If I were Satan, this is How I Would Destroy You as a Disciplemaker

If I were Satan and I wanted to stop Life in Christ for Every Alaskan and the World Beyond, I would go after you, a child of God, and disable your ability to make disciples. This would be my strategy:

1. I would convince you that you had nothing to offer. I would whisper in your ear that you are not enough. Your life is too messy. You have too far to go and your life is not worth imitating. I would skew the Word of God that tells you that you are more than enough in Christ Jesus. His best, or the miraculous stuff, is reserved for better people. Jesus can’t fully live His life through you. You can only settle for His pity. You are a great spectator, accept it. Never reproduce life change, you can’t, you simply are not enough.

​2. I would cram your schedule full of all kinds of really great and noble things. Each and every time you tried to lighten your load; I would fill your heart with guilt. I would slay you with the responsibility complex that tells you are too important to quit anything. I would make you believe there is no way to carve out time to do the one job Jesus tells you to do, make disciples. I would cause you to believe that your busyness is "only for a season." But, your seasons of busyness would never end. You will live your life reacting to the next urgent matter rather than responding to the call of God in your life.

3. I would give you a false sense of intimacy that is absent of true discipleship. I would make you believe you don’t need anything more than a small group or a Bible study class and Sunday morning church attendance to be a full disciple of Jesus Christ. I would make you think that more Biblical knowledge and robotic obedience is the answer. You would have just enough relational connections to take the edge off of your longings for intimacy and to rid you of deep loneliness but, nothing more. I would do whatever it takes to keep you from any real heart to heart friendships where you are fully known or fully know anyone else.

4. I would tell that you don’t need help. I would love for you to see yourself as capable, independent and self-assured. You have what it takes to get the job done…all by yourself. I would even go as far and making your first attempts at making disciples and leading others to Jesus so easy that you would believe your own press. I would tell you that God needs you. You are special and if you don’t do it, who will? I wouldn't want you to believe the truth that you can do nothing without Jesus. I would hide your need from you at all cost.

5. I would make you so afraid of the corrupt world that you retreat into a Christian bubble. I would isolate you into little pockets with other followers, so afraid of corruption that you would never mingle with the lost. I would make you paranoid that your kids will be sucked away into corruption. I would want you see the lost as evil instead of those God has made in His image. I would exchange your heart of compassion and grace and give you a heart of judgment.

​The truth is this; I would only need to harm you in one of these five areas. If I can succeed in just one little area, you won’t reproduce yourself in the lives of others. Your children won’t see the true gospel incarnated in you and your church won’t ever get to benefit from the gifts God gave you to build up the body. You won’t experience the full joy of being on mission with the God of the universe. You will live small.