Lead Me on Level Ground

Who are our enemies? They are all who are opposed to Jesus Christ and to his gospel of salvation. They are all who are opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures, which are for the church, as the Scriptures teach them in their appropriate context, and who are diluting and altering the message of the gospel of our salvation in order to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly of the world. They are all who make compromises with truth and righteousness in order to continue in their deliberate and habitual sins.

They are our enemies if our lives are surrendered to the Lordship of Christ over our lives, and if we have died to sin, and if we are walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, because they are opposed to what we stand for, and what we live for, and what our lives are all about. And some of them will come against us, and fight against us, and will rebuke us for speaking the truth of the gospel, because they do not want to accept the truth that Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught as the gospel.

We do not make them our enemies, though. They become our enemies when they choose to fight against us, and to mistreat us, to lie about us to others, to refuse to hear the truth of the Scriptures, to reject us, and to cast us aside as unwanted and unnecessary, because we are speaking the truth that they do not want to hear and to accept. We must not let their mistreatment of us discourage us, but we must persevere in following the Lord Jesus, no matter how others treat us or say about us or to us. And we must love them.

So, deliverance from our enemies is not necessarily a physical departure from them, but it is deliverance from their influences and their words and the effects of their mistreatment, so that we do not let it take us out or lead us to give up and to walk away from where God has us, and from what he is having us do in obedience to his leading in our lives. We must remain steadfast in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord in doing what he calls us to do, according to his word, even if many oppose us for speaking truth.

But even if they mistreat us, we do not treat them like enemies. We love them, we forgive them, we pray for them, and we speak to them what is for their benefit, for their good, as God defines “good.” We do not retaliate or return hate with hate, but we return hate with love and kindness and compassion. And it is love to tell people the truth of the gospel and what Jesus taught, and what his New Testament apostles taught, because we want to see them delivered out of slavery to sin and to now obey 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]

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


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Lead Me on Level Ground
An Original Work / June 29, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love