Seeing Satan’s Wearing out Tactics and Praying to be the Lord’s Overcomers Today

In speaking of the end of this age, the Bible doesn’t leave us in darkness, for it tells us concerning the Antichrist and what kind of person he is like, and we are warned of his wearing out tactics even upon the saints of the Most High.

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a great human image, and Daniel received the interpretation from God concerning this, for it signifies what will happen at the end of these days.

The great human image had a head of gold (corresponding to the first beast in Dan. 7:3-4), signifying Nebuchadnezzar, the founder and king of Babylon; it has the breast and arms of silver (2:39), corresponding to the second beast in 7:5, signifying Medo-Persia.

It had the abdomen and thighs of bronze, corresponding to the third beast in 7:6, signifying Greece, including Macedonia.

It had the legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay (2:33), corresponding to the fourth beast in Dan. 7:7-8, signifying the Roman Empire with its last ten kings (see Dan. 2:40-44; 7:7-11, 19-26; Rev. 17:7-13).

The first three empires have come and gone; we are not at the head or the breast or the thigh but at the feet, even at the last of these days.

There will be ten kings in Europe, and they will give their power to Antichrist, who will be raised to be the last ruler of the revived and restored Roman empire; this is signified by the ten toes of the great human image.

It is important for us to see where we are today and how to cooperate with the Lord to escape the wearing out tactics of the enemy and be produced as the Lord’s overcomers, those who are part of His overcoming bride, part of the corporate smiting stone cut without hands who will destroy the great human image.

If we study the Bible and are enlightened by the Lord, especially with the help of the ministry of the age, we will realize that the whole world situation – especially the situation in Europe, has been remodelled to fit in with the prophecies in the Bible.

If we are clear concerning this matter, we will know where we are and what we should do, and we will open to the Lord to cooperate with Him and be produced as His overcomers on earth today.

We shouldn’t merely wait for the ten kings to arise and give their power to Antichrist, and then choose to be overcomers; rather, we should make this choice today, give ourselves to the Lord today, and be produced as the Lord’s overcoming ones today so that He can hasten His return and bring in His kingdom to the earth.

Seeing what will Transpire at the End of the Age and what will Antichrist do

We may say that the form and appearance of the Roman Empire are not yet, yet we cannot deny the fact that the culture, spirit, and essence of the Roman Empire continue to exist today.

A lot of our culture today is the culture of the Roman Empire; for example, our laws, our politics, and our architecture are inherited from and similar to the ones of the Roman Empire.

At the beginning of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21) the form and appearance of the Roman Empire will be restored under Antichrist (see Dan. 7:12).

There will be ten kings with their kingdoms in Europe – typified by the ten toes of the great human image in Daniel 2 – who will be joined together under Antichrist.

Antichrist will be the last Caesar of the revived Roman Empire; all this will take place in Europe (Rev. 17:10-14).

We need to look at world history today with this in view; when we see someone with the characteristics of Antichrist arising in the world, someone that the Bible describes as the Antichrist, we need to pray that the Lord would take us before this one comes into power, for we do not want to be under his hand!

The Antichrist will come into power and will make a peace treaty with Israel in the last seven years of this age; then in the middle of these seven years he will break that treaty, and the great tribulation will start.

Before this happens, we want to be the firstfruits who are brought to the Lord’s presence as His overcomers!

And if He doesn’t take us away, if we are left as believers to pass through the great tribulation and are faithful to the Lord, and if we are martyred by the Antichrist, we will be overcomers.

Today there’s the mystery of lawlessness working among the nations and in human society; this lawlessness will culminate in the man of lawlessness, who is Antichrist (2 Thes. 2:3-10).

Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4); Antichrist is a man of sin, a man of lawlessness, a man in full rebellion against God, trying to dethrone God and enthrone himself.

Antichrist will be the power of Satan, the embodiment of Satan; he will do his best to persecute and destroy all of those of the people of God, both the God-fearing Jews and the Christ-believing Christians (Dan. 8:24; Rev. 12:17; 13:7).

It will not be a good time for God-fearing people to be on earth at that time, for Antichrist will persecute them and seek to destroy all those who believe into God and are His people.

Antichrist will make war against the saints. Antichrist will demolish and desolate the temple of God and the city of God; he will cast truth down to the ground (Dan. 9:27; 8:12).

Even more, Antichrist will have sharp insight to perceive things and will speak things against the Most High (Dan. 7:8, 20, 25).

He will be an eloquent speaker; he will have great words and brilliant speech, and he speaks arrogant words to blaspheme God. His appearance will be strong, stout, imposing, and attractive that he will be able to subdue many simply by the power of his presence.

He will wear out the saints of the Most High, gradually wearing them out. Oh Lord!

Finally, Satan and Antichrist want the souls of men to be the instruments for their activities in the last age (Rev. 18:11-13; 2 Tim. 3:5; cf. Zech. 12:1).

The cargo of the material Babylon is not only gold, silver, and precious materials, but also the souls of men; this is terrible!

Men sell their souls to God’s enemy for the sake of their employment, for the sake of the material riches, and the sake of pleasure.

Satan wants that men – even the believers – would be dominated by their soul, not to use their spirit, not to exercise their spirit, but to neglect their spirit and exercise their soul.

Antichrist will be a man who is the most powerful person in the soul, and he wants us to exercise their soul.

