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The Daily Memo | February 10, 2021 | Guard Your Heart
Above all else, guard your heart. We usually hear this with a sense of "Keep an eye on that heart of yours," in the way you'd warn a deputy watching over some dangerous outlaw, or a bad dog the neighbors let run. "Don't let him out of your sight." Having so long believed our hearts are evil, we assume the warning is to keep us out of trouble. So we lock up our hearts and throw away the key and then try to get on with our living. But that isn'…
Categories: Walking With God, The Daily Memo, Understanding Love | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/10/2021
The Daily Memo | February 9, 2021 | The Voice of Our Enemy
We are the sons and daughters of God, even more, the Beloved, pursued by God himself. We might think that, having our heart and mind bolstered by these images of beauty and truth, we would live our lives with courage and energy that arise out of the exuberant hope we have in the future. But there is another voice that whispers in our ear a very different message: a message in a minor and condemning key; a key that dilutes or even erases the truths John has portrayed so.…
Categories: The Daily Memo, The Reality of Our Present World, Spiritual Warfare | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/09/2021
32. Soul Care Podcast
Our enemy continues his efforts to steal not only our joy but our connection with the One who brings that joy. The times call for an all-out frontal attack against the one doing that attacking. There are a host of ways to accomplish that but it starts first by deepening our relationship with Christ. By attending to our own Soul Care above all else. How do we do that? First by recognizing it's an issue and secondly by renewing our commitment to doing something about it.…
Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/08/2021
The Daily Memo | February 8, 2021 | Vision Without Boundaries
Before ascending to heaven, Jesus told His followers to tell all nations about Him. However, many of us aren’t working to fulfill this Great Commission—at least not fervently and purposefully. What might be holding us back? Sometimes self-preserving barriers, such as fear, are the reason. For instance, if evangelizing means traveling overseas, we might be concerned about safety or how family and friends will react to our decision. We also might worry about how…
Categories: What We Were Created For, The Daily Memo, The Reality of Our Present World, Wounded Healer | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/08/2021
The Daily Memo | February 5, 2021 | God In Our Dailies
We do need more of God, much more. Little sips between long droughts will not sustain us. We need more of God in our bodies, our souls, our relationships, our work, everywhere in our lives. But when you live in a culture of the incessant upgrade of everything, the sensational, it gives the impression that if you’re going to have a deeper, richer, amazing experience of God, it’s going to have to come in some sensational way. I have some wonderful news for you:.…
Categories: What We Were Created For, The Daily Memo, The Hope of Healing, The Reality of Our Present World | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/05/2021
The Daily Memo | February 4, 2021 | How Can I Have Assurance of My Salvation?
Many followers of Jesus Christ look for the assurance of salvation in the wrong places. We tend to seek assurance of salvation in the things God is doing in our lives, in our spiritual growth, in the good works and obedience to God’s Word that is evident in our Christian walk. While these things can be evidence of salvation, they are not what we should base the assurance of our salvation on. Rather, we should find the assurance of our salvation in the objective truth…
Categories: The Daily Memo, Identity Security, Understanding Love, Restored in Him, Return to the Garden, The Hope of Healing, Knowing & Being Known | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/04/2021
The Daily Memo | February 3, 2021 | Find a Few of His Friends
Hopefully you will find a few folks who walk with God to also walk with you through the seasons of your life. But honesty—and Scripture—forces me to admit they are a rare breed. Few there are who find it. All the more reason for you to make the number less scarce, by becoming someone who walks with God and teaches others how. Look to those who have walked with God down through the ages. Certainly that is why the Bible is given to us. If God had intended it to be…
Categories: The Daily Memo, Safe People & Safe Community, Wounded Healer | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/03/2021
The Daily Memo | February 2, 2021 | A Strange Thing Happened Today
We just experienced the year's first plowable snowstorm. Not horrendous but enough to get the snowblower out. I proceeded down the driveway with the chute pointing toward the street. With very few cars around I assumed I was safe not to concern myself with a little extra snow on the already packed road surface. I needed to clear the car in my driveway before moving the chute to the left, pointing it into my front yard. A van drove by just as I sprayed the roadway,…
Categories: Walking With God, The Daily Memo, The Hope of Healing | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/02/2021
The Daily Memo | February 1, 2021 | Never Apart
There is never a single moment that you are apart from God. God is in you and with you through every trial, success, victory, and defeat. He is for you and available to you all day, every day. Even in our sin, God remains. Even in our rebellion, God dwells within us. What's left for us to do is learn how to allow this union to permeate every area of our lives. To work out our salvation is to learn to cast aside that which belongs to our former self and live out of our…
Categories: Walking With God, The Daily Memo, Practicing His Presence | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 02/01/2021
The Daily Memo | January 29, 2021 | What's Your Song?
Most Americans knew little about Alexander Hamilton—until 2015, when Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote his hit musical Hamilton. Now schoolchildren know Hamilton’s story by heart. They sing it to each other on the bus and at recess. He’s their favorite founding father. God knows the power of music, and He told Moses to “write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it” (Deuteronomy 31:19). God knew that long after Moses was,…
Categories: The Daily Memo, Understanding Love, Practicing His Presence | Authored by: sparrowwebsites | Posted: 01/29/2021