The Lord is a Shield Around Me

 Psalm 3:1-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

1 O LORD, how my foes have increased!

How many rise up against me!

2Many say of me,

“God will not deliver him.”

Selah

 

3But You, O LORD, are a shield around me,

my glory, and the One who lifts my head.

4To the LORD I cry aloud,

and He answers me from His holy mountain.

Selah

 

5I lie down and sleep;

I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.

6I will not fear the myriads

set against me on every side.

 

If we are followers of Christ, who take the Word of God seriously, to obey it, and so we are sharing with others what the Lord is teaching us from his word daily, and so we are sharing the truth of the gospel as Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught it, in the correct biblical context; and if we are doing this publicly, perhaps on the internet, or in the gatherings of the church, or in small group home Bible studies, in the appropriate manner, then depending upon who is listening, we may face some serious opposition.

 

And this reminds me of Jeremiah 1:1-19 (I will not quote the whole thing).

 

4The word of the LORD came to me, saying:

5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I set you apart

and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

 

“7For to everyone I send you,

you must go,

and all that I command you,

you must speak.

8Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

 

“17Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them. 18Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.

 

The Calling of God

 

It was in the 1970’s when I knew this was God’s calling on my life, not to be a prophet, but just a woman of God listening to the Lord, following his leading, speaking the words he would have me to speak to the people of God and to the world. And he was letting me know that “they would fight against” me, and so I was not to allow myself to be intimidated by them, or he would terrify me before them. Well, sometimes I stood strong, and other times I was intimidated, and he did terrify me before them. But through it all I learned to be strong in the Lord and to stay the course and to not quit.

 

I know I must speak the words of God (from the Scriptures) that the Lord puts on my heart to share, knowing full well that some people will attack me. Some will persecute me. And some will falsely accuse me of what I did not do. I knew some would attack me with hateful remarks. Some would try to goat me into a discussion in order to try to trip me up with my words. And I experienced all those things. But through it all I learned to keep going, to keep speaking, to keep obeying my Lord even if no one supported me or encouraged me, and even if all deserted me and rejected me.

 

Why? Because it is far more important that the truth of God’s Word is getting out to the people than whether or not I am liked or appreciated. For we live in a time when it appears that the lies are abounding, and that they are drowning out the truth, and so we need people of God who are willing to get the truth out to the people, which is the truth that not many want to hear. For so many people are teaching lies today, softening the message of the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh. And so many give lip service to God while they continue living in sin and do not obey God.

 

But even when I am persecuted, and I am being falsely accused of what I did not do, and even when I am not encouraged or supported, or by very few, I must stay the course! Far too many people are speaking lies to the people, and far too many people are believing and adopting the lies and are rejecting the truth. So I must persevere in getting out the truth that the people need to hear regardless of how I am treated in return. And I do have some encouragers, which I am very thankful for. But I still face opposition, too. But God is a shield around me and the lifter of my head. Amen!!

 

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13] 

 

Shield About Me

 

By Thomas Donn Charles / Williams Charles Henry

 

Thou Oh LORD, are the shield about me

You're my glory, You’re the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

 

Sung by Acapeldridge (might be arranged by him, too)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCUmT6mj48

 

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

The Lord is a Shield Around Me

An Original Work / July 13, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Though You Have Not Seen Him

1 Peter 1:8-9 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

 

By His Great Mercy

 

The context here is about Jesus Christ. By the grace of God and by God-persuaded faith in Him we are born anew into the family of God. We are delivered out of our bondage (addiction) to sin so we might now serve God with our lives in obedience to his commands. All this was made possible via Jesus’ death and resurrection. For in his death he put our sins to death with him so that by faith in him we might die to sin. And in his resurrection he conquered death that we might live with him in obedience to his commands.

 

By genuine biblical faith in him, which comes from God, and which is not of our own doing, we receive “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (vv. 4-5). But by “faith,” which comes from God, and which is not of our own doing, if our faith is genuine, we deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands, as a matter of life practice, by his grace.

