Leadership Beyond

The note below comes from Norival Trindade, one of the international staff guys with ILI.  He is reporting a remarkably suspicious chain disruptions in the International Leadersip Institute (ILI) in Africa. 

It has all the markings of spiritual warfare.  The evil one must be getting nervous.

In Malawi, the venue contracted for the National Conference next week cancelled their reservation four days ago forcing our team to find a suitable place in less than one week. Last month in Zambia, the retreat center director announced that our History Makers participants had to vacate the premises one day before the contracted date and conclude the conference somewhere else. One week ago in Kenya, the vehicle that transported the ILI team was vandalized during the Mombasa National Conference. Almost every conference has one or more last minute cancellations due to unforseen circumstances. We could go on and on describing incidents that threaten to derail ILI conferences everywhere in the world.

Most people call this Murphy's Law. If something can go wrong, it will. For us the reality of Spiritual opposition is stronger than the random troubles we all face. ILI is in the cutting edge of accelerating the spread of the Gospel and our leaders are on the front lines of the battle for the souls of the lost all over the planet. As such, we should expect the enemy to oppose us with everything he has.

This is why we need your prayers. We need partners who will commit to fasting and praying on behalf of the four History Makers alumni who are currently in prison for their faith in an undisclosed nation. We need intercessors who will pray daily for Yaqub Masih, who is preparing to lead a National Conference in Pakistan, where religious intolerance and the threat of suicide bombings is a daily matter. We need to bring before God the many leaders who will travel the treacherous roads of Pakistan to attend this conference, for safety during the event, and for Rev. Mike Goodyear, Orangevale, CA, who is traveling to Pakistan to support Yaqub.

Oftentimes, obastacles come from our poor preparation, lack of forsight, of just plain circumstances.  (Yes, "circumstances" are sometimes just circumstances.)  Other times it is demonic.  In all of it, our primary response is prayer.  Pray for the work as Norival requests.  The Lord is on the move.

Kyle Phillips

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”. 1 Peter 5:8

It sometimes comes as an unpleasant surprise to many in the faith that Satan actually does have them on his radar screen. Your vision is in place, your plans for ministry to the lost and captive are moving forward and all is right with the world…until Satan makes his move, that is. As those who are experienced in ministry and missions will tell you, it’s not a matter of if Satan will strike; it’s a matter of when Satan will strike. 

Now, I have an acquaintance who is convinced that Satan is personally responsible for every untoward event in her life. Flat tire on the way to work? Satan trying to get her fired. Child only gets a C+ on his chemistry final; Satan ruining another young life. Hair out of sorts – you guessed it, Satan keeping her from finding husband number three!

That’s not what I’m talking about.

Scripture assures us that Satan is on the prowl and anyone with a little time in grade can tell you that Satan stalks those who dare to step out of their personal comfort zone and get busy with the spread of the Gospel. Now the good news is that Satan only has a few signature moves; he isn’t God, after all. The bad news is that, given our sin nature, he only needs a few moves. And if we are caught off guard, he’ll do his best. It’s important for leaders (by my reckoning, all Christians, in fact) to be acutely aware of how Satan works, as a preventative measure.

The Apostle John understood this all too well and his words should be a caution to us all:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2: 15-17

It is worth noting that Satan even attempted to trip up the Master in each of these areas (see Luke 4) and he’s still at to today in the lives of those who belong to Jesus. I’d encourage everyone to take a closer look at each of these three signature flaws that Satan would love to exploit:

1.     Desires of the flesh – What do we really live for? Are we living for merely material things?

2.     Desires of the eyes – What heart idols have us in captivity, right now?

3.     Pride in possessions – Is our identity mostly wrapped up in who we think we are or is it truly in Christ?

This type of introspection is very difficult, if we are honest in the endeavor. The benefits, however, are enormous if we consciously, deliberately probe our hearts to uncover, as Tim Keller would put it, “our sins beneath our sins”. We all have issues in each of these areas, to be sure, but it is much better to work out our salvation off line with the help of the Holy Spirit, than to be caught unawares as we move forward on mission.

For those who have attended the ILI Regional Leadership training, take some time to review the excellent study resource provided in the Obstacles to Leadership module. For those who haven’t, consider attending our next Regional Conference to be held in the Santa Clarita Valley in February, 2010.

Mike Brown