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

The Mob of Workers of Iniquity

I was in bed, hoping to fall asleep, when a tune came into my head. I knew it was a song from the musical Les Misérables, but I could not recall the lyrics. The Lord does that with me sometimes, puts tunes in my head, and if I can’t recall the lyrics, I sing the tune into my phone and it brings up the song for me, if it is a well known song. Well the song is titled “Do You Hear the People Sing?” And the situation was a group of students and citizens of a nation preparing a war against the government in order to overthrow them.

 

By Alain Boubul and Claude-Michel Schonberg

Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer

From Les Misérables

 

Do you hear the people sing?

Singing a song of angry men?

It is the music of a people

Who will not be slaves again!

When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!

.. Beyond the barricade

Is there a world you long to see?

Then join in the fight

That will give you the right to be free!

 

But their plan failed. All who protested were killed, with the exception of one young man who was rescued by the father of the woman he loved.

 

Now, I know that if the Lord puts a song in my head that it is there for a reason, so next I went to where I left off last in my reading of the Psalms, and next was Psalm 64. Immediately I began to make a connection between the lyrics to the song and this Psalm of David. For this Psalm is about a mob of workers of iniquity scheming against King David. They thought they had perfected a secret plan to overtake the innocent. But they would then face the arrows of God, with their own tongues turned against them.

 

Psalm 64:1-4 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1Hear, O God, my voice of complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

2Hide me from the scheming of the wicked,

from the mob of workers of iniquity,

3who sharpen their tongues like swords

and aim their bitter words like arrows,

4ambushing the innocent in seclusion,

shooting suddenly, without fear.”

 

What I realized as I researched some of the meaning behind the words to that song, and then I read this passage of Scripture, is that the people in the musical were rebelling and fighting against the authority over them. And here we also have a mob of people scheming against David, which was also against God. And ultimately what this comes down to is a group of people who reject the authority of God over their lives, and so they fight against God, and against His messengers, so that they can keep on in their sin.

 

Psalm 64:5-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

5They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they speak of hiding their snares.

“Who will see them?” they say.

6They devise injustice and say,

“We have perfected a secret plan.”

For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.

 

Those who fight against God and his messengers, because they don’t like the rules that they have to follow, they want to maintain their freedom to keep on in their sin. They don’t like the limits that God and his Word put on their lives and so they fight for the right to keep living however they want. And so they will reject the gospel of Christ for a “friendlier version” which does not require that they repent of (die to) their sins and that they must obey the commands of God. So they plot evil against God’s messengers.

 

Psalm 64:7-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“7But God will shoot them with arrows;

suddenly they will be wounded.

8They will be made to stumble,

their own tongues turned against them.

All who see will shake their heads.

9Then all mankind will fear

and proclaim the work of God;

so they will ponder what He has done.

10Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD

and take refuge in Him;

let all the upright in heart exult.”

 

Ultimately, those who oppose God and who despise His messages, via His messengers, and who devise evil against the messengers of God, they will have to stand before the Lord and to give an account for what they did with the gospel of Christ and with the messages God kept giving them over again. God will judge them for their wicked and evil deeds and for their rebellion against Him and against His messengers which He sent to them. For they fought against God’s rules so that they could continue in sin.

 

But 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).

 

[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 Mob of Workers of Iniquity

An Original Work / July 31, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My Soul Thirsts for You O God

Psalm 63:1 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1 O God, You are my God.

Earnestly I seek You;

my soul thirsts for You.

My body yearns for You

in a dry and weary land without water.”

 

What should this look like, in all practicality, for the life of someone who believes in Jesus Christ? If God is truly our God whom we earnestly seek, then that means He is Lord of our lives, but not just in words only, but truly our lives are surrendered to Him, to doing His will, and He is the one guiding and directing and leading us each day in the ways of the Lord and in doing the things we ought to do in obedience to His commands and according to His leading daily in our lives. We live, not for the flesh, but to please God.

 

And if we thirst for God, and we yearn for Him, like we would yearn for water in a dry land, He will have top priority in our lives above all else. He will not be someone we go to just when we are in trouble, or when we need something, or when we have a prayer request, or who we worship only on a Sunday morning during a “worship service.” Our desire for Him will be continuous, daily, and not just for a few minutes during a daily “quiet time” with God. But He should be in our hearts and minds throughout every day.

 

Psalm 63:2-4 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“2So I have seen You in the sanctuary

and beheld Your power and glory.

3Because Your loving devotion is better than life,

my lips will glorify You.

