Sue J Love
Loyal
Hebrews 11:8-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. 9By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Abraham, Called of God
I am actually reading in the book of Genesis, but the story of Abraham covers chapters 13-25, so that is a lot of ground to cover in one writing. So I am quoting from Hebrews 11 for it simplifies the message without all the historical records and details. But let me say up front that, even though Abraham was a man of God, called of God, who followed the leading of the Lord in where to go and in what to do, he was not a perfect man. He didn’t get everything right. But he was not living in rebellion against the Lord. Mostly he was following the leading of the Lord, and the Lord blessed him.
Qualifications for Ministry
For all of us throughout the world who have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, who have denied self, died to sin, and who are walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living, by the grace of God, by God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus, God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. He has a calling on our lives to go where He sends us and to do what He has called us to do. For He did not save us just to forgive us our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die. He has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives, and it may be something we had never considered before or even ever dreamed of.
But what qualifies us for service to the Lord is not a piece of paper that says we are now qualified to serve God in ministry. A Bible college or a seminary degree does not make anyone qualified for ministry. What qualifies us is our walk of faith in obedience to our Lord, and our willingness to go wherever He sends us and to do what He is calling us to do, even if it is to go somewhere we have never been before and to do something we have never done before. Our surrender to the Lord, and our willingness to obey Him, and our faith to step out into the unknown to follow Him is what qualifies us for ministry.
A Personal Illustration
Throughout my life on this earth (nearly 77 years) there have been times when God has called me to do something I never did before or to do something I felt unqualified and ill equipped to do. I was terrified of people in positions of authority for the longest time, and several times in my life He has placed me in situations where I had to stand up to people in authority over me and to speak the truth against their lies. Sometimes I resisted doing that, and then the Lord would encourage me to go and that He would give me the courage to speak, and He would give me the words to speak. He did!
Now, I graduated high school with a 1.4 GPA (D average), near flunking. When I applied to college I was tested at reading on a 4th grade level. I always had a reading comprehension issue that no one ever dealt with. At the end of my first 3 years of college I had a 2.5 GPA (C average), but that was only because I was a music education major and I was good at music and so my music classes brought up my GPA, but I still had trouble with reading comprehension. I did get up to reading on a 7th grade level. But anything that involved reading comprehension was hard for me to do.
Then there was the time God called me to go back to college at the age of 52. I figured I would not even pass the entrance exam, but I did well on it. I had all day to take the test, so that helped. I have always been slow. But there the Lord helped me overcome my fear of learning and He gave me the courage to believe that I could learn, and I did well. All glory to God! And I did not know this at that time, but all of this was preparation for what God was about to call me to do 2 years later, at the age of 54. I needed to believe that I could learn, for God has had me reading and learning much!
So God had to get me past this fear of people in positions of authority, and He had to get me past my fear of learning, believing that I could not learn most things, and He had to get me past my fear of being mistreated and my vulnerability to retreat when facing difficult circumstances. And He took me through A LOT of trials and tribulations to get me there, too. And then He called me to something I would never have ever imagined. He called me to follow Him, destination unknown, and then to write down what I was learning each day and to post these writings on the internet. That was new!
And then He decided to add on to that song writing in 2011, which I had not ever really done before, although I was educated in music. But I had so much to learn to know what to do and how to do it. And then He added on writing poems, which I had done a little of in my younger years, but not like He has had me writing since 2018. And then He added on video talks in 2020, which I had never done before, and then Christian memes a year or two after that. So all of this required that I step out in faith and that I go where He sends me and that I believe He will provide what I need. He has!
Oh, and He did have me write two short books of testimony of my life and my life circumstances and my personal challenges, and of the things which He helped me to overcome. But through all of this that I was learning and experiencing and overcoming, and through all the challenges and heartaches and tears and disappointments, He was growing me in my walk of faith, and He was making me strong, and He was helping me to overcome life’s challenges and to keep persevering no matter what I faced along the way. And I am who I am doing what I am doing all because of God. Glory to God!
Be Encouraged
And I know that was long. But I want to encourage every Christian reading this that our God is the God of impossible situations, and He can do in us and through us what He had planned for us from even before we were born. If He calls us, He will equip us. We just have to believe Him. And we have to step out in faith and do what we think is the impossible for us with our human limitations, now in the power of God. I would not have done all that He has had me doing these past 22 years if I was not relying on Him for the courage and the wisdom and the faith to go wherever He sends me.
P.S. While I was writing this, one of our power breakers popped and it turned off my screen and all my lights so I could not write. My husband, who is skilled in so many different areas, turned the breaker back on. But then the screens went out again. My husband came to the rescue again and he figured out that my power strip had died. He just happened to have extras on hand, so he replaced it for me, and now everything is working. I believe Satan was trying to hinder me from writing this but God had other plans. But I am thankful I have a highly technological husband to rescue me, too.
Called of God to Go
An Original Work / September 26, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
It All Depends
Jerry Nelson / Don Marsh
Would I leave the place
Where I have lived and settled down?
It all depends.
Break with my attachments,
Sentimental though they be?
It all depends.
Would I find myself uprooting
All the stakes I’ve driven down,
Leaving friends and loved ones far behind,
Captive to the call of some far off distant land?
I can only answer, that depends.
It all depends on where He needs me,
For where He leads me my feet must go.
It may be down an unfamiliar pathway
Or cross the mountains so bleak with snow.
His faithful hand will always guide me.
He’ll walk beside me, let come what may.
Why should I dread the night?
My faith has found its sight.
I’ll do His will through the rest of my life.
[I cannot find a recording of this song anywhere.]
