Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Orange Moon Tuesday, February 28, 2023 "A Sweet Sigh, a Full Breath"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
      

"A Sweet Sigh, a Full Breath"

     
   Leonardo da Vinci wisely said, "He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss."

    Thankfully, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ need not concern ourselves with the loss of possessions.  In terms of truth and reality, we have none.

    "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, and all they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).

   Let us inventory the things we own according to earthly definition and measure.  Then, let us breathe the sweet sigh of relief that, in real terms, we own absolutely nothing.    Houses, lands, bank accounts, cars, clothes, tools, toys, and most of all, ourselves, the list could go on and on.  All belong to "the Possessor of Heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:22).  The most blessed peace descends upon us and arises within us as the Spirit of God calls us to remove our weary hands from the reins of possessions that belong to Another.  "All that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine" (I Chronicles 29:11).

    We bear the role and responsibility of stewards, that is, of God-led and enabled caretakers of our Heavenly Father's possessions entrusted to us.  "It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (I Corinthians 4:2).    Our calling of stewardship abides well within our capability because God promises the power to enable our care of that which belongs to Him.  "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Corinthians 9:8).  What grace, and what a privilege to realize our role to remember "All is Thine," and to serve as caretakers of God's own.  

    Wondrous peace and wonderful purpose accompanies the realization of God's ownership and our stewardship.  Yes, we breath the sweet sigh of relief, and then inhale a full breath of the Spirit of God to go forth and take care of that which belongs to "the Possessor of Heaven and earth."  That includes everything and everybody.  All are His, we are His, and no truth more blesses our hearts with reality and tranquility, and our hands with the power to serve the Owner as His steward sons and daughters.

"As having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
(II Corinthians 6:10)

Weekly Memory Verse
   "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
 (I Corinthians 1:30)





















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shared with a dear friend yesterday that 99.99% of the Bible involves God's revelation and glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We exist to know Him, and to find in such holy light the reality, reason, and ramifications of our existence (John 17:3).  The Holy Spirit who indwells us ever works to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus (John 15:28; 16:14).  However, I also mentioned to my friend that a .01% place exists for the believer's self-knowledge and awareness.  To know God means we will know ourselves in the context of Christ, as it were.  "Ye are in Christ Jesus… He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 1:30; 6:17).  Of all that God sees of us, we can be sure this is first and this is primary.  Indeed, how can it not be so when we consider…

    "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

      If God gave His Son to the cross to make possible and actual His giving of the Holy Spirit to our hearts, could it be that He sees us with any other essential focus?  If He poured out His wrath on the Lord Jesus so that He might pour out the Spirit into our spirits, will He ever overlook this "hope of glory, which is Christ in you?"  And if He left His beloved Lord Jesus to die alone in utter abandonment to make possible His presence within us, will He ever take leave of seeing us in terms less than "Ye are the temple of the living God?" (II Corinthians 6:16).

   Find the most faithful believer on the planet in this moment, and you will find one viewed by God as united to the Spirit of His Son.  Find the most failing believer on the planet in this moment, and you will find one viewed by God as united to the Spirit of His Son.  Too much was sacrificed for the Divine gaze upon us to be other or less.  Certainly, our faithful or failing response to Him matters much, and He works to enhance the former, and correct the latter.  However, God's first gaze ever sees us in  light of the cross, the empty tomb, and the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ within us.  We must see ourselves accordingly.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).  

    This is the .o1% - how we view ourselves - based on the 99.99% - how we view God.  But how important it is.  To share God's view of Christ in us and ourselves in Christ will go far in motivating and empowering a corresponding life of faith and faithfulness.  Moreover, our Savior suffered agonized abandonment on the cross to bestow such grace upon and within us.  We will never throughout eternity, or in this lifetime, live a moment apart from the Holy Spirit's abiding and empowering presence within us.  Yes, God gave Himself to dwell within our hearts when we believed.  He will not leave.  This is how He views us.  This is how we must view ourselves.

"I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
(Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5)
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(Romans 6:11)







































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Monday, February 27, 2023

Orange Moon Monday, February 27, 2023 "His Gaze of Grace"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

      


"His Gaze of Grace"

     

    What is God's primary perspective of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?  The answer may surprise us.

