10 Lies of the Enemy that Church Leaders Believe

In my years of studying spiritual warfare, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with pastors about their own battles. Often, those battles are connected to lies the enemy proclaims loudly – and we leaders choose to believe. Maybe you’ve listened to some of these lies:

1. “You’re indispensable to the kingdom.” He may not want us to verbalize this statement, lest our arrogance become too obvious; he wants us only to believe it while doing our best to appear humble. 
2. “Your preaching is some of the best.” Even though all of us vary in our preaching abilities, none of us has so no room for improvement. The enemy pushes us to be satisfied as long as we’re better than others. 
3. “You deserve a bigger church and more acclaim.”After all, you’ve served faithfully where you are – and you know you’re more qualified than others who’ve gained recognition. 
4. “It doesn’t matter how your church grows.”Even if it grows only by getting members from the divided church down the street, that’s okay. In fact, that’s much better than growing your congregation by reaching non-believers. 
5. “You’ll never be among the number of the fallen.”When you believe this lie, you’ve already taken a step toward joining that number – and the enemy delights in his achievement. 
6. “Other people are called to be prayer warriors.”We need prayer partners, but relying on others to pray while we do the work means we do much ministry in our own power. 
7. “Small church pastors don’t matter much.”I’m concerned that our denominations sometimes inadvertently become a voice of the enemy here when we focus on only large church pastors. 
8. “The right order of priority is ministry, God, and family.”Again, I don’t know anybody who would agree with this lie. I know a number of church leaders, though, who live in this order. 
9. “You’ll never have a second chance.”Not only does the enemy wants us to mess up, but he also wants us to believe that God can never use us again. He loves to rob us of our hope.
10. “No matter what you’ve done, you can always get your old position back.”This lie is the flip side of #9. Sometimes the enemy convinces us that our actions won’t have lasting consequences – so what’s the big deal? 

What other lies have you heard?