Our Faith in The Lord Jesus

Ephesians 1:15-23 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

 

“18I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, 20which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

 

The Faithful in Christ Jesus

 

Now, these words were written by Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. And a saint, in biblical context, is one who is of genuine biblical faith in Christ Jesus, who by faith in Him has denied self, died to sin, and who is living for God in walks of obedience to His commands in life practice, in the power of God. And a saint is a holy one, one who is morally pure, living upright, godly, and holy unto God. And to be holy is to be different from (unlike) the world because being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ in the power of God.

 

So the words written here were written to a specific group of people at a specific time in history, and they can only be applied to our lives if we fit the biblical qualifications mentioned in this passage of Scripture. Our faith in Jesus needs to be from God, and not from human flesh, and it needs to be in line with the teachings in the Scriptures on what that faith should look like. For Jesus Christ gave His life up for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, but to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He put our sins to death with Him so we will die to sin and now walk in obedience to our Lord.

 

Your Love for The Saints

 

Are we people of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, who truly love one another within the body of Christ, the church? And this love is not speaking just of human emotions and feelings, but it is speaking of agape love, which is of God, which centers in moral preference, for it prefers what God prefers. And what God prefers is all that is honest, truthful, submissive and obedient to God, faithful, sincere, and morally pure. And it is forgiving of others who have hurt us like Jesus forgives us who sinned against Him. So we love each other much in the same ways in which God loves us who were born sinners.

 

And this does not mean that we tolerate deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, or that we pacify them in their sin to make them feel good, and so they will like us. We need to be those who speak the truth in love to one another and who call out sin in sinful humans, and who call people to repentance and to obedience to God and to His commands, but only if we are not ones who are still deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against other humans. But we are to forgive one another and not try to get even with others who sin.

 

A Prayer for Wisdom

 

All of us need wisdom, the wisdom of God, in order to make righteous and just decisions, and in order to love one another as God loves us and gave Himself up for us that we might be delivered out of slavery to sin. And we get that wisdom from the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding us in the ways of the Lord, and from our times spent with the Lord in His word each day, drinking in its truths, taught in the correct biblical context, as led by the Holy Spirit. We should NOT be relying on the wisdom of other humans to tell us the truth, for so many are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” teaching lies.

 

So, if we want to know God’s will for our lives, and His purpose in saving us from our sins, we need to read the New Testament books, Matthew to Revelation. They teach we must die to sin and obey our Lord and His commands in life practice. But please understand that the time in which these were written was not long after Jesus’ time on the earth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension back to Heaven, and the birthing of the church, the inclusion of the Gentiles into Israel, the people of God, and the transition of the Jews from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

 

The Law of God

 

So “the law” spoken of was the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath laws. We are not under those laws. Those were done away with when Jesus Christ died, was buried, and He rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death. But this is not to be confused with God’s New Covenant commands, which we are required to obey, in the power of God, by His Spirit, which are primarily God’s moral laws which were carried over from the Old Covenant and are taught to us in the New Testament. Don’t write those off like many do!

 

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). So we must take this to heart to obey God and to no longer walk in sin.

 

[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]

 

Our Faith in The Lord Jesus

An Original Work / September 12, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Refresh My Spirit, Lord 

 

Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30

An Original Work / August 8, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Refresh my spirit, Lord. Revive my heart today.

Move me to serve You, Lord, in all I do and say.

Be my heart’s one desire; my spirit set on fire

In pure devotion, Lord, to love You and obey.

 

Create within me, Lord, a pure heart, this I pray,

So I can worship You and yield to You always.

May all Your love and pow’r be lived in me, I pray,

So I might love as You; be Your witness today.

 

Jesus says, “Come to me all you with heavy hearts,

And find in me your peace, and give to me your all.

My yoke is light to bear, ‘cause I paid for your sin,

So you might be set free, and purified within.”

 

https://vimeo.com/126092767

You Loved Me

When I was lonely and afflicted, You were there to pick me up.

You took me in Your arms and You tenderly held me.

Your love embraced me. Your grace sustained me.

