Be Strong in The Lord

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12 NASB1995)

What should it look like if we are “strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might”? It doesn’t mean being purposefully obnoxious with the full intent to hurt others. It doesn’t mean we go around yelling and screaming at everyone in a rant. Strength is not about being a bully. For when I am weak, then am I strong in the strength of the Lord. It does mean being determined to hold to the truth of the Scriptures, and to not compromise with the world, and to speak the truth as Jesus spoke it, and to live what we say we believe.

It means we do not give the devil a foothold in our lives, and we are not chameleons who blend in with our environment in order to be liked by other humans. We are not double-minded people who sway back and forth, as on a teeter-totter, who go with the crowd so that others will not think that we are weird. And it has nothing to do with how many Scripture verses we have memorized or how scholarly we are in biblical Greek or how good we are at public speaking. It has everything to do with being led of the Holy Spirit.

For if we are strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, it has everything to do with the Lord and not with us or our opinions. We can only be strong, as this talks about, as our lives are surrendered to the Lord to do his will, in submission to his Lordship over our lives, in walks of obedience to his commands, as empowered by God and not by human flesh. But it does have to do with us being consistent and trustworthy and steadfast and immovable with regard to holding to the truths of God’s word, by his grace.

For we can only stand against the schemes of the devil if we are following the ways of our Lord and we are doing as our Lord commands, in practice. We can only stand against the devil’s schemes if we are willing to be hated, rejected, mocked, slandered, and cast aside as unwanted for standing on the truth of God’s word, even at the hands of the scholarly and the educated who have credentials and thus deem themselves superior to us who are lacking in fleshly credentials. We cannot be intimidated by them at all.

I am certain there are all kinds of scholarly people out there bearing their credentials who have a whole lot of head knowledge but their lives are not surrendered to Jesus Christ to doing his will, but they are busy performing before other humans in order to be accepted by them. And so they are not strong in the strength of the Lord, and they are not able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for their trust is in the flesh and not in the Lord. And so many are following marketing schemes instead of God’s plans.

So, just saying that worldly credentials do not necessarily equal godly lives committed to the will of God and to the truth of the Scriptures. So, just because someone goes by a title, it does not mean that person even knows the Lord intimately. What God is looking for is those who will humble themselves before the Lord, in submission to him as Lord, who are willing to forfeit the things of this world in order to serve the Lord with their lives in being his witnesses and in sharing the gospel truth without compromise.

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; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18] 

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

Be Strong in The Lord

An Original Work / January 27, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love