Do Not Harden Your Hearts

Psalm 95:6-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

6 O come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

7For He is our God,

and we are the people of His pasture,

the sheep under His care.

 

Today, if you hear His voice,

8do not harden your hearts

as you did at Meribah,

in the day at Massah in the wilderness,

9where your fathers tested and tried Me,

though they had seen My work.

10For forty years I was angry with that generation,

and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they have not known My ways.”

11So I swore on oath in My anger,

“They shall never enter My rest.”

 

[See also: 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13]

 

Faith in Jesus Christ

 

Once saved always saved is not to be regarded as the biblical doctrine of salvation. Yes, we can do nothing in ourselves to earn or to deserve our own salvation. All we like sheep have gone astray. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (see Isaiah 53:6). Jesus Christ took the penalty of our sin on Himself when He was crucified on that cross in order that we might die to sin and live to Him and to His righteousness in obedience to Him.

 

None of us can even come to faith in Jesus Christ of our own selves but only as we are called of God to His service. For our faith comes from God. It is not of our own doing. And 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 obey Him as a matter of life practice, by His grace, although not necessarily in absolute perfection.

 

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Hebrews 12:1-2; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24]

 

Let Us Bow Down

 

As those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, our lives are to be surrendered to Him to doing His will for our lives. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want to live them. By faith in Him we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to His commands, by His grace and in His power at work within us. And our worship of Him is in submission to His will and purpose for our lives, and not in lip service only to God as Lord.

 

For Jesus said that if anyone would come after Him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow Him in obedience to His commands. For if we hold on to our lives of sin and for self, and if obedience to God and to His commands is not what we practice, but sin is still what we practice, then we do not have salvation from sin, and we do not have eternal life with God, no matter what our lips profess.

 

If You Hear His Voice

 

How do we hear God’s voice? Well we hear His voice through the voice of the Holy Spirit living within us, and through His written Word, and through the preaching and the teaching of the biblical gospel of Christ, of our salvation. But we need to read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, and we need to test the spirits of people and what they are teaching to make certain that what we are hearing and receiving is truly of God and not of the flesh.

 

But please know that many preachers and teachers of “The Word” are teaching the Scriptures out of context, and they are ignoring the words of God they do not want to hear and to put into practice. They are removing Scriptures from their correct biblical context, and they are twisting them to make them say what itching ears want to hear. And so they are teaching lies to the people in the name of God, and multitudes are following their lead.

 

Do Not Harden Your Hearts

 

So, make certain that what you are hearing or reading is the truth of the Scriptures, taught in their correct biblical context. And then pay careful attention to what the Scriptures are actually teaching, if taught in the correct biblical context. And then don’t ignore the messages you don’t like to hear in favor of messages which make you feel good and which you believe give you permission to sin against God without consequence, although taught falsely.

 

For, if we harden our hearts against the teachings of the Scriptures, and we go with whatever makes us feel good, and so we keep on in our sins, or only in certain specific and habitual sins, and we choose our sins over God, and over submission to his will and purpose for our lives, and so we do not obey his commands, then we will not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God unless we genuinely repent (turn from) our sins to obey God in practice.

 

[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]

 

Do Not Harden Your Hearts

An Original Work / August 2, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Your Heart 

 

An Original Work / October 24, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Tenderly He speaks, softly so.

Gently He calls - His will to know.

Won’t you invite Him in your heart?

Humbly accept Him now.

Bow before Him with contrite heart.

May you obey His will.

Seek Him with all your heart and soul,

And your heart, His Spirit fill.

 

Jesus died to free you from sin,

Giving you new life to begin,

Walking with Him ev’ry hour,

Obeying His commands.

Won’t you trust Him to be your Lord?

His grace you can’t afford.

Freely He gives you peace within,

When you turn from all your sin.

 

Live for Him ev’ry passing day.

Meet with Him; read His word and pray.

Serve Him in the way He leads you,

Doing all that He says.

Do unto others as you would

Have them do unto you.

Love them with Jesus love within you.

Your hearts to God be true.

