Orange Moon Wednesday, June 24, 2026 "All Came To Pass"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“All Came 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).

    As will all of God’s promises to the church of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  As the end of this present epoch in God’s purposes, every promise will be found perfectly fulfilled by the One who not only will not lie.  He “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2).

    Of all the truth that must be planted, nurtured, preserved, and furthered in our hearts, none surpass the reality of our Lord’s perfect faithfulness.  We “live by faith” to the degree we know His trustworthiness (Romans 1:17).  This requires personal communion with Him through the gifts He has given of His indwelling Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, fellow believers, and prayerfully walking with Him along the pathways of His providential working in our lives.  We must become more and more convinced that all will come to pass of God’s promises, that the many challenges we presently face will find our hearts arising to believe regardless of anything that contradicts.  “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust” (Isaiah 12:2).

   In times when we find faith challenging, we do well to consider, “Which of God’s promised good things will not come to pass?  Which assurance will come to naught?  Which provision, protection, and providence will crash on the rocks of failure?  How will God have either lied, or been unable to keep His Word?”  I literally found the preceding sentences hard to write, and I am not ashamed to admit they brought tears to my eyes.  Indeed, the Heart that made the promises is accompanied by Hands once nailed to a cross in keeping them.  All will come to pass.  No assurance will be found wanting.  No provision, protection, or providence will come to destruction. The almighty God who cannot lie will be found infinitely and perfectly faithful.  

    “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 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” (Lamentations 3:21-23).

   To whatever degree we have planted the truth of God’s trustworthiness in our hearts and minds, let us dig deeper, nurture more consistently, and guard with the utmost care.  Our Lord has made promises at the greatest cost to Himself.  We will one day declare that “all came to pass.”  Presently, all is coming to pass.  No word of God can be found in failure.  All shine in grace and truth.  This we believe.  May we believe it far more.  We will not be frustrated as we do because no one has ever trusted the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and been disappointed for doing so.  And no one ever will.

“It was impossible for God to lie.”

(Hebrews 6:18)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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Orange Moon Tuesday, June 23, 2026 "The Next Moment"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“The Next Moment”

    

    The future ever begins with the next moment.  Each arrives in a flash so rapid that we rarely even consider its advent.  Most often, we look further into our tomorrows, or whatever will transpire in the day at hand.  Whatever the case, we do well to realize that one truth and one reality applies to the short or the long term future moment of this life and forevermore.

    “I will be with thee” (Isaiah 43:2).

    Five words, expressing a truth every believer knows and affirms within the heart regarding that which is to come.  Our minds waver, of course, because presently we cannot see, hear, or touch the great fact of the next moment as it races into becoming this moment.  Or again, of the moments that lie further ahead.  Thus, we must plant deeply within our hearts that wherever life takes us, Somebody will be waiting for us there. Moreover, He will journey with us as we go.

     

I wait for you, My child, wherever you may go.

I'll be there when you arrive,

I'll be with you as you go.

We live this life together, you venture not alone.

Our hearts made one forever,

united in My Son.

I wait for you, My child, I'll be with you as you go.

I made you for such grace, to be My Spirit's home.

Oh, look into My face,

and with assurance know

that we'll always be together,  you'll never be alone.

We'll be as one forever,

each other's love to know.

I wait for you, My child, I'll be with you as you go.

Forever beckons to us, as does this day, this hour.

My Spirit's peace imparts

the presence and the power

for you to journey with Me, in darkness or in light.

I am in your heart forever,

and in this day, this night.

I wait for you, My child,  I'll be with you as you ago…

I'll be with you as you go.

     I often think of the Lord’s martyrs when pondering this truth.  What would they say to us about the future moment that became their present sacrifice of suffering and death?  Did they find God’s “I will be with thee” to be true and adequate to meet the painful circumstances that accompanied their passage from the world?  We know the answer.  With one voice, all would cry out that the Lord abundantly fulfilled His promise of “I will.”  “He was!” they would cry, as will we regarding our own moments of challenge that find God ever and eternally true to His word.   Israel discovered such perfect faithfulness in the days of Joshua, “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).  

   The great truth of the next moment and of all to come beckons us to the expectation that God will be all our hearts require.  We may be greatly challenged, but as “I will be with thee” becomes “I am with thee,” and as we open the eyes of our hearts to see, the promise regarding the future will become the realized presence that secures the moment at hand…

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”

(Isaiah 26:3)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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Orange Moon Monday, June 22, 2026 "Unto Good Works"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Unto Good Works”

    

    What thought, belief, attitude, and perspective most leads born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to the life of faith and faithfulness to which God calls us?

   “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesian 2:10).

    Just as we were born again by “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” we are motivated, led, and empowered by the same dynamic “power that worketh in us.”  Thereby, we live from God in order to live for Him (Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 3:20).  

    “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)

   Suppose, for example, we began our day with the determination to consistently trust and obey our Heavenly Father, which certainly we should have done.  Should we have gritted our teeth, flexed our muscles, and pulled up our bootstraps in the commitment to do our absolute best to fulfill our commitment?  The spirit of such desire and commitment for a faithful walk with God should and must be present.  There must be an “I will,” as in the Psalmist’s ‘I will love Thee, o Lord my strength” (Psalm 18:1).  Note, however, David’s singular hope for a true devotion to God: “O Lord, my strength.”   He will knew that the hope - the only hope - for giants to be defeated, bears to be slain, and devotion to God to be fulfilled lay in a power beyond himself.  “Thou art my strength” (Psalm 31:4).  Gritted teeth, flexed muscles, and yanked bootsteps would not have cut it for David, nor will it for us.  

    The committed believer in the Lord Jesus well knows this truth.  He would not otherwise be a committed believer.  The outworking of such grace, faith, and faithfulness, however, greatly challenges us all.  Our spiritual enemies continually tempt us to forget, ignore, or neglect our singular hope for consistently walking with God.  Obedience is fruit.  It can never be the root or the vine (Colossians 2:7; John 15:1-5).  Thus, we begin our days by looking unto the Author and Finisher of our faith.  We seek to continue thereby, rejoicing in His working in our hearts and lives, while ever being on guard to not forget the Source of consistent faith and faithfulness: “We shall live with Him by the power of God” (II Corinthians 13:4).

    Consider the means by which we seek to restore a fallen believer.  Where do we begin?  By focusing on carnal attitudes, words, and deeds?  Such things matter and must be addressed.  However, the greater issue involves a more essential question: “Why has the Christian failed to avail himself of the present and powerful enabling of God to overcome temptation?"   Where lies fault in the knowledge of God, the understanding of His truth, and the failure to “access by faith… this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God?” (Romans 5:2).  In a life wherein we “live by faith,” failures in obedience can always be traced back to the indictment directed toward Capernaum in our Lord’s day: “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58).

   The prevailing thought, attitude, and perception that leads to genuine faith and faithfulness in the believer lies in the very title we bear: “believer.”  We “live by faith," accessing the power of God thereby.  Or, we tragically fail to avail ourselves of the life of Christ that teems within us.  “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 1:17; 8:6).  As we seek to glorify the Lord Jesus, fulfill God’s will, and love Him and others, we must remember that such a proper determination must be preceded and empowered by the only hope we have to carry out our commitment: “the power that worketh in us.”  Our spiritual enemies well know this, and ever seek to distract us from the grace of being “His workmanship” and the subsequent life of “unto good works.”  We must know it also, ever seeking to remember and rejoice in God’s enabling to fulfill the faithfulness He commands - and empowers.

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”

(II Corinthians 9:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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