As I sit in the waiting area of yet another doctor’s office on this Friday morning I am feeling a bit worn down. I have already had three blood tests this week to verify some abnormal test results which takes a toll both mentally and physically. Today though, I am not here for myself. I am sitting in prayerful support of someone near and dear to my heart, and in some ways I think that is more difficult. It’s been a week of halting stops and starts, quite literally, as even this morning when I went to start my car I found the battery dead. It turns out the light was left on all night, slowly draining all the life giving force from my car. Sitting here in the waiting area my mind began to wander and I couldn’t help but connect the dots in my head…the light left on in the car drains the battery. Our light left constantly burning, will also drain us. Even if lit as a lighthouse, shining as a beacon of hope for others, and guiding them towards a relationship with Christ. If we don’t take some time to be still, to refill our battery’s charge, we will soon become weary. Our light will burn out. I came across this enlightenment from Watchman Lee this week in regards to Daniel 7:25 and the idea of how we become worn out.

Satan has, in fact, a plan against the saints of the Most High, which is to wear them out. What is meant by this phrase, “wear out?” It has in it the idea of reducing a little this minute, then reducing a little further the next minute. Reduce a little today, reduce a little tomorrow. Thus the wearing out is almost imperceptible; nevertheless, it is a reducing. The wearing down is scarcely an activity of which one is conscious, yet the end result is that there is nothing left. He will take away 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. He will make you feel somewhat cleverer than before. 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. Now, were Satan to strike the children of a God with great force at one time, they would know exactly how to resist the enemy since they would immediately recognize his work. He uses the method of gradualism to wear down the people of God.

I found such truth in these words. Little by little, day by day, a few excuses, a few rationalizations, and suddenly we look up and wonder how we managed to wander so far from the path we thought we were on. We suddenly find ourselves exhausted. Rest in the Lord, spend time with Him. Carolyn Lunn says, “There is a difference between living in Christ and living for Christ…He is more interested in the time you spend with Him than with the works you accomplish in His name.” You will wear yourself out working for Him if you aren’t living in Him. Satan will have won and it will have been all in the name of Jesus. This weekend my challenge to you is that you spend some time in Christ and allow Him to begin fortifying the areas that Satan has been wearing thin.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31, NLT)