Anytime you mention Satan, you’re going to get a strong reaction, one way or another. I posted a tweet last month and got both trash talk and a lot of “likes” on my Facebook wall.

What did I write? “If Satan is not opposing you, maybe it is because he is walking with you…”

What’s so shocking about that? Look at it this way. If you’re choosing to live your daily life in a way that is not according to God’s perfect will — in other words, if you’re doing evil — that’s what Satan wants to happen. He’s going to walk alongside you and do everything he can to make sinning easy for you!

Choosing instead to resist sin is the harder road. I’d be willing to bet that most of us just give up. Jesus didn’t. Jesus is the only Man who never gave in to sin. So of course he knows how hard it is. Perhaps that’s why he said, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

You probably don’t even know how weak your flesh is. As C.S. Lewis said, no person knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.

You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it … (From Mere Christianity)

Walk against the wind. Don’t give in. In fact, the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews set the bar for us — and it’s as high as the cross beam Jesus was crucified on. The author wrote, “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed.”

That may not sound very civilized, but neither is hell. Satan is real and he’s out to get you. Watch your back.

How many ZIP Codes does your county have?

I live in San Diego County and it’s a big one — roughly the size of Connecticut. We’ve got more than 180 ZIP Codes here!

I’ve been talking to my congregation, the Rock Church in San Diego, about being “all in” when it comes to serving God. In November I suggested that we all choose a ZIP Code and commit to praying regularly for it. Hundreds of hands went up. The next day, we posted the idea on our church’s Facebook wall, and within 24 hours, a whole lot of people responded and named which ZIP they will be praying for. We will continue to encourage this until every square inch of San Diego County is covered in prayer.

This is a simple tool, and one you can use, no matter where you are and what role you fill. The point isn’t the Zip Codes, of course. It’s that God calls us to be ALL IN, wherever we live. Praying for and serving our local community. Now. Wherever you are, start there!

How about you? Are you ALL IN? I challenge you to see what God does.

So did jolly old St. Mammon visit you this Christmas?

Who’s that? Maybe you know the biblical character by different names: Greed. Lust for material things. Love of money… Now do you recognize him?

Hey, I’m not a scrooge that frowns on celebrating Christmas. I like presents! I like giving presents. I love parties and having a big Christmas dinner with my family. We had a great time this Sunday, with thousands coming out to worship with us at the Rock Church in San Diego on Christmas Day.

But I also know in America and definitely in Southern California, we’re bombarded by the influence of mammon. We know from Luke 16:13 that we have to make a choice. We can’t serve two masters. Which God/god do you actually serve?

Here’s what mammon tells us:

* Mammon demands our loyalty and wants to be served.

* Mammon promises to give us what only God can deliver.

* When mammon fails to deliver, it blames God.

On the other hand, God demands our loyalty but deserves to be served. He promises to bless us out of His storehouse of blessings. And nothing happens that He doesn’t plan, and isn’t for our good. Those of us who put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God wants to bless “with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.”

As we prepare for the turn of the New Year, here’s a question: How faithful are you with what God has given you? And I’m not talking about how gently you unwrapped that iPad you got on Christmas.