4So I will bless You as long as I live;

in Your name I will lift my hands.”

 

What is the sanctuary of God today? Another word for sanctuary is tabernacle and/or a sacred or holy place. And I remember when I was growing up and we attended church services in a building called “church,” that the room where we had the worship services was called “the sanctuary.” And another word for tabernacle is temple. Well, the temple of God today is the church, but not the building, but the body of Christ, the people of God. We who believe in Jesus are that temple in whom God dwells by his Spirit.

 

So if we see God today in the sanctuary, we see Him working in our lives and in the lives of others who are indwelt by the Spirit of God via God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ. We see God’s power and glory being displayed by the faith of those whose trust is in the Lord, who have repented of their sins, and who are now walking in obedience to God’s commands. And we hear of God’s love and devotion for his people as evidenced in the lives of His followers and in the words that we speak – we who bless God by our words and our deeds.

 

Psalm 63:5-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“5My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

6When I remember You on my bed,

I think of You through the watches of the night.

7For You are my help;

I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

8My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.”

 

These are the words of someone who is in a personal relationship with the Lord via true biblical faith in Jesus Christ, if what they speak is a reality in their daily lives. For this is not speaking of what is external, but of what is internal, of what is in the heart and mind and soul of the one who professes to know and to love God. This is someone who, by faith in Jesus Christ, gives glory and honor and praise to the Lord, but not in words only, but by how they live their lives in daily surrender to the will of God in obedience to Him.

 

If we are like this in our relationships with the Lord, then He should be on our minds and in our hearts throughout the day and night every day. And we should be willing to listen to Him and to do what He says even if it is in the middle of the night and it interrupts our sleep. And not only should we view Him as our help, but we are to serve Him with our lives in being and in doing what He has called us to be and to do. And if our souls cling to the Lord, our dependency is in Him and our will is to do His will, all in the power of God.

 

Faith: [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]

 

My Soul Thirsts for You O God

An Original Work / July 30, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

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

Tongues Which Devise Destruction

Psalm 52:1-5 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?

The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

2Your tongue devises destruction

like a sharpened razor,

O worker of deceit.

3You love evil more than good,

falsehood more than speaking truth.

Selah

 

“4You love every word that devours,

O deceitful tongue.

5Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin;

He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent;

He will uproot you from the land of the living.

Selah”

 

Those Who Boast of Evil

 

What does it look like if someone boasts of evil? It can mean to brag, to take pride in, or it can mean to put on display or to flaunt, to make it known to others. And that can be for various reasons, depending on the true intent of the hearts and minds of those who are putting their sins on display. For some, they may just want to brag about what they are getting away with because they take pride in the evil that they do. For others, they may be just wanting attention or the sympathies of others who may take pity on them.

 

But no matter the intent of the heart, which may be neither of the ones mentioned above, their sins are being put on display. And deceit is one of the aspects of the evil which they perform. And it is clear by their display that they love evil more than (or in place of) good, and they love speaking lies more than (or in place of) speaking the truth. And they could be lying about their sins and what they are actually doing, or about the degree of the sins, or about what leads them to sin or why they are still living in sin, etc.

 

Passing On The Blame

 

Some people, for whom sin is their practice, may speak lies about the cause of their sinful behaviors, perhaps to blame God or other humans for why they are on a sinful course, and/or for why they have not been delivered from their sinful course. For it is easier to cast the blame on God or on other humans rather than to take full responsibility for their sins themselves. For if they can put the blame on others for their failures then that relieves them of full responsibility for the evil that they do, which excuses them from fault.

 

But is it possible to be led into sin by other humans? Yes! The Scriptures cover the subject of those who deliberately, with full intention, lead other believers into sin, that they are committing a severe evil. But that does not relieve the one who sins of responsibility for their own sins. We all still have a choice to say “No!” or “Yes!” to sin. We all have a choice to say “No!” or “Yes!” to God. So both the one who leads the other to sin and the one who follows that lead into sin are guilty of sinning against God without excuse.

 

A “My Do It” Approach to Victory

 

There are some people who are captivated to sin who make many failed attempts at having victory over their sin because they take matters into their own hands, and they go at it the way that they choose rather than to follow the ways of the Lord and what the Scriptures teach is the road to victory over sin. And so victory over sin gets delayed because they keep trying in their own strength and according to their own decisions on how to go about this. For they let pride get in the way to having true victory.

