If you shoot a gun or a bow, you know what you want to hit. You want to hit the bull's-eye. If you're in a battle, it isn't quite as easy to know where the bull's-eye is. Well, Daniel Morgan knew. Daniel Morgan commanded a unit called Morgan's Raiders on the colonists' side during the Revolutionary War. He made a decisive difference, especially at the battle of Saratoga, which many scholars say was the turning point of the Revolutionary War.
Morgan told his riflemen where their bull's-eye was in the battle. He said, "Forget the poor fellows who fight for six pence a day. Concentrate your fire on the epaulet men." Epaulets are those fringe decorations that officers used to wear on their shoulders. As a result of Morgan's orders, British General Burgoine's officer ranks were so depleted that he surrendered at Saratoga. Morgan's strategy is still the way to win a battle.
In the book of Luke, Jesus is anticipating the intense spiritual warfare Simon Peter will go through as Jesus is arrested, tried, and crucified. Luke 22:31-32 says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Jesus knows what kind of war Peter is about to be in and He wants Peter to be one of His great leaders.
Satan is not omnipresent. He has to be selective in his targets, so he says, like Daniel Morgan of old said, "Go for the leaders." The minute you step up to making a difference for Jesus, you step into the devil's sights. That's not a reason to be afraid. Nothing can reach a target that is protected by the blood of Jesus Christ.
There was a Christian leader who was in great turbulence. One of his board members said to him, "You know what I think you ought to do? Why don't you just get a nice, fat, juicy job in corporate America and get the target off your back?" His comment was meant to be humorous or funny, but his point was well taken. The target is on the back of a leader.
There are two groups here. First of all, there are those in leadership. Maybe you're in a group that is exercising leadership for the Lord, whether on a small scale or on a large scale. Don't be surprised if you're drawing fire, but remember to fight it as a spiritual battle. Don't fight human beings, human forces, and economic forces. Fight this as a spiritual battle and live carefully. Don't do anything that could give Satan something to work with. Anticipate all the ways he could bring you down, trap you, and restrict you, and then build your life in such a way that he couldn't do that. Build a high wall at those points.
Maybe you're in the second group. Maybe you're around a spiritual leader and benefiting from them. Don't let any bullets come from you. We're supposed to pray, as Jesus did, for a spiritual leader. Pray for them because Satan is against them because they are leading others. Don't ever be one who wounds a man or a woman God is using, who's already a target. Be a spiritual bodyguard for the leaders you know. Get between them and the enemy bullets with your prayers. Be part of the spiritual security force by praying intensely for the leaders you know.
Let's protect each other and let's pray for each other. Don't be discouraged if the devil takes aim at you. It means that hell considers you a threat because heaven is about to use you.