 

https://vimeo.com/125864134

How Long Will the Wicked Triumph?

Psalm 94:3-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“3How long will the wicked, O LORD,

how long will the wicked exult?

4They pour out arrogant words;

all workers of iniquity boast.

5They crush Your people, O LORD;

they oppress Your heritage.

6They kill the widow and the foreigner;

they murder the fatherless.”

 

Who are the wicked? They are all who practice what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, whether or not they make verbal professions of faith in Jesus Christ. They are those who, by choice, deliberately and habitually sin against God, and who do not make obedience to our Lord’s commands their practice. They are also those who revel (take pleasure) in and fall (stagger) into sin, in practice, without conscience, and without biblical remorse and repentance. For they are the arrogant who are full of pride and selfish and sinful desires.

 

Many are they who are malicious, morally unclean, deceptive, tricksters, liars, manipulators, the untrustworthy, and egocentrics who fake their Christianity to gain approval and acceptance from the Christian community. And they are the self-indulgent, selfish, and irresponsible who do what they do regardless of who gets hurt in the process. They may also be the bitter and resentful and unforgiving who plot evil against those who oppose what they are doing, and out of pure selfishness and evil and lustful desires.

 

They may attempt to give the appearance that they are “walking in the light as Christ Jesus is in the light,” but while, in reality, they are hiding behind the light while they practice their evil. For they are the dishonorable, vile, corrupt, immoral, dishonest, crooked, and shady who hide what they are doing in secret while they put on a performance of goodness for others to see and to believe. And they are those who are increasing in their evil deeds, who are overriding the barriers (barricades) which are there for their good.

 

Some of them, if confronted with their sins, will come against and attack those who are trying to help them to be free. And they will pass the blame on to those who are speaking the truth to them, in love, rather than to accept the blame themselves for the sins they commit. For if they feel their safety net is in danger of being exposed, then they may lash out at those who are likely to expose what they do not want exposed, perhaps to get them to back down out of fear of what they might do to them in revenge.

 

Psalm 94:7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

7They say, “The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob pays no heed.”

 

Now there is a popular teaching today within the gatherings of the “church” which is teaching that once you profess Jesus as Lord of your life, with your lips, that now all of your sins are forgiven, heaven is now your eternal destiny, and it cannot be taken away from you. And, in fact, they say that God can no longer see when you sin, and so when He looks at you He just smiles, even if you are steeped in deliberate and habitual and immoral sin. For all He sees is Jesus, so they say. But none of this is biblical truth.

 

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).

 

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).

 

Psalm 94:8-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“8Take notice, O senseless among the people!

O fools, when will you be wise?

9He who affixed the ear, can He not hear?

He who formed the eye, can He not see?

10He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline?

He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?

11The LORD knows the thoughts of man,

that they are futile.”

 

Therefore, do not be the senseless who yield to the lies of the enemy so that you can continue in your deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord, convinced that you are still on your way to heaven. Be students of the Scriptures who read them in their appropriate and biblical context so that you get the true meaning of what they teach. God does see everything we do. Nothing is hidden from His sight. If we are repentant and we are no longer living in deliberate and habitual sin, but in walks of obedience to His commands, He forgives us our sins. But if we are stubborn and rebellious, and we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we do not know God.

 

[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]

 

How Long Will the Wicked Triumph?

An Original Work / August 2, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Give Ear to Jesus 

 

Based off Isaiah 55

An Original Work / February 16, 2016

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Call on your Savior. Seek the Lord while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way; Turn to the Lord.

God will have mercy. He’ll forgive you of your sin.

He will freely pardon you and give peace within.

Turn from your sin, follow Jesus, be cleansed from sin.

 

Give ear to Jesus. Come to Him. Your soul will live.

Listen to Him speaking to you: “Eat what is good.”

If you are thirsty, come to Jesus, drink from Him.

Drink His Spirit given to you. Be born again.

Listen to Him. Do what He says. Rejoice in Him.

 

God’s Word, eternal, will achieve what He desires.

He is willing none should perish, saved by His blood.

Share now the gospel. Jesus died so we’d go free.

