Chan Kilgore » Family Children Church Church Leadership Wisdom Calling

Are you under satanic attack, or spiritual surgery? How do you tell the difference? Chan Kilgore shares what he wishes he had known about spiritual warfare, shared leadership, parenting, and work.

What I wish I’d known about spiritual warfare

I came to Christ in a Jesus-loving church that had an unhealthy interest in spiritual warfare. The result was that I grew up in the faith thinking that all difficulty, hardship, or suffering was a spiritual attack. I believed that I was under a satanic attack when really Jesus was just lovingly stripping me of my idols of control, comfort, approval, and power. 

I still believe in spiritual warfare, but I have also come to know that Jesus loves us enough to strip us of our functional saviors. When Jesus lovingly takes away something you cling to for comfort instead of Christ, all of your fears and insecurities are exposed with the uprooting of your false saviors. You may feel like you are under spiritual attack, when actually you are under spiritual surgery to remove the idols that are deeply rooted in your heart.

Jesus loves us enough to strip us of our functional saviors. Tweet

Never confuse the hand of God with the hand of Satan. Satan will never strip you of your idols, because he is very content letting you put your trust in lesser things than Christ.

Don’t resist the loving hand of God’s discipline in your life. Take comfort in it. It’s evidence that you are truly a child of God.

What I wish I’d known about shared leadership

I wish I had known the value of shared leadership earlier. Shared leadership is not without its challenges, because differing perspectives can initially cause conflict. However, through humble prayer and honest conversations these kinds of conflicts can often be resolved. Differing perspectives are not competing agendas, but rather a greater perspective of the heart of God for his church, which leads to a greater vision for the church.

There are at least five motives that can be destructive to shared leadership:

• Pride and selfish-ambition: Thinking it is all about me rather than all about Jesus. Seeking to build a platform for myself rather than lifting high the name of Jesus.
• Idolatry: Desiring power, approval, comfort, and control. Using the bride of Christ for my own glory.
• Self-righteousness: Attempting to justify or validate myself through ministry. Looking to the bride of Christ for my justification rather than Christ himself. Seeking my salvation based upon my imperfect, flawed performance rather than Christ’s perfect, flawless performance on the cross.
• Insecurity: Fearing that someone else is going to get more credit than me.
• Lack of trust: Assuming another’s motivation instead of just asking.

Reflection, repentance, and confession are powerful tools for discovering God’s heart for his church.

What I wish I’d known about parenting

I bought into the parenting myth that says, “I can and should be a perfect parent.” I wish that when I first became a parent, 21 years ago, I had known that there are no perfect parents—just grace-filled parents. If you could parent perfectly, your child wouldn’t need a Savior.

You may try to do everything perfectly to raise a perfect child, but you will fail miserably. Why? Because your child has only one savior, and you are not it.

There are no perfect parents—just grace-filled parents. Tweet

My first great revelation as a father was to understand that my sweet little angel was born with a sin nature. The doctor should have said, “Congratulations! It’s a girl, and she is a sweet little sinner.” But the even greater revelation was that my sweet little sinner had a sinner for a father.

I have come to learn that I cannot be a perfect parent—just a repentant parent. Repentance motivated by grace upon grace from Jesus is the most powerful way of parenting.

What I wish I’d known about work

When people ask me how I am doing, my reply is often “busy.” We often define ourselves by what we do, rather than by what Christ has done. The result is that we are weary and restless. I find myself coming back from a week’s vacation needing a vacation from my vacation.

A day (or week) off is not enough to give your soul the deep rest it longs for. Every idol promises life, but in the end it causes you to sacrifice everything in pursuit of it. The cost is often seen in everyday weariness. What we really need is to rest in a Savior who has sacrificed everything for us already and can give us life to its fullest every day, as well as for eternity.

The gospel gives us that rest. The pursuit of idols is a relentless and endless pursuit of acceptance, but the gospel gives us a position of acceptance in Christ Jesus. We already have in Christ Jesus all the acceptance, security, and hope that every idol promises, but can never deliver. The gospel allows us to stop working in pursuit of acceptance, which leads to restlessness, and frees us to work from our acceptance, which leads to rest.

« Newer Older »