“Deliver me!”

These are the words of two Davids. One marched as a soldier in Congo. The other reigned as a king in Israel. Both of them cried out to God when facing death, and both escaped against all odds.

Most of us find inspiration in their stories, but few have shared their experience — that endless moment when a gun or sword is pressed against our heads and we’re one heartbeat away from eternity. Yet each of us who follows Christ may have enemies that hold us captive in other ways … unseen enemies that keep us bound when it comes to making disciples.

• Fear: What if I try and fail? What if my efforts are rejected?
• Complacency: It’s not my job; that’s what missionaries are paid to do.
• Comparison: So-and-so has a super-ministry that I can’t compete with.
• Selfishness: I’ve worked too hard to give up all I’ve achieved or accumulated.
• Procrastination: I’ll go into ministry when ______ happens.
• Misconception: I’d need a degree in theology or counseling first.
• Misevaluation: There’s so little I can do, it wouldn’t make a real difference.

Certainly there are more, and we’re not all bound by the same ones. But as with the two Davids, our hope for rescue is in God and His truth. Disciple-making is all about engaging the whole body of Christ to impart God’s truth wherever life happens — yes, wherever — even on a jungle path with a gun pointed at your head. When we do, there’s no limit to what God will do.