Walk in vict’ry, free from your sin, eternally.

Die to sin, and live to Jesus. In Him believe.

 

https://vimeo.com/155612854

It is Good to Praise the Lord

Psalm 92:1-3 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1It is good to praise the LORD,

and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,

2to proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning

and Your faithfulness at night

3with the ten-stringed harp

and the melody of the lyre.”

 

I love to sing. I think I sang from birth on up (smile). My mother and father both had beautiful voices, and my mother played the piano beautifully, too. I majored in music education and voice in college and I did a lot of singing most of my life. But in my old age my voice has started to go, and so I have not been singing as much as I used to sing. So I need to sing more, even if the old voice gives out. For it is good for me to sing unto the Lord and not to just talk to Him. But I praise Him with my voice even if not in singing.

 

But praising the Lord is not just about repeating a bunch of the same words over and over in worship of Him. It is singing songs about who He is and what He has done for us, but including what He requires of us in the way of word and thought and deed. I love most of the old hymns, for they are so full of biblical truth and encouragement to us in our walks of surrender to our Lord in obedience to Him, in our praises of Him for what He has done for us in delivering us from our slavery to sin so we can now serve Him.

 

Psalm 92:4-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“4For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds;

I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.

5How great are Your works, O LORD,

how deep are Your thoughts!

6A senseless man does not know,

and a fool does not understand,

7that though the wicked sprout like grass,

and all evildoers flourish,

they will be forever destroyed.”

 

Even in the darkest times we need to be joyful and glad in the Lord. We need to keep smiling, and even laughing (keeping it morally pure). We need to enjoy life (in a proper manner), even if we are going through dark valleys and trials which are testing our faith and our perseverance. And we should be thankful to the Lord even for our trials which are for our good. Yes, it is perfectly okay for us to cry and to be sad and to mourn over the evil, which is going on in the world, but we must keep rejoicing in the Lord, as well.

 

But we should not be so caught up in the “everything has to be happy” crowd to where we fail to recognize and to talk about the serious things of God and of the teachings of the Scriptures. For there are many people in this world, even many who profess faith in Jesus Christ, who are living senseless lives in disobedience to our Lord in deliberate and habitual sin against God, and who are headed straight to hell, but on a false promise of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And they need to hear the truth spoken!

 

Psalm 92:8-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“8But You, O LORD, are exalted forever!

9For surely Your enemies, O LORD,

surely Your enemies will perish;

all evildoers will be scattered.

10But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;

with fine oil I have been anointed.

11My eyes see the downfall of my enemies;

my ears hear the wailing of my wicked foes.”

 

Now, when I read this, the thought that came into my mind is that the person who wrote this was not raising himself up above others. He was not speaking pridefully to try to prove that he was better than others who were not where he was spiritually. He was thankful to the Lord for rescuing him out of the darkness and for bringing him into the light of the truth of the gospel of our salvation. And he was thankful to the Lord for calling him to His service, all because of God’s grace and love and mercy. Glory to God!

 

But he was also someone who grieved over the sins of others and their separation from God because of their sins. He was grieved in knowing that this would mean for them eternal separation from God in the pit of hell. He was not rejoicing in their demise. But he was sober and sad and mournful over the reality that so many people, because they will not obey God, and so they continue to be evildoers, that they will perish in their sins. For when he heard the wailing of the wicked, he felt that. It grieved him in his spirit.

 

Psalm 92:12-15 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

12The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13Planted in the house of the LORD,

they will flourish in the courts of our God.

14In old age they will still bear fruit;

healthy and green they will remain,

15to proclaim, “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock,

and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”

 

This is the encouragement for us who walk by faith in Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands, by the grace of God, in the power of God, and by the mercies of God. By faith in our Lord we will grow to maturity in our walks of surrender to Him if we remain in Him and in His word in following our Lord wherever He leads us. Even in our old age (I am 76 years old), if we remain true to God and to His word, we will bear fruit in keeping with repentance for the kingdom of God and for the salvation of human lives.

