“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
1 John 4:4 NIV
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?“
Romans 8:31 NIV
(This photo was taken in Juny of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:7-11 NIV
God’s love is the most powerful thing in the world. Nothing can compare to it…no matter where you are, no matter what has happened or is happening…God’s love can change what you believe is impossible. Trust Him, seek His Word, believe, confess your sins and surrender your ways for His way. Amen.
“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 NIV
(This photo was taken in July of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NIV
Changed…renewed…remade…to make new again. How we live, the decisions we make, our purpose and perspective are continually influenced by our life in this world. If we fail to spend time feeding our minds and spiritual being with the Word of God and if we don’t spend time in prayer in relationship and communication with God, we will become like the world. Only God can make us new again, with forgiveness, wisdom, courage, knowledge, trust and faith. There are people in the world striving for the Fruits of the Spirit in their life…you may have to look for them with new eyes and a new perspective and those are available to all of us because of Jesus. I pray we feed our faith and strive towards God and His will and away from the sinful nature. Amen.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Romans 12:2 NIV
(This photo was taken in October of 2018 at City Park in Winterset, Iowa)
“Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply. Honor others more than yourselves. 11 Stay excited about your faith as you serve the Lord. 12 When you hope, be joyful. When you suffer, be patient. When you pray, be faithful. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Welcome others into your homes.”
Romans 12:9-13 NIRV
How has your faith shown up in your daily life? When you reflect on your attitude, your perspective and your daily living and compare it to a previous point in time, what do you notice has changed? Some of your old ways have faded, some are taking longer to change…this is the process of spiritual growth. Not everyone will encounter a burning shrub in the desert like Moses or directly encounter Christ on the road like Saul who became Paul. Our journey will be different, yet our God who is with all of us is the same. Be aware of who you are, the people in your life and what you can offer someone in need right where you are and pray. Pray for wisdom and courage, pay attention to what God is up to in your daily life. That alone will be a different perspective than the way we were before. Amen.
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 NIV
(This photo was taken in July of 2016 along Beartooth Pass in Montana)
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.“
1 John 4:7-12 NIV
God’s love is the most powerful thing in our world. Nothing can compare to it…no matter where you are, no matter what has happened or is happening…God’s love can change what you believe is impossible. Trust Him, seek His Word, believe, confess your sins and surrender you ways for His way. Amen.
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.“
Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV
(This photo was taken in July of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)
Change…conversion…overhaul…renew…remake.
When someone is transformed, they appear new again. A transformation in the spiritual life means recognizing who and what we are and then humbly admitting that we need to be made new again. We must be willing to admit we are broken, helplessly chasing after the sinful nature…once we see and know the conviction of sin, we have the opportunity to be redeemed, renewed, and restored. A relationship with Jesus Christ is the Way to transformation. Seek Him. May God bless you with wisdom and peace. Amen.
“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
Ezekiel 11:19 NIV
(This photo was taken in July of 2018 in a neighborhood near Plymouth, Minnesota)
“I will give you new hearts. I will give you a new spirit that is faithful to me. I will remove your stubborn hearts from you. I will give you hearts that obey me.”
Ezekiel 36:26 NIRV
“The thoughts of a person ruled by sin bring death. But the mind ruled by the Spirit brings life and peace. 7 The mind ruled by the power of sin is at war with God. It does not obey God’s law. It can’t. 8 Those who are under the power of sin can’t please God.
9 But you are not ruled by the power of sin. Instead, the Holy Spirit rules over you. This is true if the Spirit of God lives in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10 If Christ lives in you, you will live. Though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life. The Spirit does this because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of the God who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. So the God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your bodies. He will do this because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
Romans 8:6-11 NIRV
“So from now on we don’t look at anyone the way the world does. At one time we looked at Christ in that way. But we don’t anymore. 17 When anyone lives in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone! The new is here! 18 All this is from God. He brought us back to himself through Christ’s death on the cross. And he has given us the task of bringing others back to him through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-18 NIRV
(This photo was taken in April of 2021 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
All Things New by Steven Curtis Chapman
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
(This photo was taken in September of 2020 at sunrise by a lake in northwestern Wisconsin)
“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
John 14:23-26
“Do you not know that you[a] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:16
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
1 John 4:1-4
(This photo was taken in March of 2018 while traveling in southern New Mexico)
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23-24
“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[a] sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1:5-10
(This photo was taken in October of 2018 near Winterset, Iowa)
Take Your Faith With You 