December 26 2025

Friday December 26

Preparing For a New Year

Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,"

for we are members of one another.

Welcome to Pastor’s Chat. Today we are returning to Ephesians 4:25. The Apostle Paul has been teaching us about putting off the old man and putting on the new man—about living a different kind of life. This is a life that bears witness to the world around us that Jesus Christ is the answer to the problems of life and to a broken heart. Jesus is the answer. So how do we live that kind of life? We make Christ known through our mortal flesh, as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, by putting off the lies of the devil and walking in the truth.

Notice again what Paul says in verse 25: “Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” The first of the five sins Paul tells us to put off is lying. We must always be aware of the danger of lying. Lying is rooted in the deceitful nature of Satan himself. He uses lies to lead us astray, to make us believe that the wrong path is the right path. Jesus warned us that “broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go in by it.” My friend, the devil is a liar.

Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He also said in John 10 that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy—and the primary way the devil does this is through lies. He lies by placing deceptive thoughts into our minds. I am convinced that the fiery darts of the devil mentioned in Ephesians 6 are his lies. That is why we are told to take up the shield of faith, which of course, is the Word of God that we have in our hearts and can quote back to the devil’s lies like Jesus did in Matthew 4 when He was tempted.

In the end times, 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, tells us that the Antichrist will come with lying wonders, deceiving those who reject the truth because they take pleasure in unrighteousness. They will believe the lie. My friend, we are already seeing how lies work all around us—how they deceive people and lead them into destructive paths. As Jesus said in John 10:10, “the thief (the devil) has come to steal, to kill and to destroy”. That is why we see such violence, chaos, and brokenness in our world today. People are believing the lie when what they desperately need is the truth.

This is it is so important to Speak the Truth!  Paul tells us plainly: “Speak truth, every one of you, with his neighbor” (v. 25). It is no accident that Paul lists lying first. Lying destroys. Truth builds up. If we want to live a life that honors God, we must learn how to build truth into our lives.

We only have a few days left before we begin a new year. This is often the time when people make New Year’s resolutions. But instead of resolutions, I want to encourage you to make a commitment—a complete surrender to the will of God to be the person He wants you to be. How do you do that? We all desperately daily need God’s grace to do what we ought to do. The best way I know receive God’s grace is to put yourself in the path of God’s grace by getting into God’s Word and His Truth that sets us free on a daily basis. The truth is Jesus. The Truth is found in His Word. Living in the Truth means abiding in Christ (John 15).

The lie of the devil is that you don’t have time for God’s Word—that you are too busy, that other things are more urgent. My friend, that is the tyranny of the urgent, where immediate demands crowd out the most important thing: time alone with the Lord in His Word and prayer. And we must discipline ourselves spiritually to do that! Years ago, by the grace of God, I made a determination to discipline 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.

The devil will whisper his lies into your ears and mind: “You don’t need to pray. You don’t need to read through the Bible. You don’t need every Word of God.” These are his lies! That is why I do everything I can through this Pastor’s Chat and through my website to encourage believers to stay in the Word. I post daily devotionals such as Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby, and Dr. Elmer Towns’ 365 Ways to Know God. I personally also read other devotionals by Andrew Murray and others. These help me focus each day on God’s truth instead of Satan’s lies.

For over 50 years now I have read five Psalms a day, and I post them on my website so you can read or listen along if you wish. We also provide Bible reading schedules—two different plans—to help you stay disciplined in God’s Word. Today will you make the decision by God’s grace to say: “I am not going to try. I am going to do this.” My friend, if you will do this, you will find that next year will be a completely different year.

You will hear more about this in the coming days as we prepare for the new year. Jesus is coming soon. We must be ready.

God bless!