PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Opposing Satan's Wearing-Out Tactics

We have identified the raising of our children as a divine stewardship, by which we indicate that the Lord has entrusted these young lives into our hands. We must care for them prudently, wisely, and with much tender care. They are a treasure to the Lord even being called "the seed of God" by the prophet Malachi (ch. 2:15). Prayer is the critical factor needed to maintain the proper care of our children. Unfortunately, we often find prayer difficult to practice. We know that we should pray and that the Lord urges us to pray, yet mysteriously, we do not pray-we even lack the initiative to pray. Prayer is a battle!

If we ask why prayer is so difficult, we will find the answer in the scripture: "our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies"-Ephesians 6:12. In this issue we will address the matter of resisting the devil, particularly the opposing of his wearing-out tactics. It is not only that we need to pray for our children and for the daily supply to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; we need to pray in the way of fighting for the Lord's interests on the earth. Hence, it is crucial that we come to recognize the enemy's tactics both in our lives, in the lives of our children and in the church life. God's interests on the earth depend on the prayers of His people.

Watchman Nee wrote concerning the battle to maintain a uncompromising life of prayer, "Satan will do anything that he can to cut off our fellowship with heaven. Consequently, he will pay any price to frustrate genuine prayer. We must be on the alert. He constantly attacks the prayers of the believers and the prayers of the church. He knows that once he prevails in his attack on prayers, he can rest in peace. Therefore, we must be watchful and on guard against Satan, particularly when we pray. We have to pay attention to several things when we deal with Satan's attacks."

He further warns that Satan will attack our faith in the Lord, our body, mind, mentality, and other physical faculties. Sometimes Satan will attack the time we have set aside for prayer, or frustrate us from having uninterrupted fellowship with the Lord. Ultimately, we have to watch and pray.

Satan always works to attack God's children. His attacks are not sudden; they often come gradually. According to Daniel 7:25, Satan will wear out the saints of the Most High. One of Satan's strategies against the saints of the Most High is to wear them out. We must remember that Satan's work among God's children is not apparent; he works by wearing them out.

What does it mean to wear someone out? It means to exhaust a person minute by minute, some today and some tomorrow. The wearing out goes on invisibly, yet in a debilitating way; it goes on imperceptibly, yet the end is total depletion and waste. Satan works in God's children by the principle of wearing them out. He wears us out a little today and a little tomorrow. He causes us to suffer a little today and a little tomorrow. We may think that this is insignificant, yet the result of this wearing out by Satan is total depletion.

This is why the Bible says that the love of many will "grow" cold (Matthew 24:12). The girl who was possessed by a spirit of Python cried out "for many days" (Acts 16:17-18). When Festus wanted money from Paul, he sent for him "frequently" and conversed with him (24:26). Delilah pressed Samson "every day" with her words (Judges 16:16). Satan wears out God's children gradually, repeatedly, frequently, and daily. The "evil day" in Ephesians 6:13 refers to Satan's wearing out. We must ask the Lord to open our eyes to see Satan's wearing-out work and how we can resist it.

WEARING OUT MAN'S BODY

Satan is particularly good at wearing out the physical bodies of God's children. Job's body was stricken (Job 2:7-8), and Paul had a thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). This was Satan's wearing out of their bodies. Some Christians had healthy bodies before they were saved. After they are saved they become sick, and their health deteriorates. If God opens our eyes, we will see that Satan is always plotting and planning to deal with God's children. Many of God's servants experience the same thing when they set out to preach the gospel. Before they set out to work and preach the gospel, they have no problems with their health, but once they start to work and preach, their health breaks down within a period of three to five years. This is Satan's wearing out of the saints of the Most High. He depletes men of a little food today and a little sleep tomorrow. He makes them a little tired today and a little tired tomorrow. The cumulative effect of this tiredness eventually destroys their health completely. This is Satan's work.

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