 

And those who continue on this path, doing it their way, and not God’s way, they continue on a path of destruction, and so the same sins keep getting repeated over again. And if they do not change course, and if they do not yield to God’s control, and let go and let God, the ultimate end for them will be that they will be brought down to everlasting ruin, and their lives will be taken from them, and hell (not heaven) will be their eternal destiny because they loved their sins more than they loved God, and so they did not change.

 

[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]

 

So, we all need to take this seriously. We cannot play with sin and think that God will be okay with that. He is not! Might we sin sometimes? It is possible (1 John 2:1-2). But if sin is what we practice, by habit, and not obedience to God, we will not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. By faith in Jesus Christ we all must deny self, die to sin, and obey God in life practice.

 

Tongues Which Devise Destruction

An Original Work / July 30, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

The Battle for Truth

 

Based off Malachi 1-4

An Original Work / May 18, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I love you. Honor me.

Tell the truth. You’ll be free.

Sing My praise all your days.

I will give all you need.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

Turn from sin; cleansed within.

Stand in awe of My Name.

Teach what’s true. Walk in peace.

Follow Christ, in His ways.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

Show to God faithfulness.

Do not be adult’rous.

Do not shed shallow tears.

Do not be insincere.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I have sent messengers,

Who have giv’n my address.

They call for repentance,

And they warn of judgment.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I, the Lord, do not change,

So return – blessings gain:

Healing comes; joyfulness;

Freedom from your distress.

 

https://vimeo.com/117023801

You Who Forget God

Psalm 50:14-15 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“14Sacrifice a thank offering to God,

and fulfill your vows to the Most High.

15Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

 

Here God is speaking to his saints, to all who have, by faith in Jesus Christ, repented of their sins and followed God in obedience to His commands. They are all who are in a covenant relationship with the Lord by faith in Him. And He is encouraging them to sacrifice thank offerings to Him, not as ritualistic acts of worship of God, but in actions and behaviors which fulfill the vows they made to God when they believed in Christ, if they made such vows. For by faith in Jesus we deny self, die to sin, and we obey God in life practice.

 

Now, it sounds like God’s people were needing some kind of counsel and correction here, for in verse 7 He says, “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you.” And God’s people (Israel) today are all who have believed in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. So this is God today encouraging His saints to fulfill their vows to Him and to call on Him when they are faced with life’s difficulties, or with temptations to sin, and He will deliver them, and then they will honor Him as they should.

 

Psalm 50:16-21 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

16To the wicked, however, God says,

“What right have you to recite My statutes

and to bear My covenant on your lips?

17For you hate My instruction

and cast My words behind you.

18When you see a thief, you befriend him,

and throw in your lot with adulterers.

19You unleash your mouth for evil

and harness your tongue to deceit.

20You sit and malign your brother;

you slander your own mother’s son.

21You have done these things, and I kept silent;

you thought I was just like you.

But now I rebuke you

and accuse you to your face.”

 

Now “the wicked” being spoken of here are not all who have never confessed Jesus as Lord of their lives. They are many who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and heaven as their eternal destiny. They give the outward appearance of being “children of God,” whose faith is in the Lord Jesus. And they recite the Scriptures and perhaps even teach the Scriptures to others. But they are those who hate God’s instructions and so they cast God’s words behind them in order that they might continue in addiction to their sins.

 

And the picture the Lord is giving me of them this evening is that of those who fake their Christianity on the outside but who are of immoral character in heart, mind, and deed. They are malicious, morally unclean, deceivers, manipulators, opportunists, liars, untrustworthy, and egocentrics. They are habitual liars who are morally descending whose heads are swelled with pride and self-glory, whose words cannot be trusted. And God is calling them out. And He is exposing their hypocrisies. And He is rebuking them.

 

For they act as though they love the Words of God but while they cast God’s Words behind them, and they do not do what they say. They befriend thieves and liars who will support them in their sins. And they join in with adulterers in acts of adultery against God and against their spouses. And they cover up their evil deeds with lies. And they malign those who may be exposing their evil deeds for what they are or who may be trying to help them to freedom from slavery to sin. And here God is rebuking all such people as this.

 

Psalm 50:22-23 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“22Now consider this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you to pieces,

with no one to rescue you:

23He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me,

and to him who rightly orders his way,

I will show the salvation of God.”

 

But God is still a merciful God. No matter how far into sin anyone has gone, or how much evil they have committed, or how many lies they have spoken, or who all they betrayed and did evil to, God is willing to forgive them if they will deny self, die to sin, and follow him in obedience, in the power of God, by repentant and biblical faith in Jesus Christ. But they must own up to their sins. And they should make every attempt to right the wrongs they committed. And God will forgive them and He will save them from their sins.