 

For, as the servants of the Lord, called of God to His service, we are to be His messengers in taking the truth of the gospel of our salvation to the people of the world. But we must teach the truth that Jesus taught that if anyone would come after Him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow (obey) our Lord in life practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. Please take this to heart!

 

[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]

 

It is Good to Praise the Lord

An Original Work / August 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Video Talk on the Same Subject

 

https://youtu.be/lqpjfdZBuv0

 

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

Give Me an Undivided Heart

Psalm 86:11-13 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“11Teach me Your way, O LORD,

that I may walk in Your truth.

Give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear Your name.

12I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify Your name forever.

13For great is Your loving devotion to me;

You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.”

 

If our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine biblical faith in the Lord, we should desire to have the Lord teach us His ways that we may walk (in conduct) in His truth. We should want to have undivided hearts. We should want our lives to be surrendered to the Lord to doing His will for our lives, and we should no longer desire to live according to the flesh. So we should not be those who look for “loop holes” to wiggle our way out of having to obey God. But we should long to obey our Lord and to serve Him in submission to Him.

 

And our praise to God will not be empty praise, just going through the motions of religious practice. We will praise our Lord with our whole hearts sincerely from hearts of thankfulness and joy because of all that He has done for us in providing us with salvation from our addiction to sin and in giving us new lives in Him to be lived for His glory, all in His power, wisdom, and strength. For we glorify our Lord, not with words only, but by our submission to Him in doing what He requires of us who profess His name.

 

Psalm 86:14-15 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“14The arrogant rise against me, O God;

a band of ruthless men seeks my life;

they have no regard for You.

15But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.”

 

Who are the arrogant? They are the prideful, the proud who are lacking in humility and in submission to God. They are those who are living separate from God because they are still walking in sin and not in obedience to the Lord. They are the selfish and the self-indulgent who want things their way, and not God’s way, who do what pleases their flesh without regard for God or for who they hurt in the process. And they are liars and deceivers who speak lies to the people in order to slander others or to lead others astray.

 

Not all prideful people seek to do harm to others, though, but some or many of them do. For in their pride and in their stubbornness they are not willing to submit to God and therefore they may also be against those who do. And so they plot evil against the righteous to take them down, perhaps out of bitterness and resentment or because they don’t like what they are teaching. Or it could be because they are of Satan, working for him, doing his bidding, taking down the nations of the world to create a one world government.

 

But God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Our Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness. So He has delayed His judgment on all human kind to give everyone time to repent and to submit to Him as Lord. So evil people will continue to do evil unless they truly repent of their sins and they surrender their lives to the Lord to now obey Him and His commands. So we should pray for their salvation.

 

Psalm 86:16-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“16Turn to me and have mercy;

grant Your strength to Your servant;

save the son of Your maidservant.

17Show me a sign of Your goodness,

that my enemies may see and be ashamed;

for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.”

 

I like this prayer! The Psalmist was not calling on God to kill his enemies, but he prayed that his enemies may see a sign of the goodness of God and be ashamed. And if they are truly ashamed, this might then lead them to genuine repentance and changed lives. So, praying to the Lord for mercy on ourselves, because of our enemies, and for Him to grant us strength, and to deliver us, does not have to include praying for judgment on our enemies. We should be praying for the salvation of our enemies from their sins.

 

Give Me an Undivided Heart

An Original Work / August 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

For Our Nation 

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

The Nations Have Invaded!

Psalm 79:1-4 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance;

they have defiled Your holy temple

and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

2They have given the corpses of Your servants

as food to the birds of the air,

the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.

3They have poured out their blood like water

all around Jerusalem,

and there is no one to bury the dead.

4We have become a reproach to our neighbors,

a scorn and derision to those around us.”

 

Now, I am not going to be writing about this historical situation which took place long ago, but I am going to be looking into what this says more metaphorically (figuratively) speaking, for I believe there is a message here which applies to the church, at least to the church here in the USA today.

