Finding Peace During Spiritual Warfare

When you are in any kind of battle, there is an adversary - an enemy of some sort. With a formidable enemy, one of the biggest mistakes we can make is to underestimate his abilities.

Trish pointed out that frequently missionaries are called front-line warriors, in the spiritual battle that comes along with spreading the Gospel. But, as she said, “We don’t consider ourselves front-line warriors - those are the Honduran pastors. We are part of the supply chain. And we happen to be in the part of the chain that is directly next to the front line. Our job is to pass resources along to those on the front line.”

There have been years when Sowers4Pastors’ work has met with little resistance. This is not one of those years. This year, they are personally struggling, they are seeing the Honduran pastors they work with fighting battles, as well as the churches that support them in the U.S.

As in any battle, a formidable adversary analyzes our weaknesses. Sowers4Pastors is seeing that among their staff members. Anyone with a weakness to be exploited is experiencing problems related to that weakness, and, of course, everyone has weaknesses.

When their ministry began, the Sowers were a typical nuclear family living a non-typical life in Honduras. Now, that ministry has grown to include people with different last names. And the original nuclear Sowers family has also changed. The ministry staff is made up of a group of friends, co-workers, adult offspring, parents of young children, parents of teens, parents of adults, siblings, grandparents, and in-laws. All of this distant and recent history means there are ample opportunities to pull up old and newer grievances! The team has made it a point to rally--praying together and spending time together in the Word.

They are also looking for all kinds of prayer support they can call in for what is definitely a spiritual battle. While asking for prayer, Trish wants to remind supporters that this is not entirely a bad situation. She said, 

“When the enemy is exploiting our weaknesses, it serves as an opportunity for God to reveal to us areas of our lives in which we have been spiritually sloppy or negligent; where we may have been harboring sins. It’s a time to reinforce our spiritual armor, and it can be a time of painful growth. As a team, we are trying to up our game in all of our spiritual disciplines to be able to ward off attacks which may damage the ministry.”

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Thank you so much for your prayers!

- posted by Christi