Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,282
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
“I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:1-7 NASB1995)
When we follow Jesus Christ with our lives, it can get lonely, at times, and we may face many hardships and persecutions and rejections, and we may be tempted to retreat in fear. And perhaps that is where Timothy was. For Satan will be against us, and he will want to destroy us and to get us to give up the fight and to run away. So he will use all kinds of weapons of spiritual warfare against us with the intention to get us to quit; to desert; to give up.
Now I had a grandmother like Timothy’s. Her name was Jennie. But she died when I was 2 years old, so I never got to know her. I didn’t know anything about her, really, until 52 years after her death, when I gained possession of her journals. And as I began to read her journals I began to weep, because she was so much like me, or I was so much like her, and I really was not like the rest of my family, not in those ways. I just really connected with her.
She was a woman of very strong faith who prayed much and believed much in the Lord, and she journaled her experiences like I journaled mine, and I even sounded like her, using the same phrases and the same favorite Scripture verses, and with similar heart burdens for the church. And she acted on what she said she believed, and she ministered to the poor and needy and prayed with them and for them. She had a very strong faith.
And the faith that I have in Jesus reminds me a lot of her faith, as she expressed it in her journals, and as I heard about her from other family members, although not much did they tell me. But I did not know her personally, so all I can go by is what she wrote in her journals. But from what I read, I greatly connected with her faith which appeared to be so much like mine, so I do feel that I am a part of her in that way.
From what I have heard, she was the oddball in the family, and so she was not well received nor well liked and accepted by all. So, I assume that she did face some opposition and rejection, even from her own family members. But I loved her heart for Jesus and for the church and for the people of the world, and I loved how she prayed with great passion and compassion, and how she expressed her faith, the things I am aware of, anyway.
And because I had and I have a very sincere faith in the Lord Jesus, a lot of which is expressed in writing, for to this I have been called of God, I faced a lot of opposition and rejection and persecution over my lifetime. And truthfully, there was a short period of time when I did retreat, and I did give up the fight, for it was overwhelming for me, and I had not much support or encouragement at all, but that was wrong of me to quit.
But praise Jesus, he brought me back, and later on he called me to this ministry of writing, and that is where I have been ever since then. And I have faced even more rejection and persecution and opposition, but the Lord has given me the strength to endure, even through many tears, at times. And I closed that door to my former life where, for a period of time I did retreat, and I have never gone back – all praise and glory to God alone!!
So I get this what Paul said to Timothy to encourage him in his walk of faith and obedience to the Lord. For if we are in earnest in our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord, and we are doing what he says we are to do, and if we are taking the truth of the gospel to the church and to the world, at a time when so many lies and liars are being believed, instead, we will be persecuted, rejected, and cast aside even by fellow professers of faith.
So we need to be encouraged, and we need to encourage others to remain strong in their faith and in walks of obedience to the Lord despite all opposition, rejections, and persecutions. For Satan’s goal it is to destroy us, but God’s purpose is to give us strength and purpose and meaning to life, to live the lives he has called us to live for his glory and for the salvation of human lives from slavery to sin and to walks of obedience to our Lord.
So this is an encouragement to all of us who profess the name of Jesus to walk the walk of faith in our Lord, in obedience to his commands, in doing what he has called all of us to do, and to serve him in the “body parts” (within the church, the body of believers in Jesus Christ) to which he has assigned us, and in the areas of giftedness he has provided for us and that he will equip us to fulfill, in his power. And we are not to fear opposition.
For we are living in a time period when the character of God/Christ, and of his church (his body), and of his gospel message are being altered to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly of this world. And so not many are teaching that faith in Jesus Christ requires that we die with Christ to sin and that we now walk in obedience to his commands, by his grace, in his power. And if we do not, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
If we are one of the few who is teaching the gospel in the same manner in which Jesus taught it, and that his New Testament apostles taught it, in the appropriate context, we should be prepared to face much opposition and to be rejected and cast aside even by pastors of “churches” because they were warned about people like us, i.e. “people with strong convictions,” and so they will encourage us to go somewhere else where we will be “a better fit.”
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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.
