Pray to be Avenged of our Opponent who Persecutes us during the Lord’s Apparent Absence

We need to pray to be avenged of our opponent who persecutes us and deceives us during the Lord’s apparent absence.

We believers in Christ have an opponent, Satan the devil, who persecutes and accuses us, and we need to pray persistently that the Lord would avenge us; furthermore, we need to escape his stupefying and drugging through the things of the world. Amen!

We need to know God as the God who is hidden, the concealed God.

In the Old Testament, we see how God worked in many ways, His wonders to perform, but He would hide Himself.

When Elijah wanted to know God and see God, God gave him three signs: the fire, the earthquake, and the gentle and quiet voice.

When the fire passed by, Elijah might have thought that God is a consuming fire, so God must have been in the fire; however, God was not in the fire.

When the earthquake and the storm passed by, Elijah might have thought that God was in it, for it was very powerful; but God was not there.

However, at the end, there was a gentle, quiet voice, and God was in that voice.

This has a New Testament significance and application.

Today many Christians desire that God would do great things for them, things such as healing them, performing a miracle for them, giving them great prosperity, and in general doing something supernatural for them.

But many times God does not do this.

The very nature of God is hidden, and it is in spirit that we can touch, sense, and enjoy Him, not in the things that He performs outwardly.

Even more, if we look at the history of the people of Israel who saw God’s miracles from the healing of the bitter waters, the manna from heaven, the healing, and the providing of meat for them to eat in the wilderness, though they saw God’s acts, they didn’t know His being, His ways.

It is one thing for us to see what God does and desire to see more of His acts, and it is something else for us to know God’s being and know His ways.

God wants us to know Him as the hidden One in the depths of our being. He created the universe and hid Himself in it.

He created man and so many wonderful things, and then He hid Himself.

But if we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him, for He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

This matter of God being hidden can also be seen in Luke 18, where we have the parable given by the Lord to the end that we should pray persistently and not lose heart.

Today, in the New Testament age, even though we can contact the Lord in spirit, apply His blood, and eat Him as the tree of life, God is still hidden from us, and it is by the exercise of our spirit that we can partake of what He is.

We may want Him to manifest Himself, avenge us, deliver us, and save us from trials, troubles, and tribulations, and God may seem to be absent.

He may not seem to be responsive and active, especially when we ask Him to do something for us in a specific way, even though we may ask according to His desire.

In such situations, we need to continue to have faith; faith is required, for the Lord is looking for faith on earth when He returns.

Pray to be Avenged of our Opponent who Persecutes us during the Lord’s Apparent Absence

The significance of the parable in Luke 18:1-8 is very profound, for it reveals God in a way that not many other portions speak of.

Here we see God as the hidden God, the God who is apparently absent and even as an unrighteous judge. Wow!

During the Lord’s apparent absence, the enemy is opposing us, persecuting us, and accusing us.

As we read this parable we realize that God Himself embodied in a man spoke these words, and He related this parable so that we may always pray and not lose heart.

It may be difficult for us to pray when we’re in a painful and difficult situation, but we ought to always pray and never lose heart.

As we pray, we may not be able to go forward, backwards, upward, or sideways; and we may not be able to endure the situation, so the only option is to pray.

And we may pray and pray and pray, and we may lose heart, for the Lord does not seem to answer our prayers.

We need to realize that, no matter how painful, heart-breaking situation we are in and the situation we pray for, we just cannot stop praying.

The Lord may seem to be like the unrighteous judge who doesn’t fear God nor does He regard man, and we may come to Him like the widow in the parable, asking Him to avenge us of our opponent.

Though we may come to Him with our legitimate needs and our desperate situation, He may not respond.

The widow in this parable signifies us, the believers in Christ; in a sense, we are like a widow in the present age because Christ, who is our Husband, is apparently absent from us (2 Cor. 11:2).

He is not absent; He is with us, He is right within us, and we can contact Him, but in the matter of our asking Him to avenge us, He seems not to listen or not to be present.