 

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]

 

You Who Forget God

An Original Work / July 29, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Broken Cord

 

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Your bond is broken with your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is separate from Him.

Your words not matching your actions today.

Repent of your sin and bow down and pray.

Live what you testify in truth always.

 

Purity’s lacking in your life and witness,

For you profess one thing, but other you do.

Not moral, spiritual. Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to what you confess.

Lying about it puts you in a mess.

 

Living a lie is your practice, ‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness – none of it true.

Your heart is not given to your Lord God.

Because of how you live, you are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and give your life to God.

 

https://vimeo.com/287303934

Why Should I Fear?

Psalm 49:5,10,14-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

5Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when wicked usurpers surround me?

10For it is clear that wise men die,

and the foolish and the senseless both perish

and leave their wealth to others.

14Like sheep they are destined for Sheol.

Death will be their shepherd.

The upright will rule them in the morning,

and their form will decay in Sheol,

far from their lofty abode.

15But God will redeem my life from Sheol,

for He will surely take me to Himself.

16Do not be afraid when a man grows rich,

when the splendor of his house increases.

17For when he dies, he will carry nothing away;

his abundance will not follow him down.

18Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul—

and men praise you when you prosper—

19he will join the generation of his fathers,

who will never see the light of day.

Out of The Heart

Not all rich people are bad and not all poor people are good. But riches can corrupt a human soul, yet so can lack of riches, because money is not the root of all evil. The love of money (making money your god) is. The human heart given over to the flesh, rich and poor alike, is the root of all evil, too. For we are all born into this world with sin natures, in the image of Adam, the first man God created, and the first man to sin against God. Since Adam sinned, all of us humans have been born with sin natures, bent toward sin.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.” (Matthew 15:19 BSB)

“The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45 BSB)

What is stored up in our hearts will overflow in our thoughts, attitudes, words, and behaviors. But all this must be interpreted in light of the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles, and not according to the thinking and reasoning of humans, some or many of whom will twist the Scriptures to their advantage and will make a mockery of Jesus’ death and resurrection by their life choices. For Jesus died and was raised from the dead that we might die to sin and walk in obedience to his commands.

Wicked Usurpers Surround

So, what does it look like to be surrounded by wicked usurpers? It has to do with people who seize power and control over other people by force or by intimidation or by trickery. And in context these are people of enormous wealth and influence. And this brings to mind the wealthy and powerful of the world in our time who are indeed usurping authority over the nations of the world, one by one, in order to bring us all into a one world totalitarian regime of “the beast.” We should not fear them or what they will do to us.

But this seizure of power and authority and control is not happening only on a national or political level. This is taking place in the gatherings of the church (or the false church). So many gatherings of God’s people, the body of Christ, the church, have been turned into businesses being marketed to the people of the world. So they have altered “the church” to make it more attractive and inviting to the people of the world. And they have diluted the gospel of Christ to make it less offensive to the ungodly to please the flesh.

Our Response?

We are not to fear them or what they might do to us or say about us to others. We must commit our circumstances to the Lord and trust him with our lives. And despite their threats or what they might do to us we are to keep on obeying our Lord, doing his will, and serving his purposes for us. And we must be those who are exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, and who are bringing the people into the light of the truth of God’s Word for their salvation from sin and for their eternal life with God, even if we are opposed, lied about, mistreated, and rejected by the many.

And not that this is comforting, but those who work evil among us and who do evil to the people of the world, because they can, because they have the money and/or the power and the backing to do so, when our Lord returns to judge the people of the world, they will perish in their sins without hope of salvation and eternal life with God, even if some of them professed faith in Jesus Christ with their lips. And that should make us sad that they chose their idols and their sinful pleasures and thus lost their lives for eternity.

[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] 

“But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself.” Psalm 49:15 BSB

Why Should I Fear?

An Original Work / July 29, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah 

 

Hymn lyrics by William Williams, pub.1745

tr. by Peter Williams, pub.1771

Music by John Hughes, 1907

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand.

Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,

Feed me till I want no more (2X).

Open now the crystal fountain,

Whence the healing stream doth flow;

Let the fire and cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through.

Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,

Be Thou still my Strength and Shield (2X).

Lord, I trust Thy mighty power,

Wondrous are Thy works of old;

Thou deliver’st thine from thralldom,

Who for naught themselves had sold.

