| Bible Study "The Wearing-Out Tactics of Satan" |
Satan has a work, which is attacking the children of God. His attack may not come
suddenly; often times, it comes gradually and slowly. Daniel 7:25 mentions how satan
shall wear out the saints of the Most High. Satan has in fact a plan against the saints of
the Most High, which is to wear them out. Hence let us recognize that the work of satan
in the lives of God’s children is frequently not very noticeable, since his work is to slowly
wear them down.
Hence the principle of satan’s working in the lives of God’s children is to wear them out
until they are worn down completely. He (satan) will wear you out a little today and a
little more the next day. He (satan) will make you suffer a small amount now and a little
more latter. You may think this to be something insignificant, nevertheless satan knows
that the consequence of such wearing away is to wear the saint out completely.
We must ask God to open our eyes so that we may discern how satan would wear us
out and how we should combat his wearing-out tactic.
Wearing Out the Physical Body
Quite a few Christians experience sickness and the weakening of their body after they are
saved, whereas formerly they were rather healthy. “For me within the first few years
after being saved I had numerous sinus infections that resulted in having to have four
surgeries and being on antibiotic therapy for six months.” This is an example of the
enemy wearing out the saints of the Most High.
Wearing Out Man’s Heart
Not only does he (satan) work on the body, satan also works in the heart. Upon first
believing in the Lord you may feel very happy, joyful, and peaceful. But if you are not
watchful—being ignorant of what the enemy can do—you might find yourself one day
mysteriously uncomfortable. Little by little, your peace is greatly diminished or
completely lost, your joy totally gone. “For the first twenty plus years of being saved I
was very joyful and peaceful but little by little over the past ten years I’ve found that I
had allowed myself to be little by little robbed of my joy and peace.” This is an example
of the way the devil wears you down to a state of fatigue and despair.
Wearing Out the Spiritual Life
Satan also wears out your spiritual life. He will take your prayer life little by little, and
cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. Step
by step you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step-by-step your heart is
enticed away from the Lord. What is so wickedly subtle about satan, through, is that he
does not strike with one grand stroke; instead, he will employ the tactic of wearing out
the saints over an extended period of time, thus causing God’s children to lose out and
to backslide a little at a time. “For the first twenty plus years of being saved I
experienced an unbelievable prayer life and spent much daily time in God’s word but
little by little over the past ten years I found that I had allowed myself to be robbed
and began to trust more in my myself rather in God.” He (satan) frequently uses this
method of gradualism to wear down the people of God.
Wearing Out Our Time
If the children of God do not discern satan’s wiles they can easily fall into his trap. How
we must redeem our time and make every hour count. “For the first twenty-five plus
years of being saved I was very active in ministry. Some of my involvement included
leading and hosting numerous home bible studies, pastoring home church ministries,
developing teaching curriculum, teaching new believers and church membership
classes, leading cell group ministries, and serving in other areas where needed. But
little by little over the past few years I found that I’ve allowed myself to be subtlety
robbed and my ministry diminished by becoming involved in everything but effective
ministry.” We must resist the devil from wearing out our time and we must withstand
him from causing us to do works that will have no results for God.
Wearing Out Our Consecration
Samson had failures, but he should not have lost his consecration nor his testimony of
separation. The loss of consecration means the loss of power, and the loss of our
testimony signifies the loss of the presence of God. Samson was a Nazarite, one who
was consecrated to God. Satan knew that the source of this man’s power lay in his
consecration. Hence in order to touch Samson’s life spring, he must take away his
consecration. How did he do it? He used Delilah, who pressed [Samson] daily with her
words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed unto death. Samson revealed the secret
of his power, and subsequently, he fell into the snare of satan: he lost his consecration,
power, testimony of separation, and the presence of God in his life (Judges 16).
If our eyes are opened by God we shall be able to see that when satan wears people out
he employs all kinds of ways. He wears out the body, men & women’s hearts, and one’s
spiritual life. He does not attack violently; he wears us out slowly. We must therefore
guard against the wearing-out tactics of satan. We must not let him wear us down. We
must choose instead to resist the devil at every step.
We Must Detest the Wearing Out Work of Satan
If you have started to understand how satan tries to wear you out, hopefully you will ask
God to give you this detestation—which is, to loathe satan and be angry with him!