Before such a person comes up on the world scene, and as we see that such a person is being produced and is rising up, we need to give ourselves to the Lord and say,

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You today to be produced as Your overcomers, part of Your overcoming bride, so that we may return with You, deal with Your enemy and bring in Your kingdom! May we realize that the whole earth is being readied for the restoration of the Roman Empire and the ten kings who will give their authority to Antichrist, and may we cooperate with You to be Your overcomers today! May we be those who are taken away by You before Antichrist comes into power; we do not want to be under his hand. Save us from his wearing out tactics and make us Your overcoming ones today!

Seeing Satan’s Wearing out Tactics and Praying to be the Lord’s Overcomers Today

One of the things that Satan does – and the Antichrist as his embodiment will continue to do – is to wear out the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:25).

We have to resist and oppose the gradual, repeated, frequent, and daily wearing-out tactics of Satan.

Satan will not come to us to destroy our love for the Lord or our consecration to Him; he will wear us out little by little, day by day, repeatedly, frequently, and gradually, until we find ourselves that we no longer love the Lord and our consecration is lacking.

In particular, Satan wants to wear out our heart; when we believed into the Lord and when we came into the church life, we were so happy, peaceful, and joyful, but Satan wears this out.

Daily, Satan works on us through all kinds of things and people and situations to cause us to no longer be joyful but unhappy, restless, depressed, weary, and discouraged.

When we see this happening, we need to say NO to Satan! We need to return to God and enjoy Him as our happiness, our joy, and our peace.

Satan wants to wear out our spirit; this is why, as Paul encouraged us, we need to persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.

When we persevere in prayer, we pray consistently and faithfully in a spiritual warfare.

Satan wants to take away our prayer life little by little; he doesn’t do it all at once, but he reduces the effectiveness of our prayer and the length of our prayer little by little.

Satan wants to wear out and deprive us of our time; we need to redeem the time, for the days are evil (Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5).

What does it mean to redeem the time? Brother Watchman Nee said that redeeming the time actually means redeeming the opportunity; we have opportunities daily to contact the Lord, speak to the Lord, and speak to others about the Lord – we should not miss the opportunity.

We have many opportunities to preach the gospel, minister life to others, shepherd others, pray, cal on the name of the Lord, etc; but many times we miss these opportunities.

We need to repent that we don’t redeem the opportunity all the time, and ask Him to teach us to number our days (Psa. 90:12) so that we may know the time that we have.

Satan wants to wear out our consecration; gradually, frequently, and daily he works to wear out our consecration to the Lord.

When we first came into the church life, we were utterly sold out to the Lord; how about now, how about today?

We need to always be on guard for Satan, our enemy, is never asleep; he is always working to wear out our consecration little by little.

We see this with the case of Samson, especially in Judges 16:16, where it says that Delilah wore him out and his soul was tired to death, so he gave up the secret of his power, the secret of being a Nazarite.

His secret was his long hair, which signifies he was in complete submission to God; in submission there is power, and in the Lord’s submissive life in us there’s the power of God.

But Samson was not on guard, and he was arrested and put in prison after his hair was cut. Satan wants to wear our our consecration; we need to be aware of his wearing out tactics.

Satan wants to wear out our love for God; in the last days, because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold (Matt. 24:12).

Many love the Lord, but when they see lawlessness increase and God apparently not dealing with the lawless men, their love for the Lord will grow cold.

Our love for the Lord is daily attacked and worn out by the enemy; his gradual, repeated, daily attacks want to wear out our love for the Lord.

May we never let our love for Him grow cold but have a fresh, new, living, and active love for the Lord every day!

May we be aware of Satan’s wearing out tactics and be before the Lord all the time, cooperating with Him to make us His overcomers in this age.

To overcome in this context means to overcome the wearing out tactics of the enemy; to be an overcomer is to overcome the loss of our happiness in the Lord, to persevere in prayer and exercise our spirit, to redeem the opportunities to enjoy and minister Christ, to have a fresh and new consecration to the Lord, and to rekindle our love for Him day by day.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see and stand against the wearing out tactics of the enemy. May we realize that Satan wants to wear out our heart for the Lord, our spirit, our time, our consecration, and our love for the Lord. Oh Lord, make us Your overcoming ones, those who overcome by finding their happiness in God, persevere in prayer, redeem the opportunities to enjoy and minister Christ, have a fresh consecration to the Lord, and have a living and active love for Him! Lord Jesus, we love You! We want to grasp every opportunity to enjoy You, love You, minister You, be refreshed in You, and have a fresh consecration to You! Amen, Lord, make us Your overcoming ones in this age, those who stand against the wearing out tactics of the enemy!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord’s Move,” ch. 7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 1, The World Situation as the Indicator of God’s Move on Earth, the Vision of World History from Christ’s Ascension to the End of This Age, the Spreading of the Truths of the Lord’s Recovery as a Preparation for His Coming Back, and Persevering in Prayer, While Discerning “the Signs of the Times”.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, help us to redeem these golden moments; / Our vessels fill with ointment from above; / Help us amen each trial and tribulation; / Increase in us; make us abound in love. (Hymns #1307)
  – Overcomers Christ will take, / Those who all for Him forsake, / Those who of first love partake— / Win in time! / All the deadness overcome, / With the living Christ be one, / Toward the goal now swiftly run— / Win in time! (Hymns #1304)
  – Sanctify me absolutely, / Take my life and have Your way. / Overcome in me, give me victory / Through Your life and end this age. / I need You, but You need me too, / To do what You want to do. / Rekindle all of my love for You, / To be a voluntarily consecrated one. (Song on, Consecrated One)