HOW THE ENEMY FIGHTS
READ: Matthew 13:24-30
In that day the LORD with his great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Isaiah 27: 1
When you attempt to be fruitful, there will always be enemies of your fruitfulness. There will be things that will rise up to quench you! It is important to fight against all the enemies of your fruitfulness. You will notice from the scripture above that tares were the greatest challenge to the fruitfulness of the wheat.
The enemy fights your fruitfulness through leviathan, the crooked serpent (Isaiah 27:1-6). When leviathan is pierced through, Israel will blossom and fill the face of the earth with fruit! We all know that the devil is the old serpent. Leviathan is the crooked serpent. Leviathan is the piercing serpent. The crooked serpent seeks to make everything about your life crooked and corrupt. Whenever there is corruption, fruitfulness is not possible. Many people are unable to bear fruit because of the crookedness in their lives.
Over the years I have observed that missionaries who are unable to bear fruit have some crookedness tucked away in the secret places. I remember a young man whom we sent to the mission field. We sent every possible support to him. At one point he asked for thousands of dollars to buy some equipment. Indeed, thousands of dollars were spent on him. But the mission never flourished. In the end he was brought back home. Later on, it was discovered that he was actually a big-time thief and criminal. It was also discovered that he had two families: one seen family and one unseen family.
Crookedness takes away your fruitfulness! Watch barren and fruitless pastors closely! Watch barren and fruitless Christians closely! Leviathan is probably hiding in there somewhere! You will notice that when leviathan was pierced through Israel blossomed and filled the face of the earth with fruit (Isaiah 27:6).