keep them. “The end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober.” How to be sober? Why, that means to be awake all the time, to be watchful all the time. That’s what the Holy Ghost has come down from heaven to do: not only to make me watch, but to make me fight—not with carnal weapons, but with weapons that are “mighty through God.” … He has power “to subdue all things unto Himself,” so that everything—your mind, your body, your soul, your spirit—becomes subject to the Holy Ghost. You walk no longer in the flesh. You think no longer in the flesh. You don’t speak anymore what you please, but the Spirit of God has come to set up the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ within your heart. … What is the matter? The theologians have come, the great healers have come, and they’ve left people in confusion. And why is it? Because they’ve forsaken the Fountain of living water: that fountain is Jesus Christ Himself in all His majesty, in all His holiness, in all His purity, in all His dominion. “Except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man...” Hardly anybody thinks of doing that today. … Adultery, fornication, lust, pride, conceit, selfishness, everybody striving to live a comfortable life! And their hearts are not pure toward God. What a dreadful thing: “Dead in trespasses and sins,” “the poison of asps is under their lips”! Go and listen to them; you have to talk to them for five minutes, and they’ll spit at you, and you’ll be poisoned. But God is working. “The God of all grace,” thank God!—is working toward those whose hearts are perfect toward Him. And how does He work? With exceeding great power and “exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think.” My God, I want You to love me; I’m going to let You love me, and I’m going to let You “subdue all things” unto Thyself. That’s the thing I need to watch for. Day by day and hour by hour, my eye must be single toward the Lord Jesus Christ because His eye is upon me all the time, and He says, “If your eye is single, your body will be full of light.” … You don’t know—you don’t know God until you draw nigh to God. Until you wait upon the Lord, you’ll be “dead in trespasses and sins.” Nobody can save you but God. Jesus Christ says, “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” … When I preached in that Bible school in California, I said to the students, “There are two elements that you need: first of all, a deep, Holy Ghost humility—a lowliness of mind; and 100% purity of heart.” And one of the teachers was weeping. He said to me, “You certainly struck.” Oh, the lack of living the life! And I said to one preacher, “How do you dare preach what you don’t live?” … Illustrations: A failure in watchfulness against a lion. “Next day, they found the watch chain. That was all that was left of the British hunter because he went to sleep. I wonder what’s going to be found of you tomorrow.” This story is told in more detail in recording 52B around 22:08. (from 0:56) The example of serious seeking in Kirchheim. (from 11:30) The example of Walter Waldvogel. “He was weeping. He said, ‘I’m afraid I’m not ready for the coming of the Lord.’ And God got hold of that boy, and what a changed person he is! He lives a holy life; he lives in the presence of God, and the whole town knows it. I tell you, it’s not his preaching but it’s his life that makes the difference.” (from 16:53) References: I Am His, and He Is Mine, a hymn by George W. Robinson, 1876: His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part? Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart! Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline; But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine. But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.