Prepare-for-War

careful not to accept a weight placed on our hearts and spir its from Satan as being from God. Watchman Nee gives us some help to be able to differentiate the two.

"The burdens of the spirit differ from the weights on the spirit. The latter proceed from Satan with the intent of crushing the believer and making him suffer, but the former issue from God in His desire to mani fest His will to the believer so that he may cooperate with Him. Any weight on the spirit has no other objec tive than to oppress; it therefore usually serves no pur pose and produces no fruit. A burden of the spirit, on the other hand, is given by God to His child for the purpose of calling him to work, to pray, or to preach. It is a burden with purpose, with reason, and for spiritual profit. We must learn how to distinguish the burden of the spirit from the weight on the spirit." "Satan never burdens Christians with anything; he only encircles their spirit and presses it with a heavy weight. Such a load binds one's spirit and throttles his mind from functioning. A person with a burden or con cern from God merely carries it; but the one who is op pressed by Satan finds his total being bound. With the arrival of the power of darkness, a believer instantane ously forfeits his freedom. A God-given burden is quite the reverse. However weighty it may be, God's concern is never so heavy as to throttle him from praying. The freedom of prayer will never be lost under any burden from God: yet the enemy's weight which forces itself upon one's spirit invariably denies one his freedom to pray. The burden imparted by God is lifted once we have prayed, but the heaviness from the enemy cannot be raised unless we fight and resist in prayer. The weight on the spirit steals in unawares, whereas the concern of the spirit results from God's Spirit working in our spirit. The load upon the spiril is most miserable and oppressive, while the burden of the spirit is very joyous (naturally the nesh does not deem it so), for it summons us to walk together with God ('For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.' Matthew 11:30). It turns bitter only when opposed and its demand is not met." (The Spiritual Man, Vol. J/, Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc, NY, 1968, pp. 153-154.)

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