innWe invite you to gather with us Sundays at 9 & 11 AM as we experience the love, joy and power of God.
GIVE TODAY
PASTORS SHAUN & AMY GUSTAFSON
JOIN US LIVE
Sundays at 9:00am CST
WE ARE A TEAM
NIGHT OF WORSHIP
MARCH 1 @ 6:30 PM
MN Adult & Teen Challenge Choir
FEBRUARY 19 9AM & 11AM services
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION
SNOW TUBING AT IRONWOOD
FEBRUARY 17 @ 5:30 PM
LADIES CONNECT
FEBRUARY 4 @ 9 AM
OUR PURPOSE
FROM THE BLOG
Love Always Wins
This wife is a great example of how we are able to choose our own thoughts and words; our circumstances don’t have to dictate them. When we make a conscious choice to forget the past and let go of wrongs done to us, we’re then able to focus on receiving God’s love and bringing out the best in others. When we do these two things—meditate on what we have to be thankful for today and declare God’s Word—we are truly able to reach forward to the good things God has in store for us. As the Apostle Paul said,
I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. (Philippians 3:13b-14 NLT)
We receive God’s love by putting our faith in His promises, then we can make the choice to love others by faith, even if we don’t feel it at the moment. The first step of being healed of past hurts is forgiving a person by faith, and God’s love helps us do this. Let’s look again at Ephesians 3:14-19:
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant to you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
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A New Creation
We can pray Scripture over them, knowing God desires to transform our loved ones through His Word. If you have never used Scripture to pray for someone, simply take a verse and put their name in it, then use it as a prayer for their life. For example,
Father, I pray that Christ would dwell in (name’s) heart through faith; that (he or she), being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that (name) may be filled with all of Your fullness God. (Taken from Ephesians 3:17-19.)
Maybe, as you’re reading this today, having a relationship with God is a new concept to you. Maybe you grew up hearing about religion that was legalistic and unkind, but never learned about true loving relationship. God is not mad at you. He’s madly in love with you! If you don’t know God’s love in a personal way, He’s just waiting for you to invite Him in. God wants to help you with every area of your life! If you want to connect with God and have the help He greatly desires to give you, all you need to do is ask Him into your heart today. As Romans 10:9-10 encourages us,
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Talk Trash, Eat Trash
A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth. – Proverbs 13:2
God’s vision for us is that we would speak His words of blessing over people and situations around us to infuse life into them. James 3:9-12 speaks of the importance of taming our tongues by saying,
With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
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