 

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

 

You Love Him

 

What does that look like if truly we love Jesus Christ, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – our God who we are not able to see with our physical eyes? The Greek word for love is agape, which means “to prefer,” and in this context it means to prefer what God prefers which is all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. We prefer to live through Christ while embracing God’s will, which results in obedience to his commands.

 

So, how is that we are able to love someone who we cannot see? How can we believe in him who we cannot see with our physical eyes? How can we be sure that he even exists? God persuades us. He reveals himself to us in his creation (see Romans 1:18-20), and in our minds, hearts, and spirits. And he reveals himself to us through his written Word. But “seeing” is not just physical. Seeing is also perceiving, sensing, and comprehending in our spirits what is of God as it is revealed to us by God, if we are willing to receive what is of God and by faith in him follow him wherever he leads us.

 

The Goal of Our Faith

 

The goal of our faith, in this life, is that we deny self, die to sin, and obey God and his commands; that we follow him wherever he leads us, that we do all that he says to do, that we love God with our whole being, and that we love our fellow humans with the love of God, which comes from God. And the end goal of our faith, which by faith we are now receiving (progressive), is the salvation of our souls. But we must die to sin, obey God, in practice, and we must continue in that until the day we die, for us to have salvation.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

Shield About Me

 

By Thomas Donn Charles / Williams Charles Henry

 

Thou Oh LORD, are the shield about me

You're my glory, You’re the lifter of my head

Hallelujah

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPCUmT6mj48

 

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

Though You Have Not Seen Him

An Original Work / July 13, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The KJVO Cult

1 Peter 1:3-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

“6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials 7so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

 

Beware Religious Cults

 

We who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives are regarded as those who are saved from our sins and who have the hope of eternal life with God based on what the Scriptures teach, not on the basis of what any religious cult teaches are God’s requirements for salvation. And there are multiple religious cults which exist today which claim to be Christian but which base their faith off the teachings of humans and not off the teachings of Christ and of the Scriptures. But I will address just one.

 

There is a group of people who believe that the only valid English translation of the Scriptures is the King James Version. And that is their prerogative to believe that way. That is their choice. But many of them don’t stop there. They also teach that anyone who uses an English translation other than the KJV is not a Christian, that they do not know Christ, and that they do not have the Spirit of God (of Christ) living within them. For they teach that all other English translations are of the devil. That is just NOT BIBLICAL!

 

In fact, that is antibiblical. We are not saved from our sins and on our way to heaven based off whether or not we use the KJV of the Bible only. That is a lie from hell! That is a teaching of a religious cult, and nowhere in the Scriptures does it teach that. And the Scriptures are our guide to truth, not the teachings of other humans who are following the teachings of a religious cult which is teaching as truth what the Scriptures do not teach. So if you are being told you are not a Christian because you don’t use the KJV of the Bible, but you prefer to read something in today’s English, don’t buy it!

 

A Lie From Satan

 

So, what’s their beef? Some or all of the more current (in the last 60 years) English translations of the Scriptures do not include a few verses which are in the KJV. The reason for this is that they are using older manuscripts than what the KJV Bible did in translating the Scriptures to English, and those older manuscripts did not include those particular verses, which are few in number. And it appears that they are not critical in nature to have included. And sometimes what was removed is still stated in a different verse.

 

So, what are God’s requirements for salvation and for eternal life with God? They have nothing to do with the KJV of the Bible. We are saved from our sins and we have the hope of eternal life with God because of what Jesus did for us in putting our sins to death with him on that cross, and in being resurrected from the dead, so that by faith in him we can now die to sin and obey God with our lives, in practice, in the power of God, and not of human flesh. So if you are being told you are not a Christian because you don’t read the KJV only, please know that is not of God, but it is a lie of Satan.

 

Why is it a lie from Satan? Because the Scriptures don’t teach it. Not even the KJV of the Bible teaches that the requirement of God for us to be regarded as Christians is that, if we are English speaking people, that we must use the KJV only. That is a man-created theology which is not of God, not of the teachings of the Scriptures, and which is anti-biblical. But should we be discerning about what translations we use? Yes! They are not all good. Some of the bad ones are “The Message” and “The Passion Translation.” For they go against the teachings of the Scriptures in some cases. Be discerning!