 

God’s Holy Temple

 

Now the church is the collective body of believers in Jesus Christ throughout the world. We, the people of God, are the church, the temple of God in whom God dwells by His Spirit. The church is not a physical building. It is not a church denomination. It is not to be incorporated under (merged with) the state (the government) and with the world. And it is not to be a business being marketed to the people of the world. But sadly, this is what so many people have turned her into, which is against what God commands.

 

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

 

We, the body of believers in Christ Jesus are God’s Holy Temple, His church. And as His body we are to be doing the work of the Lord in obedience to His commands. And we are to be ministering to one another within the body of Christ in helping one another to come to spiritual maturity in Christ and to walk worthy of the Lord in all of who we are and say and do. And we are to be speaking the truth of God’s Word to one another in love so we will not be taken captive by liars and deceivers who are teaching a false gospel.

 

For we, as the body of Christ, are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God. And we are to be exhorting one another every day so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And we are to meet together in order to encourage and to stir one another up to love and to good works (of God). And if we can’t meet in person, we can gather together on the internet.

 

And we are to be taking the message of the gospel to the people of the world via whatever means are available to us, such as what I am using now, which is the internet. For we are to proclaim the excellencies of God who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. And we are to be calling all people to forsake their lives of sin and to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to His commands in holy living, as what we live by in daily practice. For if sin and disobedience are what we practice we will not have eternal life with God.

 

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

 

The Nations Have Invaded

 

Who are the nations who have invaded and defiled God’s holy temple, His church? They are the church denominations which have incorporated under (merged with) the state (the government) and with the world who are marketing the church to the people of the world. And they are the world and the state (the government) who are in partnership now with “the church.” And so they have altered the gospel and what “church” is supposed to be in order to attract the world to their gatherings and to grow their numbers.

 

They have defiled God’s holy temple, His church, by turning the church into a business to be marketed to the world, and thus the church, the body of Christ, no longer operates as the biblical body of Christ. For the gatherings are largely targeted at attracting and entertaining the world, and so many of them are being run like stage productions while most of “the church” sits in rows and takes it all in but has no opportunity to encourage and to exhort one another in our walks of faith to our Lord, as each part does its work.

 

Therefore, so much of what is called “the church” barely resembles the biblical body of Christ in appearance and in practice because so much of “the church” has allowed “the nations” to defile God’s holy temple. And so much of it has discarded the saints of God who are God’s messengers, for they teach the biblical gospel which so many people are now rejecting for it teaches God’s requirements for death to sin and for obedience to God’s commands for our salvation from sin and for eternal life with God.

 

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).

 

[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]

 

The Nations Have Invaded

An Original Work / August 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Zeal for Your House

 

Based off John 2:17; Psalms 69:9

An Original Work / August 1, 2016

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Zeal for Your house, it consumes me.

Lord, I love my times with You.

I love to worship You and sing Your praises.

Time in Your Word brings me closer to You,

List’ning to You speaking to me,

Gently guiding me in truth.

 

Lord, You are my life’s example,

Showing me how I should live.

I love to walk with You where’er You lead me.

No greater joy have I when serving You.

Loving, giving, resting in Your strength,

I’m yielding to Your will.

 

Zeal for Your house, it consumes me.

See the church turned upside down:

Marketing ventures taking place of worship,

Men of the gospel turning into clowns.

Gospel message made appealing,

So the world will feel at home.

 

Lord, we need a great revival.

Turn their hearts, Lord, back to You.

Open the blind eyes, turn them all from darkness,

Lord, to the light. May they return to You,

Turn from their sin, forsake idols,

Be restored to God again.

 

https://vimeo.com/177433676

I Have Taken Refuge in The Lord

Psalm 71:1-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

2In Your justice, rescue and deliver me;

incline Your ear and save me.

3Be my rock of refuge,

where I can always go.

Give the command to save me,

for You are my rock and my fortress.

4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

 

“5For You are my hope, O Lord GOD,

my confidence from my youth.

6I have leaned on You since birth;

You pulled me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is always for You.

7I have become a portent to many,

but You are my strong refuge.

8My mouth is filled with Your praise

and with Your splendor all day long.”

