Orange Moon Friday, March 13, 2026 “Encouraged By Encouraging”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Encouraged By Encouraging"   

   Sometimes when we feel the need for encouragement, God sends it by His Word, His Spirit, His church, and other means whereby He strengthens and refreshes us. 

    Sometimes, however, it seems that He doesn't. Sometimes no cool breeze or cup of cold water appears to be forthcoming.   On those occasions, a different form of encouragement may lie at hand.

    "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you... Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes" (II Corinthians 4:11-12; 15).

    The greatest encouragement we receive will always be that which we administer to others. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).  The strengthening that passes through us rather than to us lifts us up because "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5). Our Lord ever moves within us to look upward, outward, and away from ourselves, leading us to experience the comfort and encouragement of "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

    When we feel cast down without reprieve, the Holy Spirit directs our attention to the needs of other hurting souls. We may only have opportunity to pray a prayer, but what an opportunity that is.  Or we may find words and ways to reveal the comfort of the Lord Jesus in direct ministry. Whatever the case, as our focus departs from ourselves unto the glory of God and the needs of others, our Lord's encouragement will flow to us or through us by His all sufficient grace.  

    "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

    We thank God for those times in which He personally comforts our hearts. We also thank Him when we are encouraged by encouraging. Both flow from the Lord Jesus, who lived His earthly lifetime in both His Father's care and in the glory of devotion to others...

"I am not alone because the Father is with Me."

(John 16:32)

"The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many."

(Matthew 20:28)

"Walk, even as He walked."

(I John 2:6)

Weekly Memory Verse 

     I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name forevermore.

(Psalm 86:12)

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Orange Moon Thursday, March 12, 2026 “More Pleasure” Conclusion - “Pleasures Forevermore"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"More Pleasure"   

Conclusion - "Pleasures Forevermore"

"The Lord taketh pleasure in His people."

(Psalm 149:4)

     We conclude our consideration with a final and most wondrous thought regarding the marvel that we bear the capacity to please the heart of God more than He can please ours.

    "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

    We exist for the pleasure of a perfectly unselfish Being (I Corinthians 13:5). What is His pleasure?  Exactly what we would expect of One devoted to the blessing of others…

   "That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).  

     God made the human race to be the primary recipient and repository of His sublime character, nature, and way.  He made us for the pleasure He finds in being good to us.  The Apostle Paul declares we exist for the favored kindness of One so devoted to others that His beloved Son bears the wounds suffered to redeem those who insanely and wickedly turned away from Him.  "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son" (Romans 5:10).  Eternity will not exhaust the goodness God will bestow on those who receive His freely given grace in the Lord Jesus, including perhaps the most glorious of all gifts…

    "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).

    God will forever be pleased as He sees the perfectly unselfish nature of the Lord Jesus revealed in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).  Imagine - anticipate, actually - an eternity wherein multitudes of sons and daughters perfectly and increasingly shine forth with the wondrous devotion of the One who "came not to be ministered to, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).  Every one of the redeemed will be completely devoted to loving