Our enemy knows that when he strikes the shepherd, the sheep will scatter (Matt. 26:31), and church leaders – even as the Lord Himself – are Satan’s special targets. The more faithful and fruitful a pastor is, the more his people need to pray for his strength and protection. He is more subject to the devil’s schemes to make him discouraged or self-satisfied, hopeless or superficially optimistic, cowardly or overconfident. Satan uses every situation – favorable or unfavorable, successful or unsuccessful – to try to weaken, distract, and discredit God’s gifted men in their work of “equipping of the saints for the work of service” (Eph. 4:12).
