The end of each year is usually a time of reflection and evaluation. People often set new goals and objectives for what they want to accomplish in the new year. Recently I was reminded of a truth from Scripture that forced me to make sure I am focusing on doing five things in the new year. Here is the familiar verse, and then I will explain the five things.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6, NLT).

Here are five things I want to do better in the new year:

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I have been in church my entire life. I started going to church around five years old and got saved when I was six. Since then, I have always been a member of a church somewhere. During these past forty-plus years in church, I have served in many capacities and have ended up in some level of leadership in every church I have ever attended. I have seen what happens in the front of the house (which everyone sees), and I have seen what happens behind the scenes in the back of the house (which few people see).

After years of serving in these environments, I recognize there is something strangely absent that more pastors and leaders need to admit and be honest about. All pastors and leaders are human, and they don’t have it all together.

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Because he is with you, there is a reassurance everything will be alright. When Jesus shows up, your hope and expectations go up.

One of the signs of the last days is the increase in deception. By that standard alone, it is clear we are living in the last days. One of the weapons in Satan’s arsenal that he returns to again and again is deception. Deception is simply tricking someone into believing something that is not true. What makes it deception is because whatever it is you are believing or even experiencing appears real or authentic, but it is not.

Satan is a master at this, and he is claiming many victims in these last days. This requires awareness on your part and to help you I want to share with you six ways Satan is deceiving people right now.

6 Ways Satan Is Deceiving People in the Last Days:

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Hustle culture is the mindset that you must always be working hard in pursuit of your dreams, goals, and aspirations. The engagement in the hustle takes center place in your life as you go after your pursuits at all costs. This can lead to neglecting other aspects of your life because you are going after the dream.

We must never forget God does not operate on our timetable, so we are forced to wait on his, and this is where the challenge comes in. Since there is a waiting place for all of us, how you navigate in this space is critical, so you don’t lose heart or your faith in the process.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

We are living in a day of access. When something happens, you can learn about it almost immediately. Gone are the days when you had to wait until the six o’clock news to find out what was happening in the world. With the proliferation of availability, especially with social media, this means quite frankly that everyone has a platform. You can simply hit record on your phone or laptop and suddenly you can put out a message to literally millions and potentially billions of people.

Because of this, false and deceptive teaching is not only more possible, but more accessible than ever. This means you must be on guard and know how to protect yourself against false teachings. Here are four things you can start doing right now.

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This term “sanctity of life” has most often been connected to the battle over abortion and protecting the lives of the unborn, but is there more to it? For this reason, I want to challenge your thinking about this term and make sure you have a true biblical understanding of the phrase “sanctity of life.”

It doesn’t matter who it is or who is preaching, if they add one thing to the message of the gospel it is another gospel. They could be bishop so and so, apostle whatever, or pastor what’s his name, it doesn’t matter because if they preach a gospel different than this, it is no gospel at all.

As you trust God, he responds. In this case, God responds by filling you with joy and peace and causing you to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The real confidence we have in this verse is knowing that your trust in God does not go unnoticed.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

What is faith? Well according to Hebrews 11, faith is being confident and assured of things we cannot see. When you think of faith, we often attach words to describe it, like “blind faith” because we are believing for something before we see it. You may even hear terms like “take a leap of faith,” again encouraging you to take steps before you see a result.

When we think of faith in these terms, it may be easy to conclude that faith has everything to do with our hearts or emotions and nothing to do with our brains. I want to challenge that today. Faith that is based solely on your heart or your emotions is not really faith at all. For faith to be real, there must be some evidence that forms the foundation for that faith, and this is where your brain comes into play.   

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The most consistent way God speaks is through his written word, the Bible. Consider how he has carefully crafted the Bible over the centuries. Prophecy can come alongside the word and should be in alignment with the word, but it was never meant to replace the word.

In the simplest terms to be asexual means you have little or no sexual attraction or desire. By that definition alone, being asexual is not sinful and thus it is possible for a Christian to be asexual.

Recently I woke up and I sat on my sofa where I usually pray. For this morning, my intention was to pray for our nation. As I sat there, I became a little miffed because for that moment in prayer, I had no idea how to pray. For many of you that might seem strange, but as I have observed what has been happening in our country – and especially in the church over the last few years – maybe that’s not so strange after all. As I sat and thought some more, my heart began to break not just over the direction of our country, but because it feels like the church in America has lost its impact.

The easy road to take would be to blame it on persecution, religious liberty being under attack, or even cancel culture; these must be the reasons the church is not as impactful as it used to be. While these things may play a role, they are only symptoms – they are not the real cause. To get to the heart of the matter, I had to remember something Jesus said in Matthew 7. 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

I think recently we have spent a lot of time looking at the specks and we have ignored the planks. I believe, and maybe I am just too simple to not believe this, if we look at the planks in the eyes of the church and remove them, we will see clearly to be the salt and light Jesus has called us to be, and regain our influence in the culture.

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