Children of God should be angry at satan and should detest him. By being angry and
showing abhorrence / hatred they cease experiencing the wearing down of the enemy.
Weather or not you can resist him depends on how much you detest him. If you are not
quite annoyed at him, your words to him will vanish into thin air. But if you are really
exasperated / infuriated, and you become angry at him. This anger becomes your
power. As you open your mouth you cause him to flee.
Let us realize that if we patiently endure, the work of satan will most certainly continue;
but if we are outraged, he will immediately leave us alone. Let us understand that all
means of resistance are of no avail except we speak out to resist, and then we shall see
that satan is forced to retreat.
In conclusion, we ought to read Ephesians 6:13, in which Paul writes that we, “having
done all” ought “to stand”; we must stand, and not allow satan to continue wearing us
down. We should ask the Lord to open our eyes to see what wearing-out tactic satan is
performing on you and the children of God. We must rise up, resist, and speak against
the enemy. We need to declare: “I resist, I oppose, I do not accept such wearing down
in Jesus name.” If we reject and resist whatever wearing-down tactic satan may use
upon us, we shall witness the salvation of the Lord and the deliverance from satan’s
wearing-out strategies in our lives.
Many of the above statements were taken from a book titled LET US PRAY by
Watchman Nee and the comments in italics are what satan used on me.
“TO HIM THAT OVERCOMES I WILL GRANT TO SIT WITH ME ON MY THRONE” Revelation
3:21
Before leaving the subject of the wearing out tactics of Satan, let me underscore some
additional truths that I have learned:
Understand this: God will not only help you to overcome your greatest weakness – but
turn it into your greatest weapon and strength!
“THE LORD CORRECTS AND DISCIPLINES EVERYONE WHOM HE LOVES.” Hebrews 12:6
AMP
You say you want to change? To grow spiritually? Well, real change can’t even begin
until you first understand that God loves you as you are; otherwise you’ll keep trying to
change yourself in a vain attempt to earn His love and acceptance. The problem with that
is, you already have it – you just don’t know it!
Most of us think that if we accept ourselves as we are, we’re excusing what’s wrong with
us. Not so! You can’t receive God’s correction properly until you have a clear
understanding of His love for you. Otherwise you’ll see His correction as rejection, and
His disapproval of your actions as disapproval of you. To grow spiritually you must first
believe that God is committed to you, for He’ll deal with you correctively & lovingly and
lead you in ways you don’t understand. During those times you must have a firm grip
on His love for you.
The Apostle Paul was convinced that nothing could ever separate him from God’s love
(Rom 9:39). Are you convinced of that? You need to be! In Revelation 3:19 AMP, God
speaks to each of us and says. “Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their
faults, and convict and convince…reprove and chasten.” The strongest evidence of God’s
love and approval of you – is the fact that He convicts and corrects you! It’s not His
correction that should concern you; it’s the absence of it!
If you’re going through this process right now, rejoice; it means God has some
wonderful things in store for you!
By turning to God and resisting, opposing, and coming against satan and what I have
allowed the devil to do to me, God has opened my eyes and heart to the truth of God’s
word (Rom 11:29) that His gifts and calling are without repentance. (Ps 23) He restores
my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness; For His name’s sake. (Ps 51) Then I
will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
Additionally, I am once again hearing God clearly through reading His Word daily and
spending time with Him daily in prayer. I praise God that He has restored joy in my life
and a renewed and burning desire to serve Him through teaching and ministering to the
lost and that I am once again looking forward with a new excitement to being very active
in not only experiencing, but joining in what God has planned for me in the future.
Hopefully and prayerfully you have found this not only helpful but also meaningful to you
as well.
Chaplain Greg Taylor
suddenly; often times, it comes gradually and slowly. Daniel 7:25 mentions how satan
shall wear out the saints of the Most High. Satan has in fact a plan against the saints of
the Most High, which is to wear them out. Hence let us recognize that the work of satan
in the lives of God’s children is frequently not very noticeable, since his work is to slowly
wear them down.
Hence the principle of satan’s working in the lives of God’s children is to wear them out
until they are worn down completely. He (satan) will wear you out a little today and a
little more the next day. He (satan) will make you suffer a small amount now and a little
more latter. You may think this to be something insignificant, nevertheless satan knows
that the consequence of such wearing away is to wear the saint out completely.
