Sue J Love
Loyal
Ephesians 1:15-23 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
“18I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, 20which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
The Faithful in Christ Jesus
Now, these words were written by Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. And a saint, in biblical context, is one who is of genuine biblical faith in Christ Jesus, who by faith in Him has denied self, died to sin, and who is living for God in walks of obedience to His commands in life practice, in the power of God. And a saint is a holy one, one who is morally pure, living upright, godly, and holy unto God. And to be holy is to be different from (unlike) the world because being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ in the power of God.
So the words written here were written to a specific group of people at a specific time in history, and they can only be applied to our lives if we fit the biblical qualifications mentioned in this passage of Scripture. Our faith in Jesus needs to be from God, and not from human flesh, and it needs to be in line with the teachings in the Scriptures on what that faith should look like. For Jesus Christ gave His life up for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, but to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He put our sins to death with Him so we will die to sin and now walk in obedience to our Lord.
Your Love for The Saints
Are we people of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, who truly love one another within the body of Christ, the church? And this love is not speaking just of human emotions and feelings, but it is speaking of agape love, which is of God, which centers in moral preference, for it prefers what God prefers. And what God prefers is all that is honest, truthful, submissive and obedient to God, faithful, sincere, and morally pure. And it is forgiving of others who have hurt us like Jesus forgives us who sinned against Him. So we love each other much in the same ways in which God loves us who were born sinners.
And this does not mean that we tolerate deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, or that we pacify them in their sin to make them feel good, and so they will like us. We need to be those who speak the truth in love to one another and who call out sin in sinful humans, and who call people to repentance and to obedience to God and to His commands, but only if we are not ones who are still deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against other humans. But we are to forgive one another and not try to get even with others who sin.
A Prayer for Wisdom
All of us need wisdom, the wisdom of God, in order to make righteous and just decisions, and in order to love one another as God loves us and gave Himself up for us that we might be delivered out of slavery to sin. And we get that wisdom from the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding us in the ways of the Lord, and from our times spent with the Lord in His word each day, drinking in its truths, taught in the correct biblical context, as led by the Holy Spirit. We should NOT be relying on the wisdom of other humans to tell us the truth, for so many are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” teaching lies.
So, if we want to know God’s will for our lives, and His purpose in saving us from our sins, we need to read the New Testament books, Matthew to Revelation. They teach we must die to sin and obey our Lord and His commands in life practice. But please understand that the time in which these were written was not long after Jesus’ time on the earth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension back to Heaven, and the birthing of the church, the inclusion of the Gentiles into Israel, the people of God, and the transition of the Jews from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
The Law of God
So “the law” spoken of was the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath laws. We are not under those laws. Those were done away with when Jesus Christ died, was buried, and He rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death. But this is not to be confused with God’s New Covenant commands, which we are required to obey, in the power of God, by His Spirit, which are primarily God’s moral laws which were carried over from the Old Covenant and are taught to us in the New Testament. Don’t write those off like many do!
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). So we must take this to heart to obey God and to no longer walk in sin.
[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]
Our Faith in The Lord Jesus
An Original Work / September 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Refresh My Spirit, Lord
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30
An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Refresh my spirit, Lord. Revive my heart today.
Move me to serve You, Lord, in all I do and say.
Be my heart’s one desire; my spirit set on fire
In pure devotion, Lord, to love You and obey.
Create within me, Lord, a pure heart, this I pray,
So I can worship You and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r be lived in me, I pray,
So I might love as You; be Your witness today.
Jesus says, “Come to me all you with heavy hearts,
And find in me your peace, and give to me your all.
My yoke is light to bear, ‘cause I paid for your sin,
So you might be set free, and purified within.”
“15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
“18I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, 20which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
The Faithful in Christ Jesus
Now, these words were written by Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. And a saint, in biblical context, is one who is of genuine biblical faith in Christ Jesus, who by faith in Him has denied self, died to sin, and who is living for God in walks of obedience to His commands in life practice, in the power of God. And a saint is a holy one, one who is morally pure, living upright, godly, and holy unto God. And to be holy is to be different from (unlike) the world because being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ in the power of God.
So the words written here were written to a specific group of people at a specific time in history, and they can only be applied to our lives if we fit the biblical qualifications mentioned in this passage of Scripture. Our faith in Jesus needs to be from God, and not from human flesh, and it needs to be in line with the teachings in the Scriptures on what that faith should look like. For Jesus Christ gave His life up for us on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, but to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He put our sins to death with Him so we will die to sin and now walk in obedience to our Lord.
Your Love for The Saints
Are we people of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, who truly love one another within the body of Christ, the church? And this love is not speaking just of human emotions and feelings, but it is speaking of agape love, which is of God, which centers in moral preference, for it prefers what God prefers. And what God prefers is all that is honest, truthful, submissive and obedient to God, faithful, sincere, and morally pure. And it is forgiving of others who have hurt us like Jesus forgives us who sinned against Him. So we love each other much in the same ways in which God loves us who were born sinners.
And this does not mean that we tolerate deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, or that we pacify them in their sin to make them feel good, and so they will like us. We need to be those who speak the truth in love to one another and who call out sin in sinful humans, and who call people to repentance and to obedience to God and to His commands, but only if we are not ones who are still deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against other humans. But we are to forgive one another and not try to get even with others who sin.
A Prayer for Wisdom
All of us need wisdom, the wisdom of God, in order to make righteous and just decisions, and in order to love one another as God loves us and gave Himself up for us that we might be delivered out of slavery to sin. And we get that wisdom from the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding us in the ways of the Lord, and from our times spent with the Lord in His word each day, drinking in its truths, taught in the correct biblical context, as led by the Holy Spirit. We should NOT be relying on the wisdom of other humans to tell us the truth, for so many are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” teaching lies.
So, if we want to know God’s will for our lives, and His purpose in saving us from our sins, we need to read the New Testament books, Matthew to Revelation. They teach we must die to sin and obey our Lord and His commands in life practice. But please understand that the time in which these were written was not long after Jesus’ time on the earth, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension back to Heaven, and the birthing of the church, the inclusion of the Gentiles into Israel, the people of God, and the transition of the Jews from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
The Law of God
So “the law” spoken of was the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath laws. We are not under those laws. Those were done away with when Jesus Christ died, was buried, and He rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death. But this is not to be confused with God’s New Covenant commands, which we are required to obey, in the power of God, by His Spirit, which are primarily God’s moral laws which were carried over from the Old Covenant and are taught to us in the New Testament. Don’t write those off like many do!
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). So we must take this to heart to obey God and to no longer walk in sin.
[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]
Our Faith in The Lord Jesus
An Original Work / September 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Refresh My Spirit, Lord
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30
An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Refresh my spirit, Lord. Revive my heart today.
Move me to serve You, Lord, in all I do and say.
Be my heart’s one desire; my spirit set on fire
In pure devotion, Lord, to love You and obey.
Create within me, Lord, a pure heart, this I pray,
So I can worship You and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r be lived in me, I pray,
So I might love as You; be Your witness today.
Jesus says, “Come to me all you with heavy hearts,
And find in me your peace, and give to me your all.
My yoke is light to bear, ‘cause I paid for your sin,
So you might be set free, and purified within.”
Refresh My Spirit, Lord
Sometimes our bodies get tired and need rest. Other times our spirits get tired and need refreshed, i.e. our emotions sometimes get drained, or even our spiritual lives might feel like something is missing. Sometimes it is because we lack true Christian fellowship with the Body of Christ, and...
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