 

If we, by faith in Jesus Christ, have denied self, died to sin, and we are now walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, and if we are serving the Lord with our lives in being a witness for Him and for His gospel message, and so we are speaking the truth to the people, and not the lies which are so popularized these days, we will have enemies. We will have people who will come against us to attack us, and even to falsely accuse us of wrong we did not commit, like they did to Jesus.

 

And they may be people who are “cooking up something” against us, i.e. who have a secret plan they are working on which we cannot see. They may be plotting evil against us with the whole purpose to destroy us in some way, perhaps out of anger or resentment or bitterness or unforgiveness of some kind because of something we said or wrote or posted on the internet. We spoke the truth in love, but they did not see it as love or as truth. And so they may be plotting evil against us as a way to get even, for “payback.”

 

For, when you speak the truth of what the Scriptures teach, and you call sin what it is, and you call out sinful behaviors, and you call people to repentance and to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, you may anger some people, especially some who are still living in captivity to sin and for whom obedience to God is not what they practice, but who profess faith in Jesus Christ. For so many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ are believing in a false gospel which gives them permission to keep on in sin.

 

Psalm 71:14-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“14But I will always hope

and will praise You more and more.

15My mouth will declare Your righteousness

and Your salvation all day long,

though I cannot know their full measure.

16I will come in the strength of the Lord GOD;

I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone.

 

“17O God, You have taught me from my youth,

and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.

18Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

until I proclaim Your power to the next generation,

Your might to all who are to come.

19Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God,

You who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like You?”

 

When we go through trials and tribulations which test our faith, and when other humans come against us to do us harm, because they don’t like the words we are speaking, words of truth which the Lord put in our minds and hearts to speak, then we are to lean on the Lord for our support. We are to trust in the Lord to get us through it all and to provide for all that we need. For Jesus said that if we follow Him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as He was hated and persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

 

We should not give up out of defeat or out of fear of what others might say about us or do to us. For God has all things under His control. And He promised us that we would have times like this. So we must keep courage and keep speaking the truth of God’s word to the people, even if we are persecuted and falsely accused of wrong and cast aside as though we are worthless. We must keep declaring the righteousness and salvation of our Lord and of His requirements that we die to sin and obey His commands.

 

And I identify with the psalmist in this part. God has taught me from my youth, indeed. And I am old and graying (age 76). And I daily proclaim His marvelous deeds to the people, under His guidance and direction, and in His power, and by His grace. And I pray that I will live to continue in doing what God has called me to do each day until the day He takes me home. I pray I will be able to continue sharing the truth of the gospel with the people of the world until my work is done on this earth. And then I will be ready to go.

 

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

 

I Have Taken Refuge in The Lord

An Original Work / July 31, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Should I Not Preach Jesus

 

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13

An Original Work / July 4, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.

I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.

I make myself a slave to ev’ryone

To win their hearts to Christ.

All this I do for my Lord Jesus,

And for the sake of His Name;

Do it for the sake of His gospel,

So that I, its blessings gain.

 

Scripture notates the sins of others;

Written down for us as examples

To keep us from setting our hearts

On evil as did those of old.

Do not worship other gods of man;

Do not give your hearts to them;

Not partake in immorality.

Do not test your Lord and King.

 

So, be careful if you think you are

Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.                        

God has given his word to warn us,

So through faith we will not fall.

No temptation has o’ertaken you

Except what is commonplace.

God is faithful to not let you be

Tempted past what you can bear.

He gives the way of escape.

 

https://vimeo.com/116057811

All You Who Fear God

Psalm 66:10-12 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

For You, O God, have tested us;

You have refined us like silver.

11You led us into the net;

You laid burdens on our backs.

12You let men ride over our heads;

we went through fire and water,

but You brought us into abundance.

 

Faith in Jesus Christ is not “smooth sailing.” It is not absent of problems, difficulties, and obstacles. Sufferings and persecutions are to be expected if our faith in our Lord is genuine biblical faith. Why? Because opposition, persecutions, and sufferings are what humble us and what help to mold us into the likeness of our Lord Jesus. They draw us closer to the Lord, if we will let them. And they make us more determined to live the life God has for us to live, and to share the truth of the gospel with the people of the world.

