Hard Hearts or Renewed Minds?

Ephesians 4:17-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. 19Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more."

 

Showing Contempt and Defiance

 

“Gentile” was a term used to describe non-Jews under the Old Covenant. So it was also a term used to describe the ungodly. And that is how it is being used in this passage of Scripture. But the ungodly are not just all who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ, but they are all who, regardless of what their lips profess, for whom sin is still their practice (deliberately and habitually) and not obedience to God and to His commands. And to “walk” has to do with our life practices, how we live day in and day out.

 

And what this is teaching us is that, if we are of genuine biblical faith in the Lord Jesus, we must no longer live like the ungodly, still living as slaves to sin and not as servants of righteousness and of God. For those for whom sin is still their life practice, and not obedience to God, they are not of God, they do not know God, and they are not saved from their sins. For their hearts are hardened against God and His will and purpose for our lives, and so they continue to walk in sin and they do not surrender to the will of God.

 

And in our world today, and within the gatherings of so many worldly “churches,” so many who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips have lost all sense of shame, and they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. For so many are being taught that lip service to God assures them eternal life with God regardless of how they live. But that is a lie! And so many who claim to be Christians are living in sexual immorality in full contempt against God.

 

Even though they know right from wrong, they choose their sinful practices over obedience to God and to His commands. And they choose sexual addiction in place of a pure and loving relationship with their spouses and with Jesus Christ who gave His life up for them to deliver them out of their addiction to sin. For they are the selfish and the self-indulgent who love their sins more than anything else, and in place of love for God and for spouse, thus showing absolute contempt to them both with their hard hearts.

 

Ephesians 4:20-24 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“20But this is not the way you came to know Christ. 21Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him—in keeping with the truth that is in Jesus— 22to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be renewed in the spirit of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 

The Truth in Christ Jesus

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are not to live like what was described above with regard to the ungodly. By faith in Jesus Christ we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self and suffer for the sake of righteousness), and follow our Lord in obedience to His commands. We are to put off our old way of living in sin and for self where we were yielding to sinful and deceitful desires of the flesh. For Jesus put our sins to death with Him so that we will now repent of our sins and obey God in life practice.

 

Jesus gave His life up for us on that cross to deliver us out of bondage (addiction) to sin and to empower us to live godly and holy lives for the praise of God. So, by His grace, and in His power, by biblical faith, which comes from God, we must put to death our former way of living in sin and for self so that we can now serve God with our lives in walks of surrender to His will and purpose for our lives. For by faith in the Lord Jesus we are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, by the Spirit.

 

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 in the present age. For Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)

 

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey His commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims He is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

 

[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]

 

Hard Hearts or Renewed Minds?

An Original Work / September 13, 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

 

[A Prayer of Devotion to God Alone]

In A Manner Worthy

 

Churning, Burning

Heartless, callous, given to pride,

Cruel masters side by side,

Churning, burning, inside out,

Leading people, God to doubt.

Winsome lovers of the flesh,

Oh, their sins they do caress.

Given to mockery, for a laugh,

Then, on purpose, make a gaffe. 

Hiding all their sins in pride,

They take people for a ride.

Big deceivers, known for tricks,

They hurt people just for kicks.

Laughing all their way to hell,

They mock God, and lies do tell.

Mysteries are in their bag,

While the innocent they gag.

Lovers, lovers of themselves,

They put God up on the shelf.

No regard for what He tells,

They are all about what sells.

Products, gimmicks, fun galore,

While God’s truth they do abhor.

Risky business, none do care

If God’s righteousness they wear.

Numbers, numbers, please the crowd,

No humility; they’re proud.

People pleasing, that’s their deal,

Make the world love us, they feel.

God’s Word they rebuke, in fun,

So the people’s hearts they’ve won.

Keep them laughing, back for more.

Keep them rolling on the floor.

An Original Work / November 30, 2019

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

[See: 2 Peter 2; Jude 1; 1 Timothy 1 & 6]

Don't Believe The Lies!

Ephesians 2:1-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

 

“4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

 

“8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.”

 

Jesus’ Purpose

 

When we are born into this world, we are born with sin natures, in the image of Adam, separate from God, and unable within ourselves to be acceptable to God. So God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to be born as a human baby to a virgin woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus walked this earth He was fully God and fully human (God incarnate). And at the age of 33, I believe it was, those who hated Him for the good that He did, they plotted out and had carried out His death on a cross.

 

But when Jesus Christ, the second person of our triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), was put to death on that cross, it was to put our sins to death with Him so that by faith in Him we will now die to sin and obey God and His New Covenant commands in life practice. For Jesus gave His life up for us, not just to forgive us our sins and to give us eternal life with God, but He died and rose from the dead in order to transform us and to conform us to the likeness of Christ Jesus so we will live holy lives pleasing to God.

 

Past and Present

 

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, although outside of faith we were dead in our sins, if our faith in Him is true biblical faith, we are made alive spiritually in Christ by faith in Christ. The sins which we used to walk in, we no longer walk in (live by) in life practice. No longer are we conformed to the ways of this sinful world living to fulfill the sinful cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. And this is not to say that we become instantly perfect, but sin should be put to death.

