Rep. Jon Dunwell

God’s specific promises to Jeremiah: •Jeremiah 1:8 — “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” (At his calling.) •Jeremiah 1:18–19 — “I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls… They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.” •Jeremiah 15:20–21 — “I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked…” These are personal, covenantal promises of preservation made specifically to Jeremiah — not to prophets generally. So when Ahikam shields him in chapter 26, that’s not luck or political coincidence; it’s God keeping a specific word.

Fair catch — and I think that’s exactly why the writer included it. The elders’ speech almost ends the chapter on a hopeful note. Then Uriah lands like a cold bucket of water: faithfulness doesn’t always get rescued. Ahikam saved Jeremiah. Nobody saved Uriah. It’s the Bible refusing to let us pretend courage is safe. Sobering, not contradictory.

In Jeremiah 26, the priests wanted the prophet executed. The civil officials saved his life. The people closest to sacred things were the ones most deaf to them. A short devotional on what that means for us 👇 gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

When your candidate loses, does your soul feel the kind of despair that should be reserved for a broken covenant with God? Jeremiah 10 has something to say to us about that. “There is none like You, O LORD.” A new devotional on the idols we carry into politics ↓ gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

The ancient paths God offered Israel in Jeremiah 6 led straight back to Abraham — a man who heard a voice with no map, packed his bags, and walked anyway. Abram went. His descendants said no. The road is still there. The rest is still offered. Full devotional → gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

You're not drinking poison — you're just drinking from something that leaks. Jeremiah 2:13 hits different when you realize your cistern isn't evil, it's just broken. Approval. Comfort. Control. They all run dry. Jesus still says: "Come to me and drink." 🔗 New devotion → gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

Jesus read Isaiah 61 in the synagogue — and stopped mid-sentence. On purpose. That gap is where we live. What do you do inside an unfinished sentence? Full devotional thought below 👇 #Isaiah #MorningCoffee #Faith gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

You're building something. A career. A reputation. A life. But here's the question God asked an entire civilization — and He's asking you too: Who is it really for? gatewaychurchmonroe.com/pastor-jons-bl…

Wounded to Heal There is a strange paradox woven into the fabric of reality: the deepest healers are almost always the deepest wounded. Henri Nouwen, in his landmark 1972 book The Wounded Healer, argued that a minister — and by extension, any person of faith — is not called to help others in spite of their suffering, but through it. The wound, he wrote, is not something to hide or overcome before you can be useful. It is the very source of your capacity to enter someone else’s pain with authenticity. We don’t trust comfort from someone who has never grieved. But when someone who has walked through the fire sits beside us in ours, something shifts. Their presence alone says: this can be survived. This is the mystery Isaiah 53 is reaching toward. The Servant doesn’t heal people despite his wounds — he heals them through them. “By his stripes we are healed.” The very marks of his suffering become the medicine. As Nouwen would say, the wound is “a source of healing” when it is acknowledged, surrendered, and offered rather than hoarded in self-protection. The question suffering always asks us is: what will you do with me? We can let it make us bitter, closed, and self-protective. But there is another path — to let it break us open toward God and toward others, producing a compassion we never could have manufactured on our own. C.S. Lewis observed in The Problem of Pain that God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts in our pain. Suffering gets our attention in ways nothing else can. It strips away the illusions we live by — that we are in control, that life is safe, that we don’t need anyone. And in that stripped-down place, something real can finally grow. This doesn’t mean suffering is good. But it does mean, as Nouwen insisted, that suffering is not wasted — that in the hands of a redemptive God, even the worst things can be turned toward life. Your scars are not just evidence of what you’ve been through. They are, in Nouwen’s vision, credentials — a quiet authority to enter someone else’s darkness and say: I know this place. And there is a way through. “He was wounded for our transgressions… and by his wounds, we are healed.” — Isaiah 53:5 The question is not only what the Servant’s suffering means for us — but what our suffering, offered up in the spirit of Nouwen’s wounded healer, might mean for someone else. For further reflection: Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer (1972) — C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (1940)