To avenge here means to procure justice for; we may ask God to make justice for us and also to make justice for Himself, to avenge Himself and His interests, but He may seem apparently absent.

Our opponent is Satan, the devil, and he constantly persecutes us and opposes us during the Lord’s apparent absence.

And we may bring his opposition and persecution to the Lord in prayer, praying again and again that He would avenge us and make justice for us, but He seems to be silent.

It is clear that it is not fair, for we’re treated unfairly and unjustly, and we need justice, but the Lord seems to be apparently absent.

He will avenge us at His coming back, but today He seems to be silent in this matter.

We are today like a widow, for Christ, our Husband, is not here with us, and yet we have this opponent whose full-time job is to accuse us.

The enemy, Satan, accuses us day and night; he accuses us before others and others before us, and he accuses God before us and us before God.

Yes, we can overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony and by not loving our soul-life even unto death (Rev. 12:11), but we need justice.

We need the Lord to come in and avenge ourselves. But He seems to be silent, even apparently absent.

We suffer much because of our opponent during the Lord’s apparent absence, and we want vengeance.

We know that vengeance is the Lord’s, for it is God’s responsibility to carry out justice and do it in righteousness, so we pray.

We pray to remind the Lord what the enemy is doing in our life, in our family life, in our city, in our country, and all over the world.

And we are not able to hold back our feelings, for we are very much affected by the enemy’s opposition and accusation.

During the Lord’s apparent absence, we are a widow whose opponent is troubling her all the time. And all we can do is pray and pray and pray.

There is no other recourse. We cannot take things into our own hands.

The Lord can avenge us. So we pray and pray without ceasing, even pray persistently.

May the Lord keep us praying persistently, believing in Him and having faith in Him, for He will return and will avenge us.

Lord Jesus, we love You! You are our dear Bridegroom, and we love You so much as Your bride, Your wife-to-be. We open to You. We open our heart to You and we bring You all our situations, our problems, and our desires. Oh Lord, during Your apparent absence, the opponent is troubling us. You see how he persecutes us and accuses us day and night. You see what he is doing to Your people and to Your interest. Lord, what about this? You need to come in and avenge us. Make justice for us. It is not fair that the enemy is causing Your saints to backslide. It is not righteous for the enemy to overturn morality and ethics in society. Lord, we appeal to You! Come in and avenge us! Come in and vindicate Yourself! Our trust is in You! You are the Avenger. How long, Lord! How long until You come and avenge us? Come, Lord Jesus! Keep us praying persistently and not losing heart until You return to avenge us and vindicate Yourself!

Today’s Evil Generation Distracts us from the Enjoyment of Christ by Stupefying and Drugging us

On one hand, Satan the devil is our opponent to oppose us, accuse us, and persecute us; therefore, we need to pray persistently that we would be avenged and the Lord would vindicate Himself.

On the other hand, Satan also works through this evil generation to distract us from the enjoyment of Christ.

This generation, the generation we live in, seeks to stupefy us, to drug us, and to distract us from enjoying the Lord Jesus.

Even the people in the world can see this.

Everything that is made today is in such a way that it would cause us to be addicted to it.

The apps on our phone, the food we eat, the sports we watch, and the news we listen to, it’s all so that we as believers in Christ would be drugged and stupefied by the god of this age and not enjoy Christ.

The entire world has become stupefied, drugged, and addicted to these things, to the extent that they have no sense of the fact that they have been carried away from the enjoyable Triune God.

Who today knows that God wants to be our life and that He is so enjoyable?

Even among Christians, who enjoys the Lord and receives the divine dispensing so that he would be one with God?

Our God is so enjoyable. The Triune God was incarnated to be grace to us, that is, He came to be our enjoyment to be our life and everything.

But the world, this evil generation, is distracting us from the enjoyment of Christ, and it is drugging and stupefying the people today to be carried away from enjoying the Lord.

Our real enjoyment is Christ, and only He can satisfy and please us, for we are made in the image of God to contain God and be filled with God.