 

By God’s Grace

 

It is by God’s grace that we are saved, and this not of ourselves. But His grace, which is bringing us salvation, is not a free ride into heaven based off lip service only. His grace to us is not carte blanche (absolute freedom) to keep on in our sins while claiming God’s grace covered it all. His grace, instead, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and desires, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives during our time on this earth while we long await the return of our Lord for His faithful bride.

 

And the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is not of ourselves, but it comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God as to His righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need (and God’s requirement) that we now die to sin and obey God and His commands to us in life practice. Yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works. We can do nothing in our own human flesh to earn or to deserve our own salvation. And we can never be good enough in our own flesh to be right with God.

 

Works Required by God

 

But faith in Jesus Christ is not absent of all works. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. All throughout the New Testament writings we are instructed in the ways of holiness and of righteousness in the things which must be put out of our lives and in the things which we must be putting on in our lives. We must die to sin and obey God or we don’t know God.

 

Sadly, there are many “wolves in sheep’s clothing” among us who serve as pastors, elders, missionaries, and evangelists, as well as Christian authors, who are teaching lies to the people. So they take Scriptures such as this, and they remove them from their appropriate context, and they twist them to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. So many are teaching “no works” salvation based off this passage because they teach verses 8-9 absent of the other surrounding Bible verses. But those are lies.

 

The Gospel

 

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).

 

[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]

 

Don’t Believe The Lies!

An Original Work / September 13, 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

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

Many Turning to a Different Gospel

Galatians 1:3-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

“6I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!”

 

Missing The Point

 

So many people today are missing the whole point of what God’s grace is all about. For it is not just forgiveness of sins and a guarantee of eternal life with God based off a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave His life up for us on that cross to take on Himself our sins, and to put our sins to death with Him so that, by faith in Him, we will now deny self, die to sin, and follow Him in obedience to His commands, all in the power of God at work within the lives of those whose lives are surrendered to Him as Lord.

 

Jesus Christ didn’t give His life up for us on that cross just to forgive us our sins, but to deliver us out of addiction to sin, to change us, to transform us, and to conform us to His likeness so that we will now live for Him. For the grace of God, 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 faithful (obedient) bride, His church, the beloved of God (see Titus 2:11-14). So know the truth!

 

A False Gospel

 

We have many people among us who are faking their Christianity who are serving as pastors, elders, bible teachers, missionaries, and evangelists, but who are malicious, morally unclean, deceivers, and manipulators who are spreading a false (fake) gospel message to the people. They are taking Scriptures out of their correct biblical context, and they are making them say what they do not say if taught in the right biblical context. And they are gaining much ground, and multitudes of people are buying into their lies.

 

And what they are teaching is that all we have to do is to profess faith in Jesus Christ and now all our sins are forgiven and heaven is our eternal destiny, but regardless of how we live. Many of them are teaching that God does not require that we repent of (die to) sin and that we now obey His commands (in practice), for they call that “works salvation.” Or if they do teach on repentance and obedience, many of them are making it optional. So we have many giving lip service to the Lord still living for the flesh.

 

The People’s Response

 

So many people are accepting the false gospel message over the true gospel message because it sounds good, and it feels good to their human flesh. For they want things to be easy. They like to hear that believing in Jesus clears them of all guilt and that nothing is required of them, but that God does everything for them. They prefer the broad (easy) road which leads to death in place of the narrow (hard) road which leads to life eternal, because it makes no demands of them that they live holy lives, pleasing to God.

 

But God never said that believing in Jesus would be the easy life. He taught us over again that following the Lord with our lives will be hard, and that we will be faced with persecutions and sufferings for the sake of the name of Jesus and for our testimonies for Him. He taught us that faith in Christ, which comes from God, and is gifted to us by God, and is persuaded of God, requires that we deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), suffer for His sake, and follow Him in obedience to His commands.

 

The True Gospel

 

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).

 

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey His commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims He is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

 

[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]

 

Many Turning to a Different Gospel

An Original Work / September 10, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Who Believes? 

 

Based off Isaiah 53

An Original Work / October 3, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Gospel message, who believes?

Jesus Christ died on a tree,

Saving us from all our sin,

So we might be cleansed within.

 

Had no beauty found in Him,

That we should desire Him.

Man of sorrows, suffering;

Crushed for our iniquities.

 

Surely He has borne our griefs;

From our sadness, brings relief.

Bore the stripes; forsaken, He,

So forgiven we might be.

 

We, like sheep, have gone astray,

Each of us turned his own way.

Jesus calls, “Repent today;

My commandments, now obey.”

 

Jesus said, to come to Him,

We must die to all our sin.

Crucified with Him, we live,

Walking in His righteousness.

 

Suff’ring servants, we will be,

Taking His identity on us,

When confessing Him

As our Savior, Lord and King.

 

https://vimeo.com/115517757