 

Only Through Faith

 

So, please know that your salvation from sin and your relationship with Jesus Christ are not dependent on whether or not you prefer the KJV of the Scriptures only. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that any of us are saved and on our way to heaven. And that faith comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of God’s requirement that we deny self, die to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, by his grace.

 

And please do not let the opinions of others, which are anti-biblical, make you begin to question your faith or your salvation. But if your faith is not of God, but of human flesh, and if you are believing a lie which says you do not have to die to sin, and you do not have to obey God, and you can still be saved and on your way to heaven, then please listen to the truth of God’s word which teaches we must die to sin and obey God, in practice, or we do not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. Believe the Bible. Believe God! And test what humans say against God’s word in context.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

My Sheep 

 

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

An Original Work / June 24, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

 

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

 

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full…

 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

 

https://vimeo.com/114938263

 

The KJVO Cult

An Original Work / July 13, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If One Should Wander

 

To Prussianize

James 5:10-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“10Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

 

In Our Nations

 

This morning the Lord reminded me of a term he had taught me about sixteen years ago. And the word is “Prussianize.” It means “to impose Prussian characteristics, principles, or systems onto an organization, society, or individual. It is almost exclusively used in a political or historical context and implies the adoption of strict, top-down discipline, rigid authoritarian control, and extensive militarism” (source Google AI).

 

More and more in our day and time we are seeing this take place, usually in countries outside of the USA, but I believe we are beginning to see this in the USA. The “covid epidemic” of 2020 is a prime example of this where we were all forced to stay in our homes and to wear masks and to “walk the line.” And many were forced into taking shots that killed some people and that permanently disabled others, according to the official records.

 

The “president” of my nation acts more like a dictator who can do whatever he wants with no one stopping him. His character traits definitely fit with that of a false prophet or a Pharisee or the antichrist or one of the elite, wealthy, and powerful people of the world who are the ones ruling the world and my nation, who are the ones pushing this world into a one world order of the beast. And so many people are blinded to what is coming upon us.

 

In Church Gatherings

 

The church, as we know it, has largely turned into businesses, run by business men serving as pastors. And they are being trained in who they want to have in their gatherings and in who they should get rid of. My husband and I were church planters for a while, and we went through the training, and we were taught to “use needy people” to get up and running, and then we should “get rid of them, because they will drag you down.”

 

So many pastors of these “churches” have gone the way of the world, and so they have diluted the gospel message to make it less offensive to the world and more acceptable to human flesh and to the ungodly of this world. For they want to “draw in large crowds of people” into their gatherings in order to grow their numbers. And so they are also busy entertaining the world so that the world will want to come to their gatherings. Just not biblical!

 

So many of these “pastors” serve as dictators or as cult leaders who have a small number of the faithful directly underneath them making certain that everyone “plays by the rules.” But so many of “the rules” are not biblical, but they are of human origin. So what is called “church” are often businesses of human origin being marketed to the people of the world who are trying to attract the world to their gatherings, but are not the biblical body of Christ.

 

Christian Persecution

 

Christian persecution is taking place throughout the world, but not all of it is right now being done with physical weapons of warfare. It is largely taking place within the gatherings of these “churches” which are worldly, and which are marketing their “churches” to the people of the world. So if you are a serious student of the Scriptures who believes God’s word and who shares the truth of the gospel, you may get “knocked down” by “the church.” And you may get kicked out of their gatherings because you don’t fit.

 

I am presently experiencing this one. If you are English speaking, but you prefer a Bible translation other than the “King James Version,” you might be called a heretic or an unbeliever. For there are many who are “King James Only” people who believe all other translations are of the devil, and so if you use another translation you are regarded as someone who is not a Christian. But that is antibiblical! It is not of God! The KJV is just one of many translations of the Scriptures. It is no more sacred than many others.

 

And another area in which Christians are being persecuted here in the USA is if we do not bow down to the physical and political nation called “Israel” which is not of God, because as a nation they do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Therefore, they do not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for he is Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. And the Scriptures refer to all who do not believe in Jesus as antichrist. So we are not to bow to the antichrist and give them our worship and support.