    "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (I Corinthians 3:16).

   Note the Apostle Paul did not bestow this affirmation upon believers faithfully walking with their Lord.  He rather directed his words to a church steeped in sin and failure:

   "Ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" (I Corinthians 3:2).

   Division characterized only one of the Corinthian church's problems.  Sexual immorality, legal disputes among believers, marital issues, and even disrespect of the Lord's supper plagued the Corinthian fellowship.  Paul nevertheless identified his faltering brethren as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the temple of God.  In fact, the Apostle's first application of truth in seeking to deal with the Corinthians' problems involved the affirmation of their spiritual union with the Lord Jesus:

   "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (I Corinthians 1:30).

    This gives us a clue as to God's first view of believers.  He sees the entirety of our being, of course, and of our doings.  "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).  Certainly, our Father works in our lives accordingly.  However, whatever of our response to Him may present itself to His pervasive gaze, we can be sure the first view involves the presence of His Son within our Spirits.  "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).

   Many reasons account for this gaze of grace.  Primarily, that which made possible our Lord's eternally abiding presence in our hearts provides the most important basis for how He views His trusting children in Christ.

    "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

   It is one thing that the Lord Jesus bore our sins (I Peter 2:24).  It is another that He was "made to be sin for us."  What can this mean?  What can this denote of spiritual darkness and moral horror in the sensibilities of a perfectly righteous Being?  We will never know.  We can and must, however, know this: such a sacrifice made possible God's provision of wondrously heart-changing grace within the innermost depths of our spiritual being.

    "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.  Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:21).

   If God gave His Son to the cross to make possible and actual His giving of the Holy Spirit to our hearts, could it be that He sees us with any other essential focus?  If He poured out His wrath on the Lord Jesus so that He might pour out His Spirit into our spirits, will He ever overlook the reality of "Christ in you, the hope of glory?" (Colossians 1:27).  If He left His beloved Lord Jesus to die alone in order to make possible His presence within us, will He ever see us as less than "the temple of the living God?" (II Corinthians 6:16).    

   Find the most faithful believer on the planet in this moment.  You will find one viewed by God as united to the Spirit of His Son and enrobed with His righteousness.  Find the most failing believer on the planet in this moment.  You will find God's view no less affixed on His faltering child's union with the Spirit of Christ.  He sees the same robe of Christ's righteousness.  The Lord Jesus sacrificed far too much for the Divine gaze upon us to be other or less.  Certainly, our faithful or failing response to Him matters much, and He diligently works as necessary to enhance the former, and correct the latter.  However, God's first gaze ever sees us in  light of the cross, the empty tomb, and the Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ within us.  We must  join our Father in such spiritual mindedness and see ourselves accordingly.  "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).

   The Corinthians repented of their sins, being commended by the same Paul who had necessarily chastened them (II Corinthians 7:8-16).  God's gaze of grace - "of Him are ye in Christ Jesus… ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit" - provided the foundational truth whereby He redeemed the Corinthians into being sons and daughters in whom He not only lived, but also walked (II Corinthians 6:16).  Yes, long ago, God the Father saw His Son to be sin as He hung dying on the cross of Calvary, pouring out His wrath upon Him.  Upon this most solemn and holy basis, He now and forevermore sees us as enrobed with the righteousness of His Son.  Little wonder that Paul, enthralled with the truth of God's freely given salvation in Christ, exulted with the wonder of abounding sin, overcome and overwhelmed by abounding grace and its glorious gift of righteousness in Christ… 

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse
   "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 
(I Corinthians 1:30)





















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Sunday, February 26, 2023

Orange Moon Sunday, February 26, 2023 "They? I!"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

      


"They? I!"

     

   Perhaps you, like me, have read portions of Scripture about believers in which they did not know and believe the obvious.  

   "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments, and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.  And they remembered His words" (Luke 24:1-8).