When my heart cried out to You in my despair, 

You did not shun me, but You let me know that You loved me.

Your grace forgave me. You did not shame me.

Then I answered the call, “Here Lord, send me.”

And so You sent me to where You planned ahead of time to use me.

Your mercy held me. You did not fail me.

And, when trials and tribulations came my way to test me,

You gave me everything I needed so that I would not fail, but would survive.

Your kindness blessed me, and You caressed me.

And when I needed the body of Christ to lift me up

And to encourage me so that my heart did not fail,

You gave me friendships. Their presence cheered me.

And, even when I walked through the valley of the 

Shadow of death and tears overflowed from my eyes down my cheeks,

Your touch, it healed me. For, I believed You.

And even now when I think about all the many ways

In which You have blessed me, so many ways I cannot count them all,

My heart, it thanks You. And gladness fills me.

An Original Work / November 27, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

According to God's Plan

Ephesians 1:3-12 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. 4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love 5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.

 

“7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.

 

“11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.”

 

Holy and Blameless

 

So many people today are teaching a faith in Jesus Christ which requires nothing of us at all other than to profess faith in Jesus Christ. But that is not biblical faith! For God chose us to be holy and blameless (righteous) in His presence. And to be holy is to be different, unlike, separate from the world of sin because we are being transformed by God to His likeness. And to be righteous is to be honest, morally pure, and upright, in conformity to God’s standard, i.e. to what is approved by God, to obey Him in life practice.

 

What if We Sin?

 

But does that mean that we will never sin, or that if we do sin we are cut off from God? No! See 1 John 2:1-6 where we are instructed to not sin, but which comforts us with the knowledge that if we do sin, Jesus Christ is our advocate before God the Father. For He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. But… then it continues by letting us know that we have come to know Christ if we keep (obey) His commandments. So if we claim to know Christ, but we do not obey His commands, in practice, then we are liars. Truth is not in us.

 

In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses (sins), according to the riches of God’s grace. For in Jesus’ death on that cross He bought us back for God (redeemed us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so we will now obey God with our lives in righteousness and holiness. And God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return for His bride.

 

God’s Plan for Our Lives

 

And God has made known to us the mystery of His will for our lives all throughout the Scriptures. And Jesus taught us that if anyone would come after Him that they must deny self, take up their cross daily (suffer for the sake of righteousness and die daily to sin and to self), and follow Him in obedience to His commands. And He taught that if sin remains our practice, and not obedience to God’s commands, that we will not have the hope of eternal life with God. So we need to take this seriously to obey Him.

 

For God had a plan for our lives from before we were even born into this world. And His plan is that we now, by God-persuaded faith in Him, live for Him in walks of obedience to His commands and that we no longer walk in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord. Our lives are now to be surrendered to our Lord to doing His will, to going where He sends us, and to saying and to doing whatever He commands. For now our lives are to be for the praise of His glory and no longer for selfish and sinful desires.

 

[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]

 

According to God’s Plan

An Original Work / September 12, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Mighty in Power

 

An Original Work / June 17, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;

Mighty in power, His name we honor.

He’s our refuge from all evil.

God our righteous, He’s our fill.

He satisfies us with all His blessings.

We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.

 

Glory and honor, praise to the Father,

Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.

He delivered us from all sin

So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.

He purifies us. His love will guide us.

He is beside us, holy and righteous.

 

Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,

Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.

He gives courage to be bold in

Witnessing for Jesus Christ.

He teaches all things about our Savior.

New life in Jesus, we found His favor.

 

https://vimeo.com/343126112

Need to Endure

Trials will come. You can be sure.

Testing is part of life. Need to endure.

 

Troubles increase. Need for release.

Put your faith in your Lord. You will find peace.

 

Sorrows you face. Tears, they will fall.

You will find comfort when on God you call.

 

Tempter lays snare. Do not be fooled.

Hypocrites playing you. Give them no pull.

 

God is aware. He knows your plight.

Don’t let your enemy win. Stand and fight.

