The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"All Came (Is Coming… Will Come) To Pass"
"There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass" (Joshua 21:45).
How trustworthy is God? Answering this question in a consistent and growing conviction determines the believer's trustworthiness to Him. The more we discover that in the past "all came to pass" of His promises, the more we will realize the same truth abides for the present and the future. Faith ensues, along with the corresponding "fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:11).
The Holy Spirit ignites and fuels the process by His active presence within our hearts, working in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure." He leads us to the Scriptures as the means of convincing our minds that no promise of God will fail. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." We also benefit greatly through the influence of fellow believers, whose example, insight, encouragement, and challenge greatly motivate our confidence and devotion. "I long to see you, that I many impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established, that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." Finally, our Father meets us along the pathways of life, working so personally and profoundly that as time goes by, we realize how truly the Lord Jesus spoke when He declared, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Philippians 2:13; Romans 10:10; 1:11-12; Matthew 10:30).
As we devote ourselves to such grace and truth, revealed by the Scriptures, the Spirit, the saints, and the personally specific working of God, we increasingly discover that just as "all came to pass," all is coming to pass, and all will come to pass of the "exceeding great and precious promises" of God (II Peter 1:4). How trustworthy is our Lord? We will never fully know, and in such wonder of a faithfulness that extends unto forever, we find our hearts carried along in the determination to be trustworthy to Him.
"Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
Our calling involves availing ourselves of the aforementioned means of seeing the perfect and infinite integrity of God. Faith and faithfulness do not simply happen despite the mighty working of our Lord to inspire our confidence. Believers live in a real relationship with God whereby He works, we respond, and our hearts become increasingly convinced of the utter foolishness and even insanity of not trusting Him. Yes, all came to pass in Joshua's day, and throughout the chronicle of Scripture. All continues to come to pass. All will come to pass. In our hearts, howver, all comes to abide and grow of the realization that God can be trusted. Thereby, "we are changed into the same image," and thereby, all glory belongs to Him as He faithfulness inspires and empowers our own.
"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him."
(Lamentations 3:22-24)
Weekly Memory Verse
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
(II Corinthians 4:6)
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