Do Not Give in To Fear
An Original Work / February 28, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:1-7 NASB1995)
When we follow Jesus Christ with our lives, it can get lonely, at times, and we may face many hardships and persecutions and rejections, and we may be tempted to retreat in fear. And perhaps that is where Timothy was. For Satan will be against us, and he will want to destroy us and to get us to give up the fight and to run away. So he will use all kinds of weapons of spiritual warfare against us with the intention to get us to quit; to desert; to give up.
Now I had a grandmother like Timothy’s. Her name was Jennie. But she died when I was 2 years old, so I never got to know her. I didn’t know anything about her, really, until 52 years after her death, when I gained possession of her journals. And as I began to read her journals I began to weep, because she was so much like me, or I was so much like her, and I really was not like the rest of my family, not in those ways. I just really connected with her.
She was a woman of very strong faith who prayed much and believed much in the Lord, and she journaled her experiences like I journaled mine, and I even sounded like her, using the same phrases and the same favorite Scripture verses, and with similar heart burdens for the church. And she acted on what she said she believed, and she ministered to the poor and needy and prayed with them and for them. She had a very strong faith.
And the faith that I have in Jesus reminds me a lot of her faith, as she expressed it in her journals, and as I heard about her from other family members, although not much did they tell me. But I did not know her personally, so all I can go by is what she wrote in her journals. But from what I read, I greatly connected with her faith which appeared to be so much like mine, so I do feel that I am a part of her in that way.
From what I have heard, she was the oddball in the family, and so she was not well received nor well liked and accepted by all. So, I assume that she did face some opposition and rejection, even from her own family members. But I loved her heart for Jesus and for the church and for the people of the world, and I loved how she prayed with great passion and compassion, and how she expressed her faith, the things I am aware of, anyway.
And because I had and I have a very sincere faith in the Lord Jesus, a lot of which is expressed in writing, for to this I have been called of God, I faced a lot of opposition and rejection and persecution over my lifetime. And truthfully, there was a short period of time when I did retreat, and I did give up the fight, for it was overwhelming for me, and I had not much support or encouragement at all, but that was wrong of me to quit.
But praise Jesus, he brought me back, and later on he called me to this ministry of writing, and that is where I have been ever since then. And I have faced even more rejection and persecution and opposition, but the Lord has given me the strength to endure, even through many tears, at times. And I closed that door to my former life where, for a period of time I did retreat, and I have never gone back – all praise and glory to God alone!!
So I get this what Paul said to Timothy to encourage him in his walk of faith and obedience to the Lord. For if we are in earnest in our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord, and we are doing what he says we are to do, and if we are taking the truth of the gospel to the church and to the world, at a time when so many lies and liars are being believed, instead, we will be persecuted, rejected, and cast aside even by fellow professers of faith.
So we need to be encouraged, and we need to encourage others to remain strong in their faith and in walks of obedience to the Lord despite all opposition, rejections, and persecutions. For Satan’s goal it is to destroy us, but God’s purpose is to give us strength and purpose and meaning to life, to live the lives he has called us to live for his glory and for the salvation of human lives from slavery to sin and to walks of obedience to our Lord.
So this is an encouragement to all of us who profess the name of Jesus to walk the walk of faith in our Lord, in obedience to his commands, in doing what he has called all of us to do, and to serve him in the “body parts” (within the church, the body of believers in Jesus Christ) to which he has assigned us, and in the areas of giftedness he has provided for us and that he will equip us to fulfill, in his power. And we are not to fear opposition.
For we are living in a time period when the character of God/Christ, and of his church (his body), and of his gospel message are being altered to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly of this world. And so not many are teaching that faith in Jesus Christ requires that we die with Christ to sin and that we now walk in obedience to his commands, by his grace, in his power. And if we do not, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
If we are one of the few who is teaching the gospel in the same manner in which Jesus taught it, and that his New Testament apostles taught it, in the appropriate context, we should be prepared to face much opposition and to be rejected and cast aside even by pastors of “churches” because they were warned about people like us, i.e. “people with strong convictions,” and so they will encourage us to go somewhere else where we will be “a better fit.”
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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.
Do Not Give in To Fear
An Original Work / February 28, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
