January 06 2026

Tuesday January 06

“Nor Give Place To the Devil”

Ephesians 4:22-27

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil.

Welcome to Pastor's Chat today. First, let me thank all of my friends. Several hundred of you let me know and sent me a comment that you're praying for me as I'm dealing with this sciatica pain. I have to admit it's still there. It's not going away. So, please don't quit praying. I've had to cancel my trip to India with the team that's leaving next week. I know that you can continue to pray for them as they serve the Lord in India. I am very sorry I'm not going with them. It was going to be a wonderful ministry to our pastor friends there. It was also going to be a part of the team in ministering to people in the villages as we dedicated wells and gave out food and other things to the definitely needy people of India that we work with. Thank you for your prayers.

Today we're continuing in Ephesians chapter 4. We're looking at a little tiny verse. It's verse 27. This is the verse that says, "Nor give place to the devil." Now, it is very interesting to note, as we've been talking about this passage of scripture, Paul, as he begins to list the sins that we need to put off that come from the old man within us. The first one was put off lying. Then secondly, he said, “be angry and sin not” because when you do, you give place to the devil. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. Anger leads to wrath. Wrath leads to malice. Malice leads to murder. We remembered John 8:44. Jesus said, "You are of your father the devil. The lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. Neither is there any truth in him. For he is a liar and the father of it."

Now if you go back to verses 31-32, it's where Jesus said to the disciples, “If you abide in My word, then you are My disciples indeed. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. Then in verse 36, another very famous verse Jesus said, "And if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." Now when I begin to put that all together looking at this devotion for today, I thought back to Genesis chapters 3-4. That is where Satan tempted Eve. Remember the very first thing he said to her was a lie. He said, "Did not God say you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?" He lied. God didn't say that. Eve responded, "No, we can eat all the trees in the garden, but there's one we can't eat, and we've been told we can't eat of that."

Then the Satan said, "Oh, no." He said, "You shall not surely die." That was his second lie because God has said, "If you eat of it, you will die." Satan said, "No, you won't die." Now my friend, we have a major issue in our country today because we've been feeding lies to our young people, actually for the last several generations, lies that they came from a monkey, that they came from nothing. They’ve been told that everything just happened from a big explosion billions of years ago. As a result, they have no value of life and do not care about life.

Now, think about what happened with Cain, the first son that's born along with his brother Abel, when he gets angry. Look at these verses in Genesis 4:1-6. Put it together. Cain gets angry. What does he do? It overwhelms him to the point that he murders his brother Abel. Then when God shows up and asked Cain, "Hey, where is Abel? I'm looking for him." Cain lies and says, "How do I know where he is? I don't know where he is." Look at those verses very clearly. Did you see what happens when we get angry and give place to the devil? We get caught up in the bondage of lying just like Cain did.

When we're in the bondage of lying, we actually give place to the devil. Don't give place to the devil. Don't give the devil opportunity in your life to take hold of you and lead you into worse sins that will cause terrible consequences in your life and the lives of others. This is so powerful and so important. I want to encourage you to think about putting all these things together. Remember, as Jesus has taught us, you'll know the truth. The truth sets you free. If the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. Why? You're free from the bondage of lying. You're free from the bondage of Satan.

Knowing the truth, knowing Jesus, sets you free from the bondage of living a lie and a life of vanity. What was the curse put on Cain? That he would be a vagabond and live a life of fear and insecurity (Genesis 4:12-14). He would live an empty life, wandering around, wondering what life was all about. That is the problem in too many of our lives today, in America and for that matter, the world too. When we kick God out of our lives, and we deny Him. When we put His Word on the back burner of our lives, even daily, we headed down the path of living a lie and bowing down to Satan.

Remember Jesus said, “If you abide in My words, then what you will know the truth, and if you know the truth you will be free”. Free to enjoy life doing what you ought to be doing! God help us to find that freedom in His Word in our lives as we see Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

God bless you and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day!