FAQ - Small Group Concerns

The non-Christians in my group seem to be making little progress. What am I doing wrong?

When you bring Jesus where he is not known, you enter territory long held by Satan. Satan resists intrusions into his kingdom. The friction of two kingdoms at war results in messiness.

Von Clausewitz, the military thinker, writes in his classic book, On War, that one of the characteristics of the battlefield is "a fog or moonshine [that] gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance" (New York: Penguin Books, 189). Military strategists call this the "fog of war".

What does fog do? It makes visibility not only poor, but also distorted. A tree several feet in front of you may be clear, while the cliff just to your left is totally invisible.

It is easy to think that this messiness means you've done something wrong. You might have, and you need to look at that, but often it just means you've made contact with the enemy and you are in the battle.

This kind of suffering is particularly unnerving for Americans. We like a tidy world that works reasonably well. A secret of Satan's power is using confusion to unnerve us. He has little recourse because the kingdom of heaven is so powerful. Satan has no power to create, to bring life. Jesus does. Satan can only destroy by bringing confusion through his lies.

In short, the inevitable feel of spiritual warfare is confusion. When you feel confusion, slow down, dig in, and pray-it is your air support. The weapons that God has given us (prayer, the Holy Spirit, the love of Christians, the Word, and the gospel) are relentlessly victorious against Satan if given time. We mustn't get discouraged because we don't see progress. We just need to stay in the fight.