Distracted by Survival

I've decided that the enemy has a subtle tactic to shift our focus away from kingdom work: getting us into survival mode.

This can happen in several ways. At one extreme is persecution. True, some degree of persecution purifies the church and makes her stronger and more kingdom-oriented. But extreme persecution historically has thrown the church into "survival mode", where self-preservation moves the church into a defensive posture. When all energy is directed toward survival, the advance of the kingdom can suffer.

But this distracted-by-survival mentality can creep in the church subtly as well. I know of two churches that are scaling back giving to kingdom work in order to survive financially during these tough times. Other churches, struggling to maintain enough workers in the nursery or recovering from in-fighting and a church split, have decided that "we have to get healthy here before we are of use there" - and quickly find themselves distracted by survival.

The survival mentality can affect families and individuals. Conflict in a marriage can lead to more time spent praying in warfare for the marriage to survive and a loss of energy to pray for the warfare across the world. A wayward child can quickly - and rightly - become the focus of prayer, but at the expense of praying for that people group. Extreme poverty can cause a family's day to be filled with trying to find food to eat -- and indeed, one reason for the great advance of the kingdom in the late 1800's was the mere fact that because the standard of living was raised, people had more time to devote to something other than survival.

Falling into survival mode isn't selfish - it's part of our human tendency, something God put in us that scientists call "fight or flight". But we have to recognize when our perceived need to focus on survival is genuine or when it is a distraction by the enemy.

I've known churches that refused to cut back on giving - and found themselves blessed with a donation after a death in the church. I've read of small churches that committed more efforts in kingdom advance overseas rather than focusing on their conflicts and needs, and found themselves growing by leaps and bounds. I've known a wife who faced a serious conflict in her marriage that determined not to replace her kingdom prayers with marriage prayers - she committed to praying both. Lots of warfare, but the marital battles subsided faster than she ever imagined and was stronger than ever - allowing her even more kingdom prayer time.

I've also known churches that truly needed time to heal and regroup. (Smyrna in Rev. 2 affords a great example of a church that needed to be in survival mode, and received encouragement from God for it.) I've known people who needed to lay down fruitful kingdom work to focus on family needs and battles for a season.

My point isn't that every focus on survival is a distraction or of the enemy. But we are wise to remember that this IS a war. Sometimes in war, a soldier has to get out of the battle for a season to heal and survive effectively. Other times, he simply presses through the pain and keeps on fighting - finding that survival is granted in the middle of the battle.

What are you facing today that makes you head for survival mode? As you fight that personal battle, ask God to reveal to you whether this raises the need to focus on survival, or whether the enemy is distracting you by trying to get you into survival mode.

God is faithful. He will bring what He has started to completion. He will help you survive this trial - just trust His leading for that next step.