 

Vict’ry is yours. Battle you’ll win,

When you stand strong in faith, do not give in.

 

Patiently wait. God will not fail

To fulfill all that He promised. Don’t bail.

 

Trust in His love. He’ll not dessert

Those who trust Him with their lives. Rest secure.

 

An Original Work / November 21, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Video Talk on the Same Subject

 

https://youtu.be/_opeqLaRjQ4

Those Who are Caught in Sin

Galatians 6:1-2 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

 

What is this teaching us? If we are those who are of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we are aware that a fellow professing Christian has fallen into sin and/or is trapped in sin, we who are walking with the Lord in obedience to His commands, as a matter of life practice, should restore that person back to or to (for the first time) a walk of faith in the Lord Jesus (men with men and women with women). Especially those serving as pastors of church gatherings, they should do this with those caught in sin.

 

An Illustration from Real Life

 

But let me tell you a story, some of which most of you have probably heard by now. When I was growing up I lived with an abusive father who sexually abused some of his children, me being one of them. At age 15 I finally had the courage to report him, and he was put in a mental institution for 1.5 years, and then they let him come back home. No discussion. No one asking us children if we felt safe with him being put back in the home. But there he was, and he tried to do it again, but I reported him this time, and it stopped.

 

Fast forward. Now I was 21 years old and dating a particular young man. And it was going well. But then he made some of the same kinds of moves towards me as did my father, and I resisted, but I did not have the courage to tell anyone, and eventually I gave in to him to some degree, although I continued to fight against it and to pray through it. And I thought we were going to be okay. I did pray about should I marry him. I do not recall the Lord telling me “no,” and so we got engaged to be married a year later.

 

Prior to the wedding, we met with the pastor. The pastor did not ask us any questions regarding our dating and how we were behaving and if we were living in moral purity. His main thing was to let me know that if I married this man that I had to obey him. For if I would not agree to obey him, then he would not marry us, he said. But I agreed. Then sixteen years later I was being tempted by an attraction to another man. I asked my husband to help me, to pray for me. Instead he pushed me into sinning with the man.

 

I repented of my sin, got back on track with God, but then my husband kept on trying to push me back into sexual sin. I kept resisting, but eventually my mind and emotions just could not take it anymore, and I eventually gave in again, more than once. But then I got back right with God and I was doing well for a long while. And then at a very vulnerable time in my life my husband pushed me into sin again. I gave in one last time. Then I got very serious about my relationship with the Lord and prayed this all through. And I said “No!” to my husband and “Yes!” to God from that moment forward.

 

I changed course, but my husband did not change course. He continued in his sexual addiction up to the present time. And I did seek help from pastors and family to help move him in the right direction, but none of that worked. And this same pastor who married us in 1972 I invited to our home in 2017, and I asked him to pray for us. Then I began to tell him our situation, but he stopped me. And he asked my husband if I had permission from him to tell him our story. My husband agreed. But I thought, “What?”, the one who is sinning against me has to give permission for me to ask for help?

 

And so my husband told him what had been going on with him all these years. But the pastor did nothing to correct him, but only encouraged him to seek counseling, which did nothing to change him. Other pastors I asked for help did pretty much the same. And one pastor I did not seek help from volunteered his own opinion which was just like the pastor who married us which was that I must obey my husband. But never ever does God say that we should obey sin! We are to obey in the same way in which we obey God.

 

Never Obey Sin!!

 

Galatians 6:7-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“7Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return. 8The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.”

 

So, if you are being told that you have to obey someone who is leading you into sin, whether it is a parent or a spouse or an employer or a pastor or whoever it is, you can and should say “No!” We must not obey sin no matter who is leading us to sin or insisting that we must do so. For if sin is what we obey deliberately, in life practice, without genuine biblical repentance, we do not have eternal life with God. Obey God and his moral laws always. Resist Satan, flee temptation, and draw near to God in full assurance of faith.

