His Last Command: Our First PrioritySample

Day 1: If I were the devil

God’s plan is for the good news of Jesus Christ to reach the entire world, offering hope and salvation to all people.

Matthew 24:14 NKJV

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

As Christians, our focus is rightly fixed on God’s plan for humanity and the purposes He calls us to fulfil. However, have we ever thought about what we might learn by looking at things from the devil’s point of view?

Satan also has intentions for humankind — intentions that are completely evil. His schemes aim at destroying humanity and extending his own existence. Knowing that his time is limited and his defeat is certain (Rev. 20:10), he works tirelessly to oppose God’s plans at every opportunity.

2 Corinthians 2:11 GNT

In order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us, for we know what his plans are.

Jesus’ last command (Mark 16:15) is to be our first priority; therefore, the devil is bent on making certain the Church in the earth is distracted from it and fixated on other so-called priorities.

“If I were the devil, I would know that before the inevitable happened to me, the gospel has to be preached to all nations … my first priority would be to see to it that the gospel is not preached to the world.”

In the book of Revelation, Jesus repeatedly states, “Behold, I am coming quickly!” (Rev. 3:11, 22:7, 12, 20). The Apostle Peter also encouraged the Church to live with the expectation of the Lord’s return, urging them to be “looking for and hastening the coming of the day…” (2 Peter 3:11-12). Therefore, the return of Jesus to earth is directly connected to the completion of the Church's mission to spread the gospel message to the entire world.

“And while we wait for His return, He waits for us to go forth. ‘Come, Lord!’ ‘Go Church!’ We’re praying, ‘Come’, He’s commanding, ‘Go’, and the truth is He isn’t coming till we get going.”

Satan has an abundance of strategies to discourage the church from preaching the gospel. He is the father of lies and deceit. He happily seeks to prevent and dishearten anyone who would take the Great Commission seriously. He uses everything from distraction and complacency to fear and intimidation. Anything to “make the price seem too dear.”

Six Strategies the devil uses to keep the Church from making Jesus’ last command their first priority:

1. Marginalise Missions.

Take it off the main page of priorities for the church. Departmentalise it. Have a mission PROGRAM, not a mission passion. A mission’s CONSCIENCE, but not a mission's commitment.

2. Get Christians to focus on this world, and not the next one.

“If I were the devil, I would see to it that Christians didn’t think past lunch, let alone contemplate eternity. I would do all I could to keep them focused on this little sandbar of time between the two great oceans of eternity.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

3. The purpose for prosperity is all about YOU and the acquisition of more stuff!

“I would get Christians to love earthly treasures more than heavenly treasures. I would get them to believe temporal investment in things is more important than eternal investment in souls.”

Matthew 6:19, 20 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth … but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

“It is just as wrong to store up treasure on earth as it is to do anything else Jesus told us not to do.” - John Wesley

4. I would make sure the Great Commission became the great omission.

“Instead of ‘Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations’, I would teach a more popular doctrine - stay at home and build facilities and teach yourselves over and over again how to be His disciples.”

“Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?” - Oswald J. Smith.

“Time is so short - eternity is so long. If I were the devil, I’d make sure that priorities were all wrong. I’d see to it that time was wasted until an entire generation died off, leaving the task of world evangelism undone and then I would begin again with the next generation, building on the example of the last one.”

“We have all of eternity to celebrate our victories but only one short hour … to win them.” -Robert Moffat

1 Corinthians 7:29 TLB

The important thing to remember is that our remaining time is very short, and so are our opportunities for doing the Lord’s work.

5. If I were the devil, I would encourage Christians to pray for the harvest.

“By praying for the harvest, Christians will think they are doing their part in the Great Commission. I would know that praying for a harvest that is already ripe (John 4:35) is much less effective than praying for the labourers to go forth and reap the harvest.”

“Jesus does not teach us to pray for the lost. He teaches us to pray for the Church … that she will go tell the lost.” (Luke 10:2)

6. I would teach Christians that the power of the Holy Spirit has been sent to bless them.

“I would see to it that there is a ‘bless me’ focus in the Church. Bless me, anoint me, prosper me, help me, heal me, fill me, thrill me, teach me, reach me, build me, encourage me, saturate me, satisfy me … MORE for me!”

Acts 1:8 NKJV

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

The Holy Spirit is indeed a blessing to the Christian, but His primary purpose is to empower believers to be witnesses of Jesus, even to the point of laying down their lives, as demonstrated by the early church and is still true today in many parts of the world.

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Prayer

Lord, I pray that the desires of my heart and the focus of my life remain fixed upon your purposes for the world. I ask you to keep me from distractions that shift my energy and attention away from your plan. Keep me from complacency. Help me always to keep the “main thing the main thing.” Amen.