Isaiah 41 opens with the great powers of the earth summoned to court — nervous, conferring, encouraging one another, hurriedly bolting their idols down so they don’t topple. They sense something seismic is happening. And they’re right. God is moving. But here’s the humbling truth: they are not the point. Cyrus will conquer nations — but he’s a tool in God’s hand, not the hero of the story. The coastlands tremble — but their trembling is just backdrop. Even Israel, the one God addresses tenderly, is called a worm — small, overlooked, clinging to survival. The main plot is what God himself is doing: redeeming a people, directing history, preparing a way. Nations rise and fall like grass. Empires that look permanent turn out to be props. The devotional sting is personal: we do this too. We look at the powerful movements of our age — political, cultural, economic — and assume that’s the real story. But God is doing something those forces cannot see, using people they would never cast, toward an end they cannot predict. The question Isaiah 41 quietly asks is: do you know whose story you’re actually in? Those who wait on God — even the worms — get rivers in the desert. The great powers just get the bill.

When We Show Off What God Gave Us Hezekiah had just experienced one of the greatest miracles of his life — healed from death, 15 more years promised, enemies defeated. Then visitors came from Babylon, and he showed them everything. Not to glorify God. To impress them. It’s a subtle but deadly shift. The same man who wept before God in prayer now parades his blessings before men for applause. And Isaiah’s response was sobering — what you just showed them? They’ll come back for it. Pride doesn’t just affect us. It opens doors that are very hard to close. The blessings God gives us are meant to be testimonies, not trophies. The question worth asking today: Am I pointing people to God with what He’s given me — or just pointing to myself? “But what have they seen in your house?” — Isaiah 39:4

Do I see the Governor’s Race as a toss up? Not with the Republican record. Iowans don’t want to be Illinois, Virginia, or Minnesota.

“You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it.” — Isaiah 22:11 There is a particular kind of busyness that feels like faith but isn’t. When the crisis hit Jerusalem, nobody sat idle. Engineers got to work. Soldiers checked their armor. City planners secured the water supply. From the outside, it looked like a community pulling together under pressure. Competent. Organized. Resilient. But God was not impressed. Because in all their activity — in all the measuring and building and stockpiling — nobody stopped to ask what He was saying. Nobody looked up. This is one of the most convicting chapters in all of Isaiah precisely because the people’s failure wasn’t laziness or obvious rebellion. It was the subtler sin of sufficiency — the quiet confidence that the right plan, the right resources, and the right people could handle whatever came. We do this too. We respond to hard seasons with spreadsheets and strategies and phone calls to the right people. None of those things are wrong. But when they become our first move instead of our second, we have told God something about what we actually trust. The wall gets reinforced. The calendar gets reorganized. The savings account gets padded. And somewhere in all that motion, prayer becomes an afterthought — something we do to close the meeting, not something we do to open our hearts. God’s word to Jerusalem was not “stop fixing the wall.” It was “while you fix the wall, don’t forget who you are fixing it for.” The work wasn’t the problem. The looking away was. Ask yourself today: In the challenge you’re currently facing, has your planning outpaced your praying? Have you been more thorough in your preparation than in your dependence? The reservoir is good. But the God who sends the rain is better.

Genesis 7-9 - Something more is needed gatewaychurchmonroe.com/f/the-flood-th…

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Republican caller reacts to Kid Rock's halftime show: "I flipped to it for about 10 or 15 seconds and all it was some song trying to rile up the MAGA base. Not all republicans support Donald Trump."

Iowa’s 2026 Governor’s race is a MUST WIN! ⁦@adamsteen⁩ can win via his IOWA work ethic and via an ALL IN base. His vision inspires! He’s a man of Faith, a proven businessman and a bold conservative who knows what’s at stake. Proud to endorse him. desmoinesregister.com/story/news/pol…

State Legislature is listening! Newton & Jasper County residents have been loud & clear: they want real action on property taxes NOW. With the State Legislature working on delivering meaningful reforms in 2026, the big question is: Are our local governments listening too? We must step up locally—ask the hard question: How can we LOWER property taxes? Through real efficiencies, innovation, collaboration, and supporting reforms like revenue growth caps & targeted exemptions. Time for bold local leadership and lasting relief! #PropertyTaxReform #LocalAction"

🚨 #Iowa Voters: MED Act (SF220) protects docs/nurses from forced abortions/gender procedures, violating beliefs. 9/10 religious pros would quit w/o protections. Passed House '25, Senate subcomm last week. Contact senators NOW: bit.ly/4t1slYu #MEDAct #DoNoHarm