If the Enemy is unsuccessful in stopping the seed of the kingdom of God from being planted in your heart with new life, then he will try to stop the seed from growing into its intended stature (an “[oak] of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor” [Isa. 61:3]) and from multiplying (“yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown” [Luke 8:8]). Understand that the battle intensifies now because we are aware of it.
As I have examined my own life, the lives of others, and Scripture, I have found a pattern to the Enemy’s attack—he uses distance, diminishment, disdain, and disqualification to render us useless in the kingdom of God.
The first wave of attack is to distance us from our hearts and desires through pain or wounding. If distance is unsuccessful or unsustained, the next assault is to diminish the glory of our lives to the point where we don’t want to offer it. If diminishment doesn’t work, the third strike is to cause us to disdain our glory through the power of shame. Finally, if all else fails, the Enemy launches the accusation of disqualification. The battle is never easy, but we can fight wisely when we recognize and understand the Enemy’s strategy.