 

Those Who are Caught in Sin

An Original Work / September 11, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

If you want to read my full story in more detail you can read it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cwbs8TTyVp78TLpM0kdQOKrYAPFvNDpcFV5urfA73-Y/edit?usp=sharing or you can download it in a PDF here:

https://walkingwounded.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/i-married-my-dad1.pdf

 

As the Deer

 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

 

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after You

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

You alone are my strength, my shield

To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

[A Prayer of Devotion to God Alone]

Pleasing God or Humans?

Galatians 1:10-12 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”

 

As Followers of Christ

 

As followers of Jesus Christ our goal should always be to please our Lord and not the flesh. This doesn’t mean that we do not do what brings us pleasure, as long as it is not contrary to the will of God, but that our central focus in life is to please the Lord in all that we are and do and say, that it might bring glory to God. Our focus in life should not be on pleasing the flesh and to seek after human approval. Especially those of us who are in full-time Christian ministry, we should not do what we do for human approval.

 

Called of God

 

For example, I am called of God to write down what I am learning from Him during my times with Him each day in His word and to post these writings on the internet so that “a herald may run with it.” I am writing under the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit and not from my own flesh. The Lord leads me each day in where to read in the Scriptures and as to the message He wants me to receive and to share each day. And these messages are not always going to meet with all human approval. Many of them will not.

 

But I must write what the Lord leads me to write even knowing that some people may object, and they may criticize me, or they may want nothing to do with me because I am just too weird or too radical for their comfort zone. I must write what the Lord leads me to write even if people attack me and falsely accuse me of wrong because they disagree with me. But many times their disagreements are with what the Scriptures teach on various subjects because they are buying into the lies of what the enemy is teaching.

 

My Goal in Life

 

But if my goal in life was to say what I know people like to hear so that they would like me, then I would not be a servant of Christ. If my goal in life was to gather around me a large following, and so I said what itching ears want to hear rather than what they need to hear, then I would cease to be a servant of the Lord. I must speak the truth of God’s word, even the hard truths that many do not want to hear, for the salvation of human lives from sin that they might have eternal life with God, in truth and in righteousness.

 

I must be a diligent student of the Scriptures who seeks to know and to understand what they teach so that I am sharing the truth of God’s word with the people of the world and not the lies which are so popularized today. And I must be willing to speak on difficult topics which many do not want to hear, because the truth needs to be taught. For so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are believing the lies which make them feel good, and many of them are continuing to walk in sin and not in obedience to God.

 

The Scriptures Teach

 

But the Scriptures teach that if any of us would come after Christ that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self and to suffer for the sake of righteousness), and follow our Lord in obedience to His commands. For the grace of God is not permission to keep on sinning without conscience. The grace of God is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return for His faithful bride (see Titus 2:11-14).

 

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

 

[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]

 

Pleasing God or Humans?

An Original Work / September 11, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

 

Caution: This link may contain ads

Do You Not Know?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Our God is faithful to His every word!

He completes you, fulfills your needs,

When you trust in Him – On His Word do feed.

Believe He cares. Do not despair!

Those who trust in Him are under His care.

How will you know He loves you so?

He loves us so much, to the cross did go.

He died for you, gave up His life

To free you from sin and make you His wife.

He freed from sin, made pure within

All who trust in Him, who turn from their sin.

He strengthens you, helps you to stay

Faithful in service throughout every day.

He feels your pain, sees all your tears.

He will deliver you from all your fears.

Trust Him right now. Do not Him doubt.

Believe His promises. ‘Bout them do shout!

Tell of His love. Tell of His care.

Tell of His grace to us, how Christ we wear.

We believe Him. Now truth within.

Follow Him everywhere, turning from sin.

Do what He says. Obey His Word.

Fellowship with Him, for His truth we’ve heard.

We love our Lord, follow His lead,

We share His gospel and other hearts feed.

Do not Him doubt. Fearless we’ll be,

Believing in Him, as we bow the knee.

Yield to His will. Make Him our Lord.

Receive salvation that we can’t afford.

Freely He gives. Freely He cares.

He died to free us, His righteousness wear.

Wait for Him now. Coming again

To receive us to Him – Hearty Amen!

An Original Work / November 10, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love