2 Corinthians 7:2-7 NKJV

“2Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.

“5For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.”

Marketing Ventures

Now, I am not going to attempt to try to go into all of the background of this, and to try to go into a discourse on what was happening in the life of Paul and some of the other apostles at the time this was written. For I believe the Lord is giving me a modern day application of this as to how it might possibly be applied to our lives and to our circumstances in the year 2026. For there is a lot going on in the gatherings of “the church,” at least in my nation, which I believe fits well with this passage of Scripture.

For we live in a day and age here in the USA when so much of what is called “church” has been turned into institutions of human-making, by design and purpose, incorporated under (partnered with) the state (the government), which are being marketed to the people of the world in order to increase their numbers (their attendance). My husband and I were church planters for a while under this system, and so we got a little caught up in some (not all) of the marketing things, and we thought we were doing the right thing.

But Then

Well, I am going to speak from my own experience, which I know others have faced, too, so I am not alone in this. But I took God and his Word seriously, to obey them. And what I was beginning to see happening inside these institutional market-driven “churches” is that so many of them were turning their gatherings into theatre productions to entertain the masses. And so they were also altering the gospel message to make it less offensive to the ungodly, and they were also being taught who to “get rid of,” too.

And I was one of the ones they were warned about in their training sessions, i.e. people with “strong convictions,” that they were to invite people like us to go somewhere else where we would be a “better fit.” For me, I spoke the truth of God’s Word, not out of order, but only when called upon and given permission to speak, but in a setting where they were no longer accepting the gospel message that Jesus taught, but they were recreating the gospel to not include our need to die to sin and to obey God and his commands.

So I Questioned

So I questioned what I saw as being contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures, in the appropriate manner, with grace, and I refused to bow to spiritual compromise. And I would not tell lies, and I would not manipulate, but I spoke truth, spoken in love, against the lies and manipulations. And I held on to the truth and to moral character. I did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as led by the Spirit. I was not out of order. But I wasn’t going in the same direction as most of them were going, so they got rid of me.

And this is a very condensed version of what all I went through at the hands of pastors and elders who falsely accused me of wrong I did not do, and who put me on church discipline because I would not tell lies, and who banned me from their church property because I spoke the truth of what God’s word teaches in a group of women, and who kicked my husband and I and our youth ministry out of their “church” just because they didn’t like us, because we didn’t fit with their marketing plans for how to grow their numbers.

But God!

But God turned all of that around for good, and he then sent me to the internet where I have been sharing for the past 22 years what the Lord has been teaching me through his word each day. And right now, but that could change, he has blessed me with internet sites where they accept me and where they allow me to share what the Lord is teaching me each day from my times spent with him in his word. So God can turn what seems to be impossible situations in our lives around for something good, for his glory.

Here, for now, I have the freedom to share the truth of the Scriptures and what they teach about the gospel of our salvation. And I am allowed to speak against sin and to encourage people to come to repentance and to leave their lives of sin behind them to follow the Lord in obedience to his commands. That day will one day end. And I believe we are getting closer and closer to that time by the minute. So I am very thankful for God’s call upon my life, and that I am still here to share with you the Word of God.

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Zeal for Your House

Based off John 2:17; Psalms 69:9
An Original Work / August 1, 2016
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Zeal for Your house, it consumes me.
Lord, I love my times with You.
I love to worship You and sing Your praises.
Time in Your Word brings me closer to You,
List’ning to You speaking to me,
Gently guiding me in truth.

Lord, You are my life’s example,
Showing me how I should live.
I love to walk with You where’er You lead me.
No greater joy have I when serving You.
Loving, giving, resting in Your strength,
I’m yielding to Your will.

Zeal for Your house, it consumes me.
See the church turned upside down:
Marketing ventures taking place of worship,
Men of the gospel turning into clowns.
Gospel message made appealing,
So the world will feel at home.

Lord, we need a great revival.
Turn their hearts, Lord, back to You.
Open the blind eyes, turn them all from darkness,
Lord, to the light. May they return to You,
Turn from their sin, forsake idols,
Be restored to God again.

Open Your Hearts to Us
An Original Work / June 18, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love