Becoming What We Are

Becoming What We Are

 

What is it that kills your joy? I am sure we would all love to say that our circumstances around us have no connection, whatsoever on our attitudes, but that would be a complete lie. We go through each day in a different way, some good days and some bad days, but our outside circumstances should never influence the way we act toward others. In God's word Paul tells us,”We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead" (2 Cor 1:8-9) Paul’s purpose in this passage is clearly for us as believers, to replace our dependency on ourselves with the complete dependency on God, (and his hardships were life threatening! )We have already died with Christ (Rom 6:5-6), and with his death we have been given a new life, we are now considered holy, so we should be holy in all our thoughts and actions, ” But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do..” (1 Peter 1:15). We are the light of the world because His light is in us, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”, ( Matt 5:16). This is what we are and who we are, justified sinners who are known as Saints by God. During times of "kill joy" ( as I like to call it ), in times if joylessness, we need to remember to rest in God's righteousness....the message of the cross...God's promises...and God's GRACE!  

 

By Grace Alone

 

Bobbi

Living Sacrifices

"¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer 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.

    ³For by the GRACE given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.  ." -

Romans 12:1-8 ESV

What a Beautiful God

Ok so today is Sunday and we have a new group coming in this evening! We have four more weeks left and I pray that we would continue excellence in all that we do! I know that some of my staff are getting tired including me but you know what, what a better time to lift up our almighty God for his willingness to give us the strength to do his will!!! Praise be to God!

Identity

Who am I? Something that I think I have had to face lately, something
I face daily....I want my identity to be found in nothing else, but
Christ alone, my dependency to be found in Christ alone. So what does
that mean? What does that look like? Living for Christ, depending on
Christ?....God is our creator my one and only Savior, so why don't I
treat him like that. For I am nothing but clay and God is the potter,
but yet over and over I try and mold myself, why don't I trust God,
why don't I live like I trust God. Paul says "I do not understand what
I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if
I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is,
it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know
that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature."Romans
7:15-18. So with this I understand that I am no longer alive to my
sinful nature, But if it is Christ that lives within me then my mind
is captivated by Christ and no longer to my old sinful nature...but
it's a daily struggle....but what continues to give me strength is
Faith and Faith alone. I know that I can not do anything on my own,
even fight my old sinful nature, for I embrace my weaknesses for where
I am weak God's strength shines through me,"That is why, for Christ's
sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am
strong."-2 Corinthians 12:10.

So what does one mean when they say that their identify is found in
Christ, the very definition of identity is found in the Websters
dictionary as i·den·ti·ty (-dnt-t): The set of behavioral or personal
characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of
a group; The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a
persisting entity; individuality. So to me to say that my identify is
found in Christ, would be quite simple really, it would mean that I
take on the behavioral or personal characteristics of Christ. WOW! OK
so ya way simpler said then done. So yes I am a sinner but I am being
sanctified, straining toward the final gaol of Glorification, that
day that Christ will return!

Hold On
Written by Shawn McDonald and Chris Stevens

Another day gone by
And again I ask myself why
I question my sanity
Why I believe what I believe
Some might think that I am crazy
For believing in something I cannot see
So won't You now
Hold on to me, hold on
Hold on to me, yeah
Please don't let me go no, no, hold on
'Cause I am prone to wonder
Prone to leave this faith I know
Hold on
And now they say that the wise man
Well, he fears the Lord
And this fear, well, it's the beginning of all wisdom
And I must be a fool
'Cause I sure don't seem to fear You
'Cause the very things that You will me to do
Well, I just don't seem to get around to
The very things that You hate
Are the very things that I always stumble into
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
Hold on
'Cause I am prone to leave this faith I know
Prone to leave this God I love
Won't You hold on
Won't You hold on to me

I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!

Red Lake, Cass Lake, and Daluth MN all together

This past weekend my staff and I did a bit of traveling to help out a site in Thunder Bay Canada and on our way back we visited Dalth and Red Lake at the fourth of July Pow Wows!