We must ask God to open our eyes so that we may discern how satan would wear us
out and how we should combat his wearing-out tactic.
Wearing Out the Physical Body
Quite a few Christians experience sickness and the weakening of their body after they are
saved, whereas formerly they were rather healthy. “For me within the first few years
after being saved I had numerous sinus infections that resulted in having to have four
surgeries and being on antibiotic therapy for six months.” This is an example of the
enemy wearing out the saints of the Most High.
Wearing Out Man’s Heart
Not only does he (satan) work on the body, satan also works in the heart. Upon first
believing in the Lord you may feel very happy, joyful, and peaceful. But if you are not
watchful—being ignorant of what the enemy can do—you might find yourself one day
mysteriously uncomfortable. Little by little, your peace is greatly diminished or
completely lost, your joy totally gone. “For the first twenty plus years of being saved I
was very joyful and peaceful but little by little over the past ten years I’ve found that I
had allowed myself to be little by little robbed of my joy and peace.” This is an example
of the way the devil wears you down to a state of fatigue and despair.
Wearing Out the Spiritual Life
Satan also wears out your spiritual life. He will take your prayer life little by little, and
cause you to trust God less and less and yourself more and more, a little at a time. Step
by step you are misled to rely more on your own gift, and step-by-step your heart is
enticed away from the Lord. What is so wickedly subtle about satan, through, is that he
does not strike with one grand stroke; instead, he will employ the tactic of wearing out
the saints over an extended period of time, thus causing God’s children to lose out and
to backslide a little at a time. “For the first twenty plus years of being saved I
experienced an unbelievable prayer life and spent much daily time in God’s word but
little by little over the past ten years I found that I had allowed myself to be robbed
and began to trust more in my myself rather in God.” He (satan) frequently uses this
method of gradualism to wear down the people of God.
Wearing Out Our Time
If the children of God do not discern satan’s wiles they can easily fall into his trap. How
we must redeem our time and make every hour count. “For the first twenty-five plus
years of being saved I was very active in ministry. Some of my involvement included
leading and hosting numerous home bible studies, pastoring home church ministries,
developing teaching curriculum, teaching new believers and church membership
classes, leading cell group ministries, and serving in other areas where needed. But
little by little over the past few years I found that I’ve allowed myself to be subtlety
robbed and my ministry diminished by becoming involved in everything but effective
ministry.” We must resist the devil from wearing out our time and we must withstand
him from causing us to do works that will have no results for God.
Wearing Out Our Consecration
Samson had failures, but he should not have lost his consecration nor his testimony of
separation. The loss of consecration means the loss of power, and the loss of our
testimony signifies the loss of the presence of God. Samson was a Nazarite, one who
was consecrated to God. Satan knew that the source of this man’s power lay in his
consecration. Hence in order to touch Samson’s life spring, he must take away his
consecration. How did he do it? He used Delilah, who pressed [Samson] daily with her
words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed unto death. Samson revealed the secret
of his power, and subsequently, he fell into the snare of satan: he lost his consecration,
power, testimony of separation, and the presence of God in his life (Judges 16).
If our eyes are opened by God we shall be able to see that when satan wears people out
he employs all kinds of ways. He wears out the body, men & women’s hearts, and one’s
spiritual life. He does not attack violently; he wears us out slowly. We must therefore
guard against the wearing-out tactics of satan. We must not let him wear us down. We
must choose instead to resist the devil at every step.
We Must Detest the Wearing Out Work of Satan
If you have started to understand how satan tries to wear you out, hopefully you will ask
God to give you this detestation—which is, to loathe satan and be angry with him!
Children of God should be angry at satan and should detest him. By being angry and
showing abhorrence / hatred they cease experiencing the wearing down of the enemy.
Weather or not you can resist him depends on how much you detest him. If you are not
quite annoyed at him, your words to him will vanish into thin air. But if you are really
exasperated / infuriated, and you become angry at him. This anger becomes your
power. As you open your mouth you cause him to flee.
