Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,434
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12 NASB’95)
When we believe in Jesus Christ with God-gifted and God-persuaded faith, and so 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 God and to his righteousness, and so Satan has lost his control over our lives, then Satan (the devil) fights back, because he wants to get us back under his control, living out of control, in deliberate sin against God.
But it isn’t just that. If he can’t get us to sin against the Lord, then he will try other methods to try to bring us down. He will falsely accuse us of things we did not do to try to make us feel guilty for no reason, or he will accuse us with the purpose in mind to destroy our reputations and to get other people to believe his lies against us. He will do everything within his power, and only as God allows it, to get us to give up on God and to retreat.
But God allows Satan to exist and to scheme against the Lord’s servants for a reason. I believe it is because we live in flesh bodies, and we are human beings. And, without any opposition or struggles or hardships, we may lack in zeal for the Lord and in commitment to serve the Lord as we ought, and we may not sense the urgency to get the truth of the gospel to the people of the world. But through persecution we learn endurance, if we are willing.
We learn to fight for what is truth, and for moral purity and righteousness, and against all that is evil and immoral and wicked and of the devil. And we learn to persevere regardless of how much we are faced with rejection and persecution for our stands for truth and righteousness. We learn persistence and steadfastness of mind and heart, and to not give up hope just because, by all appearances, things may appear to be hopeless sometimes.
And we learn to stand up for what is right and to not let the opposition bully us into backing down and to compromising our faith and convictions. And we grow stronger in our faith walks. We hunger more after God and his word, and we want more of God. And we develop closer walks of fellowship with our Lord in intimacy with our Lord. And we become very determined to obey our Lord against all opposition and to keep speaking the truth of his word.
And putting on the whole armor of God is not going through some sort of religious ritual or just reciting the armor parts, but it is actually putting the word of God into practice in our daily lives. So we speak the truth of God’s word against the lies, and we share the truth of the gospel, and we refute the lies so that people will believe the truth and not the lies, and so they will die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, by faith.
And we walk by faith and not by sight. And this faith comes from God, and is not of our own doing, and so it results in us dying with Christ to sin and us walking in obedience to his commands. And we live as those who have been delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And so we live godly and morally pure lives, with self-control, under the control of God, in his power.
But, if we give in to Satan and to his schemes against us, and we pull back from God and from doing his will, and we end up rejecting what the Scriptures teach, in context, and if we adopt the lies, and so we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, the Scriptures teach that we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 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 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
I AM
By L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith
I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah,
I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last –
I am, I am.
I am faithful and true,
I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection
And He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!
Caution: This link may contain ads
Standing Against the Devil’s Schemes
An Original Work / March 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
When we believe in Jesus Christ with God-gifted and God-persuaded faith, and so 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 God and to his righteousness, and so Satan has lost his control over our lives, then Satan (the devil) fights back, because he wants to get us back under his control, living out of control, in deliberate sin against God.
But it isn’t just that. If he can’t get us to sin against the Lord, then he will try other methods to try to bring us down. He will falsely accuse us of things we did not do to try to make us feel guilty for no reason, or he will accuse us with the purpose in mind to destroy our reputations and to get other people to believe his lies against us. He will do everything within his power, and only as God allows it, to get us to give up on God and to retreat.
But God allows Satan to exist and to scheme against the Lord’s servants for a reason. I believe it is because we live in flesh bodies, and we are human beings. And, without any opposition or struggles or hardships, we may lack in zeal for the Lord and in commitment to serve the Lord as we ought, and we may not sense the urgency to get the truth of the gospel to the people of the world. But through persecution we learn endurance, if we are willing.
We learn to fight for what is truth, and for moral purity and righteousness, and against all that is evil and immoral and wicked and of the devil. And we learn to persevere regardless of how much we are faced with rejection and persecution for our stands for truth and righteousness. We learn persistence and steadfastness of mind and heart, and to not give up hope just because, by all appearances, things may appear to be hopeless sometimes.
And we learn to stand up for what is right and to not let the opposition bully us into backing down and to compromising our faith and convictions. And we grow stronger in our faith walks. We hunger more after God and his word, and we want more of God. And we develop closer walks of fellowship with our Lord in intimacy with our Lord. And we become very determined to obey our Lord against all opposition and to keep speaking the truth of his word.
And putting on the whole armor of God is not going through some sort of religious ritual or just reciting the armor parts, but it is actually putting the word of God into practice in our daily lives. So we speak the truth of God’s word against the lies, and we share the truth of the gospel, and we refute the lies so that people will believe the truth and not the lies, and so they will die with Christ to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, by faith.
And we walk by faith and not by sight. And this faith comes from God, and is not of our own doing, and so it results in us dying with Christ to sin and us walking in obedience to his commands. And we live as those who have been delivered from our slavery (addiction) to sin, no longer as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And so we live godly and morally pure lives, with self-control, under the control of God, in his power.
But, if we give in to Satan and to his schemes against us, and we pull back from God and from doing his will, and we end up rejecting what the Scriptures teach, in context, and if we adopt the lies, and so we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, the Scriptures teach that we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 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 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
I AM
By L. Wayne Hilliard / Michael W. Smith
I am the root of David,
The bright and morning star,
I am the Lion of Judah,
I am, I am,
I am Alpha and Omega,
The beginning and the end,
The first and the last –
I am, I am.
I am faithful and true,
I am the Word of God,
I am the Lamb, I am, I am.
I am the Resurrection
And He that lives,
I am alive forever, Amen, Amen.
I am the King of kings and Lord of lords,
I am holy, holy Lord God Almighty
Which was, and is, and is to come,
I am, I am, I am that I am.
I am, I am, I am!
Caution: This link may contain ads
Standing Against the Devil’s Schemes
An Original Work / March 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
