Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,684
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2 NASB1995)
Faith in Jesus Christ is not just about making a profession of faith in the Lord with our lips, and it isn’t just about dying to sin and obeying the Lord, but it is death to our old lives, the self-life, and it is surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ, making him Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want to live them, for now God owns us, and our lives are now to follow in the path he has for us to travel.
For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin, so that we will now become servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord. Therefore we are to present ourselves (our whole being, not just our physical bodies) a living sacrifice to God, acceptable to God. And the way in which we know what is acceptable to God is via the Holy Spirit and the written word of God.
And the Scriptures make it quite clear that not only must we die to sin once, but we must deny self and die to sin daily, by the Spirit, and we must walk daily (in practice, in conduct) in obedience to our Lord’s New Covenant commandments. But this isn’t about just following a set of rules so that we can check them off our list that we did them. This is about a life owned and directed by God in submission to him as Lord, following his leading daily.
In other words, we should not be people who are planning out our whole lives and directing our own paths, doing what we want to do, and what pleases us. For if God owns us, he is the one who gets to choose what we do and what we say and to whom and when and where, and where we will live, or where we will go to school, and what our careers should be. For he made each one of us for a purpose, and he has a specific plan for each of our lives.
And this seems to be a difficult concept to grasp in today’s culture which is so flesh and self-driven, and where so many are accepting a very diluted gospel message which is convincing them that all they have to do is to make a profession of faith in the Lord, and now all their sins are forgiven, and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, but regardless of how they live, or without regard as to how they are now to live as followers of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus died on that cross so that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. He died, and he was resurrected from the dead, so that we will die to the self-life and the sin-life, and so our lives will now be surrendered to him to do his will. And this is our spiritual service of worship of God. Just singing “worship” songs with raised hands, in and of itself, is not worship of God, not if we are not surrendered to God.
Now let me give you a personal example of what this surrendered life should look like, in practice, though not necessarily with the same exact callings and giftedness. 21 years ago the Lord spoke to me through his word and through the teachings of several men of God, who spoke the truth of God’s Word, and he called me to write down what he is teaching me from his word each day, and to post these writings on the internet. All glory to God.
He leads me in what passages of Scripture to read and in what he wants me to get from the Scriptures that day for my own benefit as well as to share with others on the internet. And he leads me in how much to write and in what forms of writing he would have me use, such as Bible study/devotions like this, or Christian meme devotions, or poems, and previously he had me also writing songs and recording video talk devotions. I still share songs.
But we won’t all have the same callings and the same giftedness, but the point of what I am sharing is that my life belongs to the Lord to do what he has called me to do, and I take that absolutely seriously. But I also relax and rest, too, and I enjoy time with my husband, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, and with friends, sharing meals and laughter (appropriate), and watching a video or playing a game or a sport (all appropriate and safe).
But we are not to be conformed to the sinful patterns of this world and to their thinking and philosophies about life and how life is to be lived. For so much today is centered around pleasing oneself, but not much is being taught with regard to us living and doing what is pleasing to God, which should be our top priority. And entertaining ourselves should never get top priority of our time, but God and what he wants should always be on top.
[Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
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
Caution: This link may contain ads
Our Bodies as Holy Sacrifices to God
An Original Work / May 24, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Faith in Jesus Christ is not just about making a profession of faith in the Lord with our lips, and it isn’t just about dying to sin and obeying the Lord, but it is death to our old lives, the self-life, and it is surrender of our lives to Jesus Christ, making him Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want to live them, for now God owns us, and our lives are now to follow in the path he has for us to travel.
For Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin, so that we will now become servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord. Therefore we are to present ourselves (our whole being, not just our physical bodies) a living sacrifice to God, acceptable to God. And the way in which we know what is acceptable to God is via the Holy Spirit and the written word of God.
And the Scriptures make it quite clear that not only must we die to sin once, but we must deny self and die to sin daily, by the Spirit, and we must walk daily (in practice, in conduct) in obedience to our Lord’s New Covenant commandments. But this isn’t about just following a set of rules so that we can check them off our list that we did them. This is about a life owned and directed by God in submission to him as Lord, following his leading daily.
In other words, we should not be people who are planning out our whole lives and directing our own paths, doing what we want to do, and what pleases us. For if God owns us, he is the one who gets to choose what we do and what we say and to whom and when and where, and where we will live, or where we will go to school, and what our careers should be. For he made each one of us for a purpose, and he has a specific plan for each of our lives.
And this seems to be a difficult concept to grasp in today’s culture which is so flesh and self-driven, and where so many are accepting a very diluted gospel message which is convincing them that all they have to do is to make a profession of faith in the Lord, and now all their sins are forgiven, and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, but regardless of how they live, or without regard as to how they are now to live as followers of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus died on that cross so that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. He died, and he was resurrected from the dead, so that we will die to the self-life and the sin-life, and so our lives will now be surrendered to him to do his will. And this is our spiritual service of worship of God. Just singing “worship” songs with raised hands, in and of itself, is not worship of God, not if we are not surrendered to God.
Now let me give you a personal example of what this surrendered life should look like, in practice, though not necessarily with the same exact callings and giftedness. 21 years ago the Lord spoke to me through his word and through the teachings of several men of God, who spoke the truth of God’s Word, and he called me to write down what he is teaching me from his word each day, and to post these writings on the internet. All glory to God.
He leads me in what passages of Scripture to read and in what he wants me to get from the Scriptures that day for my own benefit as well as to share with others on the internet. And he leads me in how much to write and in what forms of writing he would have me use, such as Bible study/devotions like this, or Christian meme devotions, or poems, and previously he had me also writing songs and recording video talk devotions. I still share songs.
But we won’t all have the same callings and the same giftedness, but the point of what I am sharing is that my life belongs to the Lord to do what he has called me to do, and I take that absolutely seriously. But I also relax and rest, too, and I enjoy time with my husband, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, and with friends, sharing meals and laughter (appropriate), and watching a video or playing a game or a sport (all appropriate and safe).
But we are not to be conformed to the sinful patterns of this world and to their thinking and philosophies about life and how life is to be lived. For so much today is centered around pleasing oneself, but not much is being taught with regard to us living and doing what is pleasing to God, which should be our top priority. And entertaining ourselves should never get top priority of our time, but God and what he wants should always be on top.
[Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]
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
Caution: This link may contain ads
Our Bodies as Holy Sacrifices to God
An Original Work / May 24, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