Let us realize that if we patiently endure, the work of satan will most certainly continue;
but if we are outraged, he will immediately leave us alone. Let us understand that all
means of resistance are of no avail except we speak out to resist, and then we shall see
that satan is forced to retreat.
In conclusion, we ought to read Ephesians 6:13, in which Paul writes that we, “having
done all” ought “to stand”; we must stand, and not allow satan to continue wearing us
down. We should ask the Lord to open our eyes to see what wearing-out tactic satan is
performing on you and the children of God. We must rise up, resist, and speak against
the enemy. We need to declare: “I resist, I oppose, I do not accept such wearing down
in Jesus name.” If we reject and resist whatever wearing-down tactic satan may use
upon us, we shall witness the salvation of the Lord and the deliverance from satan’s
wearing-out strategies in our lives.
Many of the above statements were taken from a book titled LET US PRAY by
Watchman Nee and the comments in italics are what satan used on me.
“TO HIM THAT OVERCOMES I WILL GRANT TO SIT WITH ME ON MY THRONE” Revelation
3:21
Before leaving the subject of the wearing out tactics of Satan, let me underscore some
additional truths that I have learned:
- Any weakness constantly indulged in, excused, denied or hidden, can enslave you.
- Failure to identify and target your dominant weakness guarantees defeat.
- Ignoring your weakness makes defeat inevitable.
- Satan’s assigned certain people to feed your weakness. And we need to be
discerning! - Your weakness will be drawn to any friendship that accepts it, enjoys it and feeds
on it. - Your weakness has an agenda: to take over your life and sabotage God’s plan for
you. - Your weakness will always bond with the wrong people and make you
uncomfortable in the presence of the right ones. - Your weakness can emerge at any time, including your closing years.
- You weakness cannot be overcome by reasoning or willpower.
- God will permit you to enjoy success in various areas, even while your weakness is
still operating within you. Why? Because God is long-suffering and merciful. - Your loved ones and friends are praying for you to triumph over your weakness,
because that glorifies God and sends a message that they too can be victorious. - Overcoming your weakness brings great rewards. Listen: “As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent…To him that overcomes will I
grant to sit with Me on My throne” (Rev 3:21)
Understand this: God will not only help you to overcome your greatest weakness – but
turn it into your greatest weapon and strength!
“THE LORD CORRECTS AND DISCIPLINES EVERYONE WHOM HE LOVES.” Hebrews 12:6
AMP
You say you want to change? To grow spiritually? Well, real change can’t even begin
until you first understand that God loves you as you are; otherwise you’ll keep trying to
change yourself in a vain attempt to earn His love and acceptance. The problem with that
is, you already have it – you just don’t know it!
Most of us think that if we accept ourselves as we are, we’re excusing what’s wrong with
us. Not so! You can’t receive God’s correction properly until you have a clear
understanding of His love for you. Otherwise you’ll see His correction as rejection, and
His disapproval of your actions as disapproval of you. To grow spiritually you must first
believe that God is committed to you, for He’ll deal with you correctively & lovingly and
lead you in ways you don’t understand. During those times you must have a firm grip
on His love for you.
The Apostle Paul was convinced that nothing could ever separate him from God’s love
(Rom 9:39). Are you convinced of that? You need to be! In Revelation 3:19 AMP, God
speaks to each of us and says. “Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their
faults, and convict and convince…reprove and chasten.” The strongest evidence of God’s
love and approval of you – is the fact that He convicts and corrects you! It’s not His
correction that should concern you; it’s the absence of it!
If you’re going through this process right now, rejoice; it means God has some
wonderful things in store for you!
By turning to God and resisting, opposing, and coming against satan and what I have
allowed the devil to do to me, God has opened my eyes and heart to the truth of God’s
word (Rom 11:29) that His gifts and calling are without repentance. (Ps 23) He restores
my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness; For His name’s sake. (Ps 51) Then I
will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
Additionally, I am once again hearing God clearly through reading His Word daily and
spending time with Him daily in prayer. I praise God that He has restored joy in my life
and a renewed and burning desire to serve Him through teaching and ministering to the
lost and that I am once again looking forward with a new excitement to being very active
in not only experiencing, but joining in what God has planned for me in the future.
Hopefully and prayerfully you have found this not only helpful but also meaningful to you
as well.
Chaplain Greg Taylor