Ephesians 4:25 - Preparing For A New Year

Thefirst of the five sins Paul tells us to put off is lying. We must always beaware of the danger of lying. Lying is rooted in the deceitful nature of Satanhimself. He uses lies to lead us astray, to make us believe that the wrong pathis the right path. Jesus warned us that “broad is the way that leads todestruction, and many go in by it.” My friend, the devil is a liar. Jesussaid in John 8:44 that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He also said inJohn 10 that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy—and the primary way thedevil does this is through lies. He lies by placing deceptive thoughts into ourminds. I am convinced that the fiery darts of the devil mentioned in Ephesians6 are his lies. That is why we are told to take up the shield of faith, whichof course, is the Word of God that we have in our hearts and can quote back to thedevil’s lies like Jesus did in Matthew 4 when He was tempted. Inthe end times, 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, tells us that the Antichrist will comewith lying wonders, deceiving those who reject the truth because they takepleasure in unrighteousness. They will believe the lie. My friend, we arealready seeing how lies work all around us—how they deceive people and leadthem into destructive paths. As Jesus said in John 10:10, “the thief (thedevil) has come to steal, to kill and to destroy”. That is why we see suchviolence, chaos, and brokenness in our world today. People are believing thelie when what they desperately need is the truth. Thisis it is so important to Speak the Truth! It is no accident that Paul lists lying first. Lyingdestroys. Truth builds up. If we want to live a life that honors God, we mustlearn how to build truth into our lives. Weonly have a few days left before we begin a new year. This is often the timewhen people make New Year’s resolutions. But instead of resolutions, I want toencourage you to make a commitment—a complete surrender to the will of God tobe the person He wants you to be. How do you do that? We all desperately dailyneed God’s grace to do what we ought to do. The best way I know receive God’sgrace is to put yourself in the path of God’s grace by getting into God’s Word andHis Truth that sets us free on a daily basis. The truth is Jesus. The Truth isfound in His Word. Living in the Truth means abiding in Christ (John 15). Thelie of the devil is that you don’t have time for God’s Word—that you are toobusy, that other things are more urgent. My friend, that is the tyranny of theurgent, where immediate demands crowd out the most important thing: time alonewith the Lord in His Word and prayer. And we must discipline ourselves spirituallyto do that! Years ago, by the grace of God, I made a determination todiscipline myself for godliness, as Paul instructed Timothy (1 Timothy 4:7-9).The only way to do that is to commit to a daily quiet time with the Lord. Thedevil will whisper his lies into your ears and mind: “You don’t need to pray. Youdon’t need to read through the Bible. You don’t need every Word of God.” Theseare his lies! That is why I do everything I can through this Pastor’s Chat andthrough my website to encourage believers to stay in the Word. I post dailydevotionals such as Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, ExperiencingGod by Henry Blackaby, and Dr. Elmer Towns’ 365 Ways to Know God. I personally alsoread other devotionals by Andrew Murray and others. These help me focus eachday on God’s truth instead of Satan’s lies. Forover 50 years now I have read five Psalms a day, and I post them on my websiteso you can read or listen along if you wish. We also provide Bible readingschedules—two different plans—to help you stay disciplined in God’s Word. Todaywill you make the decision by God’s grace to say: “I am not going to try. I amgoing to do this.” My friend, if you will do this, you will find that next yearwill be a completely different year.