   Such passages have elicited the thought, "How did they not know, how could they…?".  Then another thought occurs.  "How do I not know, how could I?"  Far too often, the risen Lord Jesus has stood before me in the pages of Scripture, along the pathways of life, and in my heart through the Holy Spirit, but I have failed to see, realize, and believe.  I have brought spices to a grave, as it were, rather than faith to the throne of grace whereupon sits the risen Christ.  When thinking clearly, my focus cannot possibly direct itself to others, but upon my own need to remember and affirm the Lord Jesus as risen from the dead.  

   "Remember how He spake unto you."  Of course, we have not seen, heard, or touched the living Word physically.  "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  However, we possess gifts the disciples of the Lord Jesus did not have.  The indwelling Holy Spirit, the written Word of God, two thousand years of church history, our own personal history with a risen Savior, and the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ all provide powerful reminders and encouragements to believe our Lord is alive and near along every pathway of life.  No excuses for unbelief exist for us, any more than they existed for our brethren of old.  We actually bear far greater culpability, based on far greater light (Luke 12:48).  Thus, the focus of faith ever leads us to "How can I?" rather than "How could they?"

    The risen life of the Lord Jesus pervades our hearts and our steps.  We can live in its holy light, overcoming the challenges of our present lives by faith in His dynamic present and working.  "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth Jesus is the Son of God?" (I John 5:5).  Or, like disciples of old, we can bring spices to a grave we should know to be empty.  We do well to glean lessons from their ignorance and unbelief, but always in the remembrance that too often our own hands have been fragranced by spices of unbelief we should have known were completely unnecessary.  The Lord Jesus is risen from the dead.  He sits upon the Heavenly throne of grace.  He works mightily in the hearts and lives of those who trust Him.  Our brethren long ago needed no spices.  Nor do we.  

"What is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 1:19-20)
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
(Ephesians 3:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse
     The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
(Psalm 46:7)

    


   






















  

    

     























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Saturday, February 25, 2023

Orange Moon Saturday, February 25, 2023 "Help Me, o Lord!"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

      


"Help Me, o Lord!"

     

   "Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed! And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing" (Luke 22:21-23).
   "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto Him, Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death" (Luke 22:31-33).

    From uncertainty to boasting, the disciples all missed the best and only response to their Lord's foretelling of their failure.

   "Help me, O LORD my God!" (Psalm 109:26).

   The disciples considered with each other who might be the betrayer.  Peter spoke to the Lord, but not with humble acceptance of what the Lord said.  Thus, all focused their attention on themselves rather than the One who could have saved them from the unfaithfulness that led to the only true indictment that occurred when the Lord Jesus was arrested and tried: "Then all the disciples forsook Him, and fled" (Matthew 26:56).  The disciples should have "sought grace to help in time of need" by turning to their Master rather than each other.  Peter should have humbled himself, falling before the Lord's feet to seek same aid (Hebrews 4:16).  "We know You are right, Lord!  Please help us to abide faithful to you!"

   Of course, all things happened as Scripture foretold.  Perhaps had the disciples responded better, they still might have fled.  Nevertheless, a great lesson lies before us in their declension.  Namely, no believer will remain true to God who does not seek His vitally necessary keeping and enabling.  Only faith in His faithfulness results in our own faithfulness.  When we suspend coming to Him for grace, waywardness awaits.  "Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28).  Or, when we boast of our fidelity, as did Peter, bitter sorrow awaits us as trust in ourselves leads to disaster.  "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26).  Indeed, we have no more hope for living the Christian life by our own dedication than we did beginning the Christian life by our own deeds.

   "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

   We play a vital role in our walk with the Lord as believers, trusting and submitting to Him, while availing ourselves of the gifts He gives to ensure our faithfulness.  We do so, however, in the realization of our complete dependence on the Lord for consecrated devotion to Him.  The disciples learned this lesson after their fall, and after the Holy Spirit came to indwell them with the help of His presence and working.  They all lived lives of great self sacrifice thereby, presenting to us yet another lesson from their experience with the Lord.  We do well to learn from both, and to grow in our realization of His provision, our need, and the beautiful fellowship of truth whereby we walk humbly and faithfully with our God…

"Without Me, ye can do nothing."
(John 15:5)
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(Philippians 4:13)

Weekly Memory Verse
     The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
(Psalm 46:7)

    


   






















  

    

     























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