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

False Apostles Teaching Cheapened Grace

The apostle Paul was writing to the church in Corinth. He was concerned that they were being led astray by false apostles to reject the truth of the gospel and to embrace the lies, instead. And it appears that these false apostles were leading the people to reject Paul and the gospel of Christ. And so Paul defended his own honor and his service both to the Lord and to the people. But he did not do this out of selfish motives. He did this because the people were listening to the lies and the liars and they were rejecting the truth.

 

2 Corinthians 12:19-21 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“19Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. 20For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. 21I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.”

 

A Similar Situation Today

 

And we have a similar situation as this today, at least here in the USA, we do, within many of the gatherings of the church (or what are falsely being referred to as the church) at large. We have many such false apostles in these gatherings serving as pastors and preachers who are teaching the people lies, and who are refuting the truth of what the Scriptures teach. And many of them are deceivers, manipulators, opportunists, egocentrics, and those who fake their Christianity, who themselves are living immoral lives.

 

And they are those who hide behind the grace of God and who hide their lies behind the grace of God, too. For they are teaching the grace of God as though it is carte blanche (free license) to keep on living in sin once you believe in Jesus. Many of them are teaching the people that God does not require repentance (death to sin) and obedience to His commands, for they call that “works salvation.” But that’s a lie! For Jesus gave His life up for us so we will now die to sin and obey God in practice, in the power of God.

 

So, they are encouraging the people to follow their example in living sinful lives – dishonorable, corrupt, immoral, wicked, dishonest, self-indulgent, and selfish lives – while claiming that God’s grace covers it all. So we have many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are being convinced that their sins no longer matter to God. And so they continue in their sins without conscience, and so they continue to decline, to worsen, and to deteriorate while they claim that God’s grace covers all their sins. But that’s a lie!

 

By Faith in Jesus Christ

 

Yes, by faith in Jesus Christ we are forgiven our sins, and God’s grace does cover us if we should sin in the future if we are those who by faith in Jesus have repented of our sins and who are walking in obedience to our Lord and to His commands as a matter of life practice (see 1 John 2:1-6). But if sin remains our practice, deliberately and habitually, and not obedience to our Lord and to His commands, then we are regarded by God as not those who are of genuine faith in the Lord, so our sins are not covered by God’s grace.

 

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]

 

False Apostles Teaching Cheapened Grace

An Original Work / September 10, 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

Suffering Serves a Purpose

The Sufferings of Paul

 

I am reading in 2 Corinthians 11-12 about the sufferings that the apostle Paul had to endure as a follower of Jesus Christ and as a minister of the gospel of our salvation. He faced many beatings, imprisonments, stonings, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, and lack of sleep, etc. And he was burdened for the church, that they not continue in sin, but that they walk in the ways of the Lord. And it grieved him if anyone sinned. But God used him greatly, and He gave him many revelations and visions which were used in his life in teaching the people the things of God and of the gospel of our salvation.

 

7So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 BSB Berean Standard Bible).

 

We do not know what Paul’s “thorn” was exactly, for he did not say. But we do know is that it was not sin, for Jesus died on that cross to deliver us out of sin so we will obey God with our lives. He died to free us from sin! His 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 (see Titus 2:11-14). So God will not refuse to remove sin from our lives, and His grace is not sufficient for us if we decide to continue in deliberate and habitual sin (see Romans 6:1-23).

 

Making it Personal

 

Today I was on an internet site called “Facebook.” It is a place where we can gather together on the internet with friends and family, mostly people we know and have known in person throughout our lives. And all of a sudden I got notified that I had a response to one of my posts from someone from my youth. But this one was posted on April 10, 2022, and it was a picture of my dad as a young boy, with my comments attached. He and my mom were both born in 1914 and both died in the year 2000 at the age of 86. Also today the Lord had me post a poem about the purpose for our own lives.

 

These kinds of things don’t usually happen in my life by accident. Usually when something like this happens I know God has a message He wants to convey through it. And the message is two-fold. One has to do with the sufferings that we face throughout our lives, which can begin in our childhood, and the second is that God has a purpose for the things we suffer, for the things He allows in our lives. There are lessons to be learned even through the hard times, and God uses these hard times in our lives to prepare us for what He has for us to do, for His callings upon our lives.

 

A Very Wicked Man

 

My dad was a very wicked man and an abuser of some of the worst kinds to my mother and to me and my siblings. I feared the man greatly, and I tried to avoid him as much as possible. He wasn’t just a big bully, and he wasn’t just mean and hateful, but he took advantage of some (or all) of his children in some of the worst ways, and we also witnessed his beatings against our mother. Although I feared him greatly, I learned to forgive him over again and again. But for the longest time I could find no good in him, and no good memories about him, either. So the Lord worked on me in that area.

 

As the years passed, and as I grew older, I found that there were memories of him that I could enjoy, and that’s a good feeling. One of the things I enjoy is the picture of him when he was a boy which I posted on Facebook. And I have some stack tables that were his that my children use to eat at when we visited them, and I like that memory. And I remember how he would move pictures around on the walls all the time and he would have to show us how he rearranged them. So, finding something good to remember about him was very healing for me. And the pain of the past went away.

 

Life With Purpose

 

But going back to the poem (“Life Unending”) the Lord had me post today after I received that comment on that post from 2022. It asks the question if we have given thought to why we were even born. Have we thought about our purpose, for why God put us on the earth, and why He gave us the parents that He gave us? For Jesus Christ, who is our creator, is the one who formed us in the wombs of our mothers. God put us in the families we grew up in, for better or for worse. God had a purpose in allowing me to go through all the sufferings I have had to endure throughout my whole life.

 

On sort of a humorous side to this, my maiden name is “Thorn,” and Paul was given a thorn in his flesh to torment him. And God’s grace was sufficient for me through all the sufferings the Lord took me through in my life, even if I did not always recognize that as such. Through everything that I suffered in this life God had a plan and a purpose for my life. He was preparing me for the calling He placed on my life 22 years ago. I don’t think I could have endured the past 22 years if I had not gone through the sufferings I did which prepared me for “such a time as this.” Suffering serves a purpose.

 

[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] 

 

Suffering Serves a Purpose

An Original Work / September 9, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

A Believer’s Prayer

 

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You, and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

 

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

 

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

 

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