The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Consistent and Persistent"
Consistent and persistent describes our Lord's saving work on the behalf of those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
"I am the Lord; I change not" (Malachi 3:6).
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
In our best times of walking with the Lord, His faithfulness rather than our own remains the guiding and empowering focus of our hearts. In fact, any consistency and persistence on our part flows from the wellspring of God's determination to "finish the work" (Romans 9:28). The Holy Spirit works in us to maintain our gaze upon the only hope any of us have for ongoing devotion to God. "At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made" (Isaiah 17:7-8). The role of faith we play ever involves response to the far greater role of faithfulness our perfectly trustworthy Heavenly Father plays on our behalf. The "good work" He begins can ever be looked upon as dynamic means and influence whereby our continuing flows from His continuing work to conform us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:28-29).
Little wonder that our spiritual enemies seek in countless ways to distract our focus from our Father's saving and sanctifying work in Christ. They know - likely better than do we ourselves - that He is "the power of God" for every step of our spiritual journey (I Corinthians 1:24). We can no more live the Christian life apart from the Lord Jesus than we could have begun it without Him. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). The perseverance of the Savior supplies our hope and strength - "being confident of this very thing." The more we know and understand our Lord's faithful working on our behalf, the more we will faithfully work on His behalf. His consistency and persistence - ever and always, the light that illuminates our path, and the life that empowers our walk upon it.
"For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."
(Colossians 1:9-11)
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."
(Colossians 2:6-7)
Weekly Memory Verse
"I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(I Thessalonians 5:23)
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