Thou didst conquer, Thou didst conquer

Sin and Satan and the grave (2X).

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside;

Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan’s side.

Songs of praises, songs of praises,

I will ever give to Thee. Amen (2X).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7G59DKf-AI

God is Our Refuge and Strength

Psalm 46:1-3 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in times of trouble.

2Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth is transformed

and the mountains are toppled

into the depths of the seas,

3though their waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake in the surge.

Selah”

 

If we are followers of Jesus Christ who walk with him in obedience to his commands, and who follow him wherever he leads us in doing and in saying all of what he has for us to do and to say and to be, we should not fear when troubles come upon us. We should not be afraid when people reject us or persecute us or do evil against us. We should not fear loneliness and loss of friends or life. But we must make the Lord our refuge and strength, and we must turn to him for help and guidance in times of trouble and distress.

 

And then on a broader scale, when government heads go to war with other nations, and they kill the innocent in order to overtake them, to conquer them, and when the actions of our leaders impact the people financially and healthwise, and the poor keep getting poorer, while the rich keep getting richer, and the elderly cannot afford housing and food because the prices of everything have gotten so high, we are not to fear if we are being impacted by these moves and decisions being made for us by others who gain from it.

 

And then if where we live suffers a severe storm and/or flooding and/or fire and/or hurricane winds which destroy our land and our homes, and which kill members of our families or our friends and neighbors, and which leave us destitute with nowhere to go, we must turn to the Lord for our refuge and strength to help us through the storm and to give us wisdom and endurance to know what steps to take next. Now, so far, I have not yet had to face something this severe, but that does not mean that it won’t ever happen.

 

Psalm 46:4-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“4There is a river whose streams delight the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5God is within her; she will not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns.

6Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;

the earth melts when He lifts His voice.

7The LORD of Hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah”

 

This is not speaking here of a literal river of water but more metaphorically of the river of life which is of a spiritual nature and not physical. It is the kingdom of God and of his righteousness and our salvation and eternal life with God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which we receive by biblical faith in Jesus Christ. And we who believe in Jesus Christ are that city of God where God dwells, i.e. the church, the body of Christ, the temple of God, i.e. biblical Israel comprised of all who are of faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord.

 

God is with us who are with him in spirit and in truth. He is with us who have believed in Jesus Christ and who thus, by his grace and in his power, have denied self, died to sin, and who are walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord’s commands. God will help us who will cooperate with him in his workings in our lives and who will follow him wherever he leads us. So, when nations rage and kingdoms crumble, which they are doing, we can survive the onslaught against us in the power of God who is our fortress.

 

Psalm 46:10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

10“Be still and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted over the earth.”

 

In everything we face in this life, no matter what tribulations we are up against, if we are with God in living holy lives, pleasing to him, in his service, and thus our trust is in him, we have no reason to fear what we are now facing or what is yet to come. We know that more evil is coming because we can see it coming, and because the Scriptures warn us about the last days, what they will look like, and we can see the reality of those warnings in our present world. But we are to be sill and know that God is God.

 

We are to be still and not fret or worry but to put our trust in the Lord, believing that he will see us through it all. But please know this is not a promise that we will not have to suffer. The Scriptures warn us that we will have to suffer as Christ suffered, and he was harassed, rejected, forsaken, persecuted and arrested on false charges and given a mock trial, and he was beaten and mocked and spat upon and then nailed to a cross to die. But if our trust is in the Lord, he will carry us through it all to the finish line.

 

[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]

 

God is Our Refuge and Strength

An Original Work / July 29, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

God is With Us

 

Based off Psalm 46

An Original Work / June 11, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

God’s our refuge. He is our strength,

A present help to us when in pain.

Therefore, we will not be afraid,

Although the earth beneath us gives way.

 

Though the mountains be moved to the sea,

Roaring waters abound so free,

And the mountains now tremble so,

We will not fear, God is near, we know.

 

God is with us and He makes glad

The hearts of all who to Christ have fled.

Christ is in us, so we’ll not fall

When on our Savior our hearts do call.

 

God will help us, as mornings arise,

To be faithful to His design.

Nations raging, and tempers flare.

Our God is with us. We know He cares.

 

Come and see the works of the Lord.

He’s armed for battle with His great sword.

He’s the Word, and He is the Life.

He gives us strength in all of our strife.

 

Be still and know that He is our God.

He’s exalted where’er He trods.

The Lord Almighty, with us still;

The God of Jacob, our citadel.

 

https://vimeo.com/341717561