The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Make It Personal"
"God is personal. We are personal. Unite His heart with our own, and the possibility of a life lived in fellowship with our Lord ever lives within our reach, and even more, within our hearts."
Many thoughts course through our brains on a given day, thoughts of gladness, sorrow, certainty, perplexity, hope, concern, peace, and fear. On that same given day, the same thoughts present numerous opportunities to "make it personal."
"Seek the LORD, and His strength: seek His face evermore" (Psalm 105:4).
Consider a happy blessing of life. We can enjoy the moment and the experience by pondering and enjoying its pleasure. Our Lord greatly desires that we do so. "God… giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (I Timothy 6:17). However, we can take a step further, and make the moment personal by remembering that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). We can turn our hearts toward the Giver, and make a conscious decision to thank Him for His gracious lovingkindness. "I will give thanks unto Thee, o Lord" (II Samuel 22:30). God gives His gifts that we may know Him, the Giver. He would have us enjoy them, and to enjoy Him in the reception and the response of being personal with Him in the giving of thanks.
Challenges, troubles, and pains also escort to the doorstep of personally relating to God. "In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God" (II Samuel 22:7). How easy it is to simply hurt without communicating with the One who can do something about our distresses. We can moan and mourn without realizing that Someone cares for us more than we care for ourselves, Someone who sees our pains in the most personal terms. "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you" (I Peter 5:7). How easily we forget, or are distracted from the "very present help in trouble" our Lord promises to be, and is (Psalm 46:1). We must make it personal when we hurt, remembering that our challenge is already personal to the God who loves us as His "dear children" (Ephesians 5:1).
We can also make personal the everyday and mundane realities of life that are actually far from everyday and mundane. The living and true God abides with us always if we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. His presence infuses significance and meaning into all things in our lives. Thus, we may approach Him through Christ at any time and in any place, seeking His guidance, asking for His light regarding matters we do not understand, and communing with Him in the realization of His place as the Life of our lives. "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). Praise and thanksgiving rightly occupy a large aspect of such communion, and we bless our Father's heart and He blesses ours as we take opportunity to make personal the grace of His provision, and the gratitude of our reception.
God is personal. We are personal. Unite His heart with our own, and the possibility of a life lived in fellowship with our Lord ever lives within our reach, and even more, within our hearts. May He grant much grace of reminding, encouraging, and challenging us to avail ourselves of the greatest gift He could provide to our trusting hearts, namely, the gift of Himself…
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
(Romans 5:1-2)
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
(Hebrews 4:16)
Weekly Memory Verse
For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
(II Corinthians 13:4)
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