The Daily Memo

Have you ever come home after traveling and experienced a feeling of security and delight? There’s often a reassuring sense of comfort upon opening the door to familiar things and the awareness of being where you belong. The apostle John was given glimpses of our future home, the new Jerusalem. You may be surprised to know that there were no church buildings in John’s vision, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21).…

It’s a good idea to pause every now and then to evaluate our spiritual development. Although we will experience different phases of faith throughout life, our goal should be to continue growing. Which phase sounds like you? Hesitant faith is characterized by struggling to believe God: We hope He’ll answer our prayer, but we’re just not sure. Sometimes doubts creep in because we’re looking at the situation, not at the Lord and His Word. Or maybe our…

Faith isn’t a one-time event with the single purpose of ushering us into salvation. Sadly, some Christians never progress beyond this initial level of faith. But God wants our relationship with Him to continually grow. Willingness to trust the Lord affects every area of our life—how we feel, what we do, the way He blesses us. In some ways, it comes down to our focus: When you face difficulties or heartbreak, do you notice the impossibility of the circumstances,…

The way to begin to get free of this debris, to remove these limits you’ve unknowingly placed on Jesus, is first to name what the problem is. Where are you having a hard time with Jesus? Where is your struggle with him? Do you find it hard to believe he loves you? Or that he loves you because of what you do? Do you feel like you are always disappointing him? Is he mad at you? Ignoring you? Does Jesus seem like a hard man who wants you to work harder? Does he seem distant&mdash,…

Patience, we can learn a lot about the topic from the story of Paul’s trial. Instead of letting his accusers stir him up, the apostle patiently went through the legal process. He refrained from attacking the opposition or decrying the injustice of the charges. And eventually Paul’s peaceful manner won favor with the governor and earned him a hearing for the gospel (Acts 25:24-25). We need the Lord’s help to grow in patience like Paul. This will involve our ;…

God gave me an image in my mind and imagination. That when the veil tore--we could freely step back into the garden of Eden where we could once again walk and talk with Him. As he shared this image, I realized the significance of this representation of the journey for all of us. The need for each of us to give up the law and any notion that we can work our way back to God. That we must accept all of the rites that come with accepting Jesus' sacrifice. This sacrifice…

I think it was Archibald Hart who pointed out that because we are so accustomed to moving pedal to the metal in our own world, the thing we overlook in the Gospels are all of the in-between times when Christ and his followers were walking from one town to another. When the record states, “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee,” (John 1:43) we project our own pace upon it, not realizing it took the boys three days by foot to get there. Three days just…

…and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to Him at once, asking Him to re-establish your rest. Never allow anything to remain in your life that is causing the unrest. Think of every detail of your life that is causing the disintegration as something to fight against, not as something you should allow to remain. Ask the Lord to put awareness of Himself in you, and your self-awareness will.…

The difficulties we face originate from one of three sources. Some are allowed by the Lord to develop our faith, others are the result of Satan’s attacks, and still others could be due to our own sinful choices. As you consider these three causes, which type is the hardest for you to bear? I think most of us would say the last one because we have nobody to blame but ourselves, and it seems as if no good could possibly result. Since Galatians 6:7 says we reap what we…