 

Three Areas

 

So these are just three areas where I am seeing the meaning of this word “Prussianize” taking place. So we need to open our eyes to what is going on in the world around us, in our governments, in the church, and in relation to Christian persecution. Time is not on our side. And we need to become those who are following the Lord in obedience and in holy living until he returns.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

All Through the Night 

 

Based off Various Scriptures

An Original Work / December 7, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Blessed are you when you’re persecuted

Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.

Blessed are you when people insult you,

And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is

Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.

 

When you are persecuted in one place,

Flee to another. God will be there.

You will be hated by all the nations

Because you testify of God’s grace.

Many will seize you and persecute you,

And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.

 

Yet do not fear what humans may do to you,

For I’m with you all through the night.

I tell you, love your enemies with my love,

And forgive as I forgave you.

Pray for those who do evil against you.

Rest in my love and grace from above.

 

https://vimeo.com/379481617

 

To Prussianize

An Original Work / July 12, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If The Lord is Willing

James 4:13-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

 

15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.

 

Lives Surrendered to Jesus

 

If our lives are surrendered to the Lord Jesus, he should be the one directing our paths, determining our steps, and leading us in the way that he would have us to go, as his followers. Yes, we can make plans and schedule appointments, but we should be those who are being led of the Lord, and who make it our practice to inquire of the Lord regarding any plans we make, to be certain they are according to his will. And we must make plans ever so lightly, knowing that at any time those plans may get shifted.

 

We must put our lives in the hands of the Lord every day, trusting him to show us what he has for us to do for each day, and then do it. We should pray and inquire of him with regard to who we should marry, and where we should live, and what kind of work or ministries he has for us to do, and where and when. We should not be the ones determining our own paths, but we should be those who are being led of the Spirit of God day to day. For he is to be ruler of our lives and not our own flesh. We are to go with God.

 

Now this is not saying that we have to inquire of the Lord before we make any plans at all, but that we should have the mindset to say that “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” For obviously we have to work, and we have to prepare meals and do laundry and wash dishes and clean our homes. And we are supposed to be hospitable, and we should gather together with our children and grandchildren and other family members. And we should gather with the body of believers in Christ. But things do happen.

 

Knowing and Doing

 

So, how does all this fit with, “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin”? What is the right thing to do, in this context? Well, the right thing to do is to not plan out our lives based on what we want to do but on God’s will and purpose for our lives. So we should seek to know his will, and then we should do his will. And this isn’t just a don’t do this but do that, instead. But this does have to do with the plans that we make for our own lives. They should not be against God’s will for our lives.

 

So this would be like if I prayed and I asked the Lord for his counsel with regard to whether or not I should go a certain direction. And I know that he answered me and he said “No.” But then I did it anyway. That would be sin. The direction I wanted to go may not have been sinful in itself, like taking a trip to West Virginia for a visit is not sinful (this is just an example). But if I inquired of the Lord or if I sensed the Holy Spirit warning me not to go, but I went anyway, that would be a sin. For it meant I ignored God. That is a sin.

 

So, the “bottom line” here is that we should be those who are seeking the will of God every day. We should be listening for his voice throughout the day, listening to hear if he says, “go here, do this, say that,” or if he gives us one of his pauses which lets us know not to take the next step. And it could be that the “next step” is not necessarily something sinful, in and of itself, but it is not the direction the Lord would have us to go, because he has something else he wants us to do, instead. So keep listening. Keep obeying.

 

[Matthew 4:19; Matthew 8:22; Matthew 10:38; Mark 2:14; Luke 9:23,59; John 1:43; John 8:12; John 10:4,27; John 12:26; John 21:22]

 

Abide in Him 

 

Based off Psalm 27:14; Isaiah 40:31; John 14-15

An Original Work / July 31, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

If you wait for the Lord, put your hope now in Him,

He will give you His strength and endurance within.

He will renew your strength, so you will not lose heart.

You will soar on wings like eagles, never depart.

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words live in you,

You will walk with Me daily and follow what’s true.