 

Psalm 66:13-15 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

13I will enter Your house with burnt offerings;

I will fulfill my vows to You—

14the vows that my lips promised

and my mouth spoke in my distress.

15I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings,

with the fragrant smoke of rams;

I will offer bulls and goats.

 

Now the “house of God” is not in a physical temple or building. It is not a place we go to once or twice a week for “worship” of God. We who believe in Jesus with genuine biblical faith are now the house of God, where God dwells by His Spirit. We are the temple of God. And we are to worship God in spirit and in truth every day of the week, throughout the day. And biblical worship is not just about singing songs of worship to God. It is about lives surrendered to the will of God in obedience to His commands in holy living.

 

What kinds of vows and offerings does the Lord require now of those who are of faith in Jesus Christ? Jesus said that if anyone would come after Him, He must deny self, take up His cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow the Lord in obedience to His commands. For, by biblical faith, which comes from God, 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 now as servants of righteousness in obedience to our Lord’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. For not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God. For 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 until HE comes.

 

Psalm 66:16-20 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

16Come and listen, all you who fear God,

and I will declare what He has done for me.

17I cried out to Him with my mouth

and praised Him with my tongue.

18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened.

19But God has surely heard;

He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

20Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld from me His loving devotion!

 

What does it mean to “fear God”? It means that we believe what He says, that we believe both His promises and His warnings. We take them to heart to do what they say to do, and to not do what they say not to do. But it also means to honor, respect, value, worship, reverence, and obey Him. And this involves living the lives He has for us to live, in doing what He has called us to do, no matter how difficult, and no matter how we might get treated by others. For our lives are now to be given over to the Lord for His service.

 

And what does it look like if you “cherish iniquity” in your heart? Well, to cherish is to treasure, to value, to esteem, and to take pleasure in. And iniquity is sin, immorality, evil, and wickedness. If sin is what we practice, by habit, repeating the same sins over and over again, in addiction to sin, without genuine biblical remorse and repentance sustained, and if obedience to our Lord and to His commands are not what we put into practice in our lives, then we don’t know God, and God will not listen to our prayers.

 

But God hears the prayers of the righteous. And this does not mean that He is going to do everything we ask of Him, or that He will do it immediately or while we still live. I am most certain that there have been followers of Christ who have died not knowing whether or not their prayers were answered, but who remained faithful to the Lord in trusting the Lord that He will do what is best. Some people pray for many years for the salvation of their loved ones only to die before any of them turn their hearts to the Lord. So wait on God!

 

And then there are times that we pray and we get an immediate response from the Lord, and we know that He heard us and that He attended to our prayers and that He did not reject our prayers. And these can be little things like just having a clear mind, and the ability to stay awake, and for certain pains to disappear, and for understanding of the Scriptures or of our circumstances or of what is going on in the world around us, or just for the strength to make it through every day. God does hear and answer prayers.

 

Prayers hindered or accepted: [John 15:1-11; James 1:5-8; James 4:1-10; 1 Peter 3:7; 1 John 1:5-9; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14-15]

 

All You Who Fear God

An Original Work / July 31, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

I speak here from personal experience when I tell you that there is no greater joy and peace in life than to walk with Jesus, to do His will, and to follow Him wherever He leads you.

 

In Keeping Them

 

Based off Psalm 111:10; Psalm 19:7-11

An Original Work / June 3, 2014

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Stand in awe of your Lord. Harken to His teachings.

Follow where He leads you. Live for Him today.

Through Him you gain wisdom; knowledge; understanding.

To my Lord belongs all worship and my praise.

 

Perfect is the Word, refreshing souls in His love.

His commands are faithful, guiding us each day.

Joy comes to the heart of those who love His teachings;

Follow His instructions. He will light their way.

 

Abide in the Lord, and obey His commandments.

His Word is more precious than all of our gold.

By His Word He warns us, comforts, and implores us.

When we follow His Word, there is great reward.

 

https://vimeo.com/97324081