But this evil generation has many things to offer and attract us with so that we forget about the Lord and be carried away from the enjoyment of Christ.

The Triune God is for man’s enjoyment, but fallen man has no concept of this whatever; he has no sense of it at all.

What people today are busy with is marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building (Luke 17:27-28), and with the pleasures and entertainment of this age.

If you speak with the people today it seems that they have no thought concerning the enjoyment of God, for they all have been drugged and stupefied.

The Lord Jesus clearly spoke about this when He was on earth, telling His disciples to hate the things of this generation.

He exposed the stupefying effect of this evil generation and told us again and again to stay away from it.

Even this distraction from the enjoyment of Christ by the evil generation is an item of the opponents’ opposition and persecution.

Truly, during the Lord’s apparent absence, the enemy not only opposes us but also tried to deceive us, wear us out, and drug and stupefy us.

We want to seek God, enjoy God, and pursue Him, but the opponent is deceiving us, drugging us, and causing us to be stupefied with the things of this evil generation.

We need to realize that, as God’s people in this stupefied and stupefying generation, we’re like a widow.

The Lord is apparently absent, and He seems to do nothing about this situation.

He sees the enemy persecuting us, opposing us, and doing his best to distract us from the enjoyment of Christ, but He doesn’t seem to respond.

So we need to pray always and not give up or lose heart.

We need to bring all these matters to the Lord in prayer and remind Him of His interest, His economy, and His people.

We need to tell Him what the enemy is doing and be joined to Him in prayer so that He would avenge us and vindicate Himself.

Regulating the food industry, the entertainment industry, the social media, the games industry, the news industry, or any other aspect of the world does not work.

It is only the Lord’s coming back that will solve all these problems.

And we need to pray persistently so that He would come in.

During the Lord’s apparent absence, we are like a widow, praying for the Lord to avenge us and vindicate Himself and His interest on earth.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being so enjoyable. Hallelujah, the Triune God is for our enjoyment, and we can simply call on the name of the Lord to enjoy all His riches! Oh, how rich the Lord is unto all who call on Him! Amen, Lord, we love to enjoy You and be in Your presence day by day. But Lord, look at what the enemy is doing. Look at this evil generation with its stupefying effect. Lord, what about all the things that the opponent is using to drug and stupefy man today so that man would not enjoy Christ. Oh Lord, come in! The enemy must be exposed, limited, and put to shame! Oh Lord, what about all the saints who have been lied to, deceived and stupefied by the enemy! Avenge Your saints! We believe that You are here, with us, and we want to pray persistently and not lose heart!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, msg. 40 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 12, entitled, A God who Hides Himself – the Hidden God.
• Further reading for this topic:
  – The parable in Luke 18, a portion from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 01: The Christian Life and Warfare, Chapter 12, by Watchman Nee.
  – God’s Faithfulness and Our Perseverance in Prayer, article via, Living to Him.
  – Praying Persistently with God as Our Faith, a HWMR PDF via, Church in Regina.
  – The quest for the Christ of faith, article by Kerry S. Robichaux in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Is it Possible to Pray Without Ceasing? Read more at, Bibles for America Blog to find out.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – “Ask in faith,” ’tis just the asking, / In a faith that dares to stand, / Full of joyful expectation, / With an open, outstretched hand. / “Ask in faith,” for God is waiting / For thy faith-filled, earnest prayer. / Faith delights Him; faith can touch Him, / Every moment, everywhere. (Hymns #776 stanzas 3-4)
  – Pray with one accord in spirit, / Supplicate relatedly; / Seek the Lord, His mind, His leading, / In the Spirit’s harmony. / Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. (Hymns #779 stanzas 4-5)
  – Teach us to pray that we may cause / The enemy to flee, / That we his evil pow’r may bind, / His prisoners to free. / Teach us to pray and firmly stand / Upon the battleground, / To fight and break the stronghold down, / The enemy confound. (Hymns #767 stanzas 1-2)