“8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. 9By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Abraham, Called of God
I am actually reading in the book of Genesis, but the story of Abraham covers chapters 13-25, so that is a lot of ground to cover in one writing. So I am quoting from Hebrews 11 for it simplifies the message without all the historical records and details. But let me say up front that, even though Abraham was a man of God, called of God, who followed the leading of the Lord in where to go and in what to do, he was not a perfect man. He didn’t get everything right. But he was not living in rebellion against the Lord. Mostly he was following the leading of the Lord, and the Lord blessed him.
Qualifications for Ministry
For all of us throughout the world who have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, who have denied self, died to sin, and who are walking in obedience to our Lord in holy living, by the grace of God, by God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus, God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. He has a calling on our lives to go where He sends us and to do what He has called us to do. For He did not save us just to forgive us our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die. He has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives, and it may be something we had never considered before or even ever dreamed of.
But what qualifies us for service to the Lord is not a piece of paper that says we are now qualified to serve God in ministry. A Bible college or a seminary degree does not make anyone qualified for ministry. What qualifies us is our walk of faith in obedience to our Lord, and our willingness to go wherever He sends us and to do what He is calling us to do, even if it is to go somewhere we have never been before and to do something we have never done before. Our surrender to the Lord, and our willingness to obey Him, and our faith to step out into the unknown to follow Him is what qualifies us for ministry.
A Personal Illustration
Throughout my life on this earth (nearly 77 years) there have been times when God has called me to do something I never did before or to do something I felt unqualified and ill equipped to do. I was terrified of people in positions of authority for the longest time, and several times in my life He has placed me in situations where I had to stand up to people in authority over me and to speak the truth against their lies. Sometimes I resisted doing that, and then the Lord would encourage me to go and that He would give me the courage to speak, and He would give me the words to speak. He did!
Now, I graduated high school with a 1.4 GPA (D average), near flunking. When I applied to college I was tested at reading on a 4th grade level. I always had a reading comprehension issue that no one ever dealt with. At the end of my first 3 years of college I had a 2.5 GPA (C average), but that was only because I was a music education major and I was good at music and so my music classes brought up my GPA, but I still had trouble with reading comprehension. I did get up to reading on a 7th grade level. But anything that involved reading comprehension was hard for me to do.
Then there was the time God called me to go back to college at the age of 52. I figured I would not even pass the entrance exam, but I did well on it. I had all day to take the test, so that helped. I have always been slow. But there the Lord helped me overcome my fear of learning and He gave me the courage to believe that I could learn, and I did well. All glory to God! And I did not know this at that time, but all of this was preparation for what God was about to call me to do 2 years later, at the age of 54. I needed to believe that I could learn, for God has had me reading and learning much!
So God had to get me past this fear of people in positions of authority, and He had to get me past my fear of learning, believing that I could not learn most things, and He had to get me past my fear of being mistreated and my vulnerability to retreat when facing difficult circumstances. And He took me through A LOT of trials and tribulations to get me there, too. And then He called me to something I would never have ever imagined. He called me to follow Him, destination unknown, and then to write down what I was learning each day and to post these writings on the internet. That was new!
And then He decided to add on to that song writing in 2011, which I had not ever really done before, although I was educated in music. But I had so much to learn to know what to do and how to do it. And then He added on writing poems, which I had done a little of in my younger years, but not like He has had me writing since 2018. And then He added on video talks in 2020, which I had never done before, and then Christian memes a year or two after that. So all of this required that I step out in faith and that I go where He sends me and that I believe He will provide what I need. He has!
Oh, and He did have me write two short books of testimony of my life and my life circumstances and my personal challenges, and of the things which He helped me to overcome. But through all of this that I was learning and experiencing and overcoming, and through all the challenges and heartaches and tears and disappointments, He was growing me in my walk of faith, and He was making me strong, and He was helping me to overcome life’s challenges and to keep persevering no matter what I faced along the way. And I am who I am doing what I am doing all because of God. Glory to God!
Be Encouraged
And I know that was long. But I want to encourage every Christian reading this that our God is the God of impossible situations, and He can do in us and through us what He had planned for us from even before we were born. If He calls us, He will equip us. We just have to believe Him. And we have to step out in faith and do what we think is the impossible for us with our human limitations, now in the power of God. I would not have done all that He has had me doing these past 22 years if I was not relying on Him for the courage and the wisdom and the faith to go wherever He sends me.
P.S. While I was writing this, one of our power breakers popped and it turned off my screen and all my lights so I could not write. My husband, who is skilled in so many different areas, turned the breaker back on. But then the screens went out again. My husband came to the rescue again and he figured out that my power strip had died. He just happened to have extras on hand, so he replaced it for me, and now everything is working. I believe Satan was trying to hinder me from writing this but God had other plans. But I am thankful I have a highly technological husband to rescue me, too.
Called of God to Go
An Original Work / September 26, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
It All Depends
Jerry Nelson / Don Marsh
Would I leave the place
Where I have lived and settled down?
It all depends.
Break with my attachments,
Sentimental though they be?
It all depends.
Would I find myself uprooting
All the stakes I’ve driven down,
Leaving friends and loved ones far behind,
Captive to the call of some far off distant land?
I can only answer, that depends.
It all depends on where He needs me,
For where He leads me my feet must go.
It may be down an unfamiliar pathway
Or cross the mountains so bleak with snow.
His faithful hand will always guide me.
He’ll walk beside me, let come what may.
Why should I dread the night?
My faith has found its sight.
I’ll do His will through the rest of my life.
[I cannot find a recording of this song anywhere.]