The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Will of God, By the Grace of God"
"Nothing without our Lord. All things through Him. These are the dual rails upon which we journey by humility and faith to perform the will of God."
In seeking God's will, where does the born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ begin? The answer lies in the same grace in Christ we received when we trusted Him for salvation:
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
We begin our devotion to obedience by trusting our Lord for His motivation, leading, and enabling. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). We recall the Lord Jesus' stark revelation to His disciples of their complete inadequacy to obey God in and of themselves: "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). We then proceed to affirm the Apostle Paul's confident confession of his Lord's presence and grace: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). Nothing without our Lord. All things through Him. These understandings serve as the dual rails upon which we journey by humility and faith to perform the will of God.
"Heavenly Father, Your will far transcends my human devotion and ability as You call me to 'walk even as Christ walked.' I can find nothing in my earthly humanity that enables such a wondrous life. However, I find in my heart, based on the promise of Your Word, that the Lord Jesus dwells in me through the presence of the Holy Spirit. I also discover the assurance that He both dwells and walks in me (II Corinthians 6:16). I thus acknowledge my native human weakness - I cannot - as the basis for affirming Your glorious divine enabling - I can, through Christ."
Our Lord made us to serve as the "habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22). We live by His presence and working within us, actively participating with Him in faith, submission, and the expectation He will motivate, lead, and empower us. He calls us and expects us to do His will. However, He knows far better than do we ourselves how such faithfulness must proceed in our hearts and lives. Thus, He works in us "to will and to do." He also calls us to "work our your own salvation in fear and trembling," that is, we solemnly determine that our obedience so matters to God that Christ died on the cross so that He might live within our hearts to enable our faithfulness (Philippians 2:12).
The grace that spiritually birthed us when we trusted the Lord Jesus abides as the same means whereby we obey God. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6). Let us then indeed "have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear." Genuine obedience will happen in no other way. "I cannot… I can, through Christ!" Both rails of truth must lie within our understanding and confidence as we make our way in the will of God, by the grace of God.
"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
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment."
(Philippians 1:9)
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