The Enemy Gets a Vote
We are convinced in ACTS XXIX that there are three essential principles for transformation in the Church; not methods, programs or prescriptions, but principles. These three essential principles are: 1) reacquiring a biblical worldview, 2) moving from being a staff to a team, and then from a team to a family, and 3) trusting that God already has the plan and will make it known to us, often only step by step. These principles are true not only for the transformation of a diocese or parish, but also for marriage, family, and our own life as a disciple.
In our work with bishops and priests and lay leaders in the Church, we share with them what we believe the Lord has shared with us with regards to some insightful ways to pray about His plan. As we have greater clarity on who it is we are asking to show us the plan (the first essential principle), and as we bring people with us we can trust and be vulnerable with and engage in healthy conflict so as to discern what we are praying about (the second essential principle), we can more easily discern what the Lord is asking us to do. Again, this applies to a diocesan leadership context, a parish context, a family context, or a personal context.
One of the ways the Lord has inspired us to pray is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us get into the mind of the enemy and to prayerfully consider this question: If we were trying to prevent the renewal and transformation of a particular diocese, or parish, or marriage, or family, or disciple, what would we do? In other words, in our attempts to prayerfully strategize it is crucial to remember this simple military principle: the enemy gets a vote.
This is an important way to pray for the simple reason that we are not living in neutral territory. Indeed, we are living in occupied territory, as St. John reminds us: “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). And the enemy is constantly scheming, doing all that he can, together with his minions, to keep us personally from all that God has for us, trying to thwart our plans that aspire to lead anyone and everyone to faith in Jesus Christ, the only hope for a captive race.
As we pray this way, more often than not, the Holy Spirit reveals similar things the enemy tries to do. This should hardly be surprising, since Scripture repeatedly makes known to us the various tactics of the enemy. He tries to sow division, mistrust and envy; he tries to damage and disrupt lines of communication; he accuses us and others in various ways, tempting us to think we cannot possibly change; he tempts us to feel overwhelmed by what seem to be insurmountable odds. And so much more.
In these initial weeks of the new year, when many of us are taking stock of our lives and coming up with various resolutions for spiritual growth, we encourage us all to try this prayer exercise, whether we’re a bishop, pastor, father, mother or single person. Prayerfully (and carefully) think about what we would do if we were the enemy and were trying to prevent some significant effort of renewal and transformation from happening. And, then, again asking the light and guidance of the Holy Spirit, ask the Lord to show a way to come against what He reveals about the enemy’s strategy.
God desires us to grow in freedom. He desires us to live ever more abundantly. He desires to use us to draw others to Himself, the sole hope for every man and woman. God desires His world back! Let us turn to Him with confidence, asking for His light and grace and wisdom so that we might be and do all that He desires us to be and do.