Often times, when I am getting closer to God, I feel greater levels of opposition. This is obviously no surprise, because we know that our enemy roams the earth looking for those to steal from, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). What is he really after though?

When Jesus is predicting His death in Matthew 16, He faces opposition. Some people are waiting for the devil himself to show up before they will believe that what they are fighting in the natural is a result of battles taking place in the unseen realm. This isn’t how it works though. Supernatural attacks often go unnoticed, even though they are frequently manifested in the natural. They are manifested usually through the people around us. Sometimes even those that we care about the most.

Look at what happens when Jesus tells the disciples about His soon coming crucifixion:

Peter loved the Lord very much and yet was used as an instrument of the devil to tempt Jesus to get out of the will of God. That is what the devil is after. He uses any means he can to execute the destruction of God’s plans. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus actually refers to Peter as Satan? Rather than saying, “Peter, that is your opinion of what I should do, but I have to do this”, Jesus actually discerns that Satan is using Peter. Why was it the devil speaking through Peter and not just Peter’s own ignorance? Because what Peter said was in opposition to the will of God. He had his sight on the things of men, or worldly things. Worldly things are in opposition to God, and are inspired by the god of this world (i.e. Satan).

People pull us in all kinds of directions, but God is not the author of confusion. The more time we spend in His presence; hearing what He has to say, and obeying what He commands us to do, the easier it will be to discern the opposition, and ultimately have victory over it.

These are the words of Jesus to the church of Laodiceans, and they aren’t meant to be polite.

Lukewarm Christians are rich in the world, but poor in the Spirit. They have one foot in the Kingdom of Heaven, and one foot in the kingdom of darkness, and from this Scripture, we can see how God feels about that.

Jesus says in Luke 16:13 NKJV, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

It’s interesting that in the very next verse it says, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.”

It is easy for us to justify ourselves before men, because they can’t see our hearts. However, there is no hiding from God. Lukewarm Christians will act the part, but in secret they are full of wickedness. They deceive themselves into thinking they are doing all the right things, but have in fact ignored the weightier things of God.

Jesus promised that Living Water would flow from our hearts when we receive the Holy Spirit (John 7:38-39 NKJV), but instead our churches are looking more like a stagnant cesspool.

A lukewarm stagnant cesspool. Yuck.

I’ve been working behind the scenes, and that is the only excuse I have for not writing much lately.

God spoke a word to me about a week ago and basically said that I needed to prune my blog. In other words, delete and clean up some old entries to allow for more growth. I started from the very first post and I have been working through them all since. It hasn’t been easy. The Holy Spirit has led me to completely delete a few articles, and it was somewhat painful. For some of them I tried to argue my way out by saying, “this one is really good”. However, I cut them off anyway out of obedience.

I trust God even when it doesn’t make sense. I don’t know why He would want me to delete things on my site, but if He says to do it, then I believe Him.

I’ve also been doing some pruning in the real world, and seeing much growth. I’ve cut back on unhealthy relationships, and I’ve also started the process of managing my time more efficiently; which includes cutting back on things that waste my time. I’m not where I want to be, but I’m not where I used to be.

The days are getting shorter. Winter is coming, and that means a new year is almost upon us. It is almost impossible to believe that 2008 could be over so quickly. I can honestly say it has been the best year of my life. It has truly been a year of new beginnings. The love of God is never ending, and I learn more about Him every day. I love growing up in the Lord. I love the foundation that He has put me on.

I love the dream girl that He has given me. You can’t even begin to understand how awesome the work God is doing right now is. I can’t even understand it, and it’s happening to me! If He told me everything He has planned for me, my brain would shut down from trying to process something that can’t be processed. If He told me last year where I would be this year, I’d laugh and say He was crazy. I’d tell Him, “there is no way”.

That was last year, before the impossible became possible. Now, I know better. God can do anything He wants, and I’m not trying to stop Him anymore.

Yes, there certainly has been a lot of pruning and a lot of growing. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it.