I will live now in you; give you peace now within,

If you obey My teachings and turn from your sin.”

 

“If you listen to Me, and do all that I say,

I will give you My comfort; be with you always.

I will heal all your pain; life with Me now you’ll gain,

If in fellowship with Me you always remain.”

 

https://vimeo.com/115029858

 

If The Lord is Willing

An Original Work / July 12, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Submit Yourselves to God

James 4:7-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

As Followers of Christ

As followers of Jesus Christ our lives are to be given over to the Lord to do his will, to serve his purposes, and to obey his commands. They are no longer our own to be lived however we want, doing life our way instead of God’s way. For our lives now belong to God, and he now owns us. He should be the one directing our paths, guiding our steps, and leading us in the way that we should go, showing us where we should live, and what he has planned for our lives. And we should be doing what he requires of us.

And in doing this, in living our lives for the Lord, we are going to be faced with rejections, abandonment, false accusations, critical remarks, and attacks from the enemy against our souls. For he wants us in his camp, doing his bidding, and he wants us rejecting God and his commands and fleeing from God’s callings on our lives. So he is going to use all sorts of means to try to get us to be afraid and to back down and to give up. And he will try every which way to get us to sin against God, to disobey our Lord.

Submit Yourselves to God

So, we must submit ourselves to God and resist the devil so that he will flee from us. But please know that the devil doesn’t always flee on the first resistance. For he wants to wear us down. He wants to frustrate us. He wants us to be confused and tired and worn out so that he can conquer us, or at least that is his goal. So, we have to stay the course. We have to keep resisting him and keep following the Lord despite the enemy’s attacks against us. But also know, even if he flees, he may come back. 

But don’t let that make you afraid. Our God has already conquered death, hell, Satan (the devil) and death on our behalf via Jesus’s death on that cross, and via his resurrection from the dead. He has already given us the victory over Satan. We just need to call on God, and draw near to him, and resist the devil when he comes after us to try to make us afraid. And when he whispers lies in our ears we have to combat his lies with the truth of God’s Word. And then we need to keep walking in the truth of God’s word.

But if we are going to resist the devil and draw near to God, we need to be those who are following the Lord with our lives. We must no longer be those who are deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord, in practice, but obedience to our Lord and to his commands must now be what we practice. So, if you are still giving in to sin, you must repent of (turn from) your sins and now obey the Lord and his commands as a matter of life practice – all by the grace of God, and in his power. Let him purify your hearts!

Taking God Seriously

If we are going to take God seriously, to obey him, and to become the people of God he wants us to be, we cannot take a light-hearted approach to our walks of faith. It must grieve us deeply if we should sin against the Lord, and/or to see others who profess faith in Jesus sinning against God. It should grieve us to see where so much of “the church” has gone, and how far away from God so many of them have become. And it should grieve us that so many are altering the gospel to make it less offensive to the world.

And then we are to humble ourselves before the Lord. We are not to be filled with pride. And we should give credit to the Lord always for anything he accomplishes in our lives, or for any ways in which he uses us in other people’s lives. For none of us are saved from our sins and given the hope of eternal life with God based in our own fleshly works. All this comes from God. But God requires that we obey his commands and that we no longer walk in sin, and that can be done in his power, strength, and wisdom.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22] 

Servant of the Lord 

Based off Romans 1:1-17 

An Original Work / July 26, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Servant of the Lord;

For the gospel you’re set apart.

Promised through the prophets of old:

Jesus, Son of God.

Through Him, and for His name alone,

We receive His grace

To call people, Him to obey;

Coming from their faith.

You belong to Christ;

Loved by God, and called to be saints;

Serving God with whole heart and mind;

Preaching Jesus Christ;

Always praying for others’ needs;

Helping hand to lend;

Giving courage to others’ faith,

For the praise of God. 

Servant of the Lord;

Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;

For salvation, power of God

To those who have faith.

In the gospel find righteousness:

Being right with God.

Turn from sin, and trust Jesus Christ.

By faith, live in Him.

https://vimeo.com/119511640

Submit Yourselves to God

An Original Work / July 11, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love