The Believer’s Mistake 615
concerning the deep workings of the evil spirit helps the individual
not only to overcome sins but to eliminate unnecessary afflictions as
well.
The child of God may hold this same erroneous concept
concerning weakness. He thinks he should maintain a condition of
weakness if he is ever to possess God’s strength. For has not the
Apostle Paul asserted that “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2
Cor. 12.10)? He accordingly wills to be weak that he too may be
strong. He does not observe that the Apostle has not willed to be
weak but that he is merely relating to us his experience of how the
grace of God strengthens him in his frailty for the accomplishment of
God’s purpose. Paul has not desired this infirmity; yet he is
strengthened by God in that infirmity. Paul is not to be found
persuading a strong believer to purposely choose weakness in order
that God may strengthen him afterwards. He simply is showing the
weak believer the way to strength!
Choosing weakness and choosing suffering both fulfill the
requirements for the operation of evil spirits since by so doing man’s
will is placed on the enemy’s side. This explains why countless
children of God who enjoyed good health in the beginning find
themselves weakened daily after they have chosen to be weak. The
strength they expect does not emerge: they soon become a burden to
others: they are useless in God’s work. Such a choice does not draw
down God’s power; rather does it furnish the evil spirits ground for
attack. Unless these saints persistently resist this debility they shall
encounter prolonged weakness.
The Vital PointWhat we have described may be applied primarily to serious
cases; many other people have not gone to such an extreme. The
principle involved is nonetheless the same for all. The devil does not
fail to act whenever there is passivity of will or a fulfillment of his