God’s Love Changes Lives

January 13, 2022 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No 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.

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“For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may 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, ¹⁹and 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)

Transformation

November 16, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

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.

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“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)

Transformation

October 10, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

^“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. ⁷The mind ruled by the power of sin is at war with God. It does not obey God’s law. It can’t. ⁸Those who are under the power of sin can’t please God.

⁹But 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. ¹⁰If 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. ¹¹The 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

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“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. ¹⁷When anyone lives in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone! The new is here! ¹⁸All 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)

All Things New

August 27, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“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. ¹⁷Therefore, 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

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“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; ²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴and 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)

The Spirit Within You

July 10, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“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. ²⁴Anyone 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. ²⁶But 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

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“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. ²This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³but 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.

⁴You, 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)

Change Starts With You

July 6, 2021 / mcalcagno / 1 Comment

“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:23-24

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“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷But 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.

⁸If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If 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)

Persevere…Be Transformed

May 13, 2021 / mcalcagno / 2 Comments

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:2-4

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

James 1:12

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“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:1-2

(This photo was taken in May of 2020 along the North Shore of Lake Superior)

Inside Out

February 10, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Faith works from the inside out…first the events and circumstances of life lead us to questions…the answers to the questions lead us to Jesus and we become transformed on the inside. Yet this is not the end of the journey…as we are transformed we will be led to go out and do good works in the world to help others see what God has done on the inside. It is journey throughout life on earth…we are to live inside out. Amen.

Romans 12:1-2

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“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

(This photo was taken in July of 2018 at a park near Bayfield, Wisconsin)

Greater

February 3, 2021 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

“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

“To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Colossians 1:27

Greater by MercyMe

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“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.”

Psalm 103:8

(This photo was taken in Juny of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)

Surrender, Be Made New

December 20, 2020 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Romans 12:1-2

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

Ezekiel 36:25-27

(This photo was taken in May of 2020 at Palisade Head along the North Shore of Lake Superior)