PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

What is the resurrection life? The resurrection life is a life that cannot be touched by death. It is a life that transcends death, that is beyond the boundary of death, that comes out of death, and that death cannot hold. Satan's power extends only as far as death. The Lord Jesus proved how great the power of His life is through His resurrection. He dismantled the power of Satan. The Bible calls this power the "the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10). When this resurrection power is expressed through us, everything of Satan is cast down!

In order to withstand Satan, every child of God must declare with a strong faith, "Thank God, I have resurrected! Satan, what can you do? What you can do goes only so far as death. But the life that I have today has nothing to do with you! This life has been tested by you already. What else can you do? You are powerless! This life has transcended over you! Satan, get away from me!"

We must not be afraid of Satan. If we are afraid of Satan, he will laugh at us. He will say, "What a fool there is on earth. How can this one be so foolish?" Anyone who is afraid of Satan is foolish, because he has forgotten his position in Christ. We have no reason to fear him. We have transcended over his power. We can stand before him and say, "You cannot touch me! No matter how strong and resourceful you are, you are still one step behind!" On the day of the Lord's resurrection, He led the enemy captive and openly shamed him. Today we are standing on the ground of resurrection, and we triumph through the cross!

D. Believing That the Ascension of the Lord Is Far above the Power of Satan

Fourth, we must believe that the ascension of the Lord has put Him far above the power of Satan. Ephesians 1:20-22 says, "Raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all ... not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church." This means that the Lord Jesus is already seated in the heavenlies and is far above all the power of Satan.

Ephesians 2:6 says, "And raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." This is our position, the position of a Christian. The Lord Jesus is resurrected; He is seated in the heavenlies far above all the power of Satan. We are raised up together with Christ and are seated together with Him in the heavenlies, far above all the power of Satan....

Therefore, we counter the work of Satan with the work of the Lord Jesus. We withstand Satan through the Lord's manifestation, death, resurrection, and ascension. We are standing today upon the accomplished work of the Lord. We do not need to try to overcome in any way when Satan attacks us. Once we have the slightest thought of trying to overcome, we have failed, because our position is wrong. How great is the difference between a person who tries to overcome and one who withstands by knowing that he has already overcome. To withstand the devil means that we withstand him by the victory of Christ.

This matter indeed needs revelation. We need to see the manifestation of the Lord. We need to see His death, resurrection, and ascension. We need to know all these things.

As Christians we must learn to withstand the devil. We must say to Satan under all circumstances, "Get away from me!" May God be gracious to us so that we may all have such a faith. May we have faith toward the four things the Lord has accomplished for us, and may we exercise strong faith to withstand Satan and reject his work upon us.

Watchman Nee, Messages for Building up New Believers, Vol. 3, pp. 736-744.

APPLICATION

1. Describe the difference between power and authority; why does authority prevail over power?

2. How has the work of the cross released all those who are under Satan's hand? How can you apply this fact?

3. Explain the significance of the statement: "We are standing today upon the accomplished work of the Lord."