The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Grace, For Obedience"
"As we awaken to our day in full knowledge that God has a will for us, we must have no less knowledge that He has a grace for us whereby we can do what we never could accomplish apart from His leading and enabling."
"By whom (Christ) we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name" (Romans 1:5).
The grace of freely given favor in the Lord Jesus Christ results in God's revelation of His will - in Paul's life, apostleship - and then in a life of obedience for the glory of our Savior. We awaken to each new day with a defined path of God's will in His heart and mind. Some aspects of the way may be known to us. Others may await our discovery. Whatever the case, our hope is "grace… for obedience to the faith."
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
The Lord Jesus stated the matter plainly to His disciples. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Just as God gave us existence and maintains it, He also must be the power of a life lived for His glory. Obedience is always fruit. It can never be root. Even the smallest act of faithfulness to God must precede from His faithfulness to us. We no less require our Lord's grace for the living of our Christian life than we required for it's commencement. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).
If ever obedience to God seems to loom as an insurmountable challenge or burden, we can know that our spiritual enemies tempt us to trust in dust, that is, to perceive our own abilities as the means by which we must do the will of God. No possibility of such faithfulness exists. Thus, as we awaken to our day in full knowledge that God has a will for us, we must have no less knowledge that He has a grace for us whereby we can do what we never could accomplish apart from His leading and enabling. "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10). The Apostle Paul who did so much for the Lord Jesus knew that his doings were by the Lord Jesus. He testified accordingly, and let us rejoice that we can join our brother of old in his affirmation of "grace for obedience to the faith…"
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(Philippians 4:13)
"And 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)
Weekly Memory Verse
Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
(Psalm 100:3)
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