PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

WEARING OUT MAN'S HEART

Satan wears out not only man's body but also man's heart. When you first believed in the Lord, you may have been very happy, joyful, and peaceful. But if you are not watchful and do not know the work of Satan, you will suddenly become restless one day, unhappy another day, and depressed a third day. Little by little your peace will be lost, and your joy will be gone. You will become weary and discouraged. This is Satan's work in wearing you out.

WEARING OUT MAN'S SPIRIT

Satan also tries to wear out man's spirit. He takes away your prayer little by little; he takes away your trust in God little by little. He causes you to trust in yourself more and more and believe that you are cleverer and cleverer. He causes you to trust in your gift and distracts your heart from the Lord little by little. If Satan struck God's children with a powerful blow all at once, they could withstand him because they would realize that it was the work of Satan. But his most evil work is not to strike just one blow but to wear you out over a long period of time. He causes God's children to fall behind little by little and backslide little by little. This is the way Satan wears out God's children.

WEARING OUT MAN'S TIME

Satan also wears out man's time. For example, Festus sent for Paul to converse with him frequently. A man as powerful and as gifted as Paul preached to Festus for two years, yet he was still not saved. This is Satan's wearing out of man. Festus would send for Paul, and there would be no result. The next day he would send for Paul again, and there would be no result. He continually sent for Paul, but there was no result. Satan engaged Paul in work with no result. At the end of two years, there was still no result. This is Satan's wearing out of man.

If God's children do not know Satan's strategy, they will be deceived. We should redeem the time, and each hour should be counted as an hour. We must stop Satan from wearing out our time and engaging us in fruitless work.

WEARING OUT SAMSON'S CONSECRATION

Samson's failure was not as serious as the loss of his consecration. He could not afford to lose his testimony of separation. Once he lost his consecration, he lost his power; once he lost his testimony, he lost God's presence.... Satan knew that the source of Samson's power was in his consecration; therefore, he focused his efforts on this very crucial thing-he tried to take away Samson's consecration. How did Satan do it? He used Delilah, who pressed Samson daily with her words. Eventually, Samson's soul was vexed unto death, and he told her all that was in his heart, revealing the source of his power. The result was that he fell into Satan's snare; he lost his consecration, his power, his testimony of sanctification, and God's presence. This daily, pressing work is the work of the enemy.

If the Lord opens our eyes, we will see that Satan uses many methods to wear man out. He can wear us out physically, circumstantially, or spiritually. He does not attack fiercely; rather, he wears out slowly. Therefore, we have to be aware of his wearing out. We must not allow him to continue his wearing-out work; we must oppose it.

BEING DISGUSTED WITH SATAN'S WEARING OUT

When Paul was preaching in Macedonia, he met a girl possessed by a spirit, who followed him, crying out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who announce to you a way of salvation" (Acts 16:17). She cried out this way for many days, until Paul felt disgusted at heart. He turned to the spirit and said, "I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her" (v. 18). The spirit came out that very hour. Spiritually, we need such a feeling of disgust. We need to be disgusted not with men but with the demons. Paul was truly disgusted with the spirit; he was not disgusted with the girl. When Paul charged the spirit to come out of the girl, he was treating the girl as a third party. When the devil tries to wear us out, we should have the same feeling of disgust as Paul.

If you know that Satan is wearing you out, you have to pray for God to give you a feeling of disgust, that is, a feeling of disgust and anger with Satan! Many people can get angry at men, but they cannot get angry at the devil. If others offend them, they break out in a fit of anger, but when the devil wears them out, they do not feel a thing. Paul was worn out by Satan to the extent that he became angry. Once he opened his mouth to rebuke the spirit, the spirit went away. Hence, we must not keep our mouth shut all the time; we have to declare something. It would be wonderful if God's children would become angry with Satan and rebuke him. If anyone becomes angry with Satan, we will say, "Hallelujah, this is wonderful!" Some people are very weak; they allow Satan to wear them out. This is too poor. God's children should become angry with Satan. They need to be disgusted with him. Once they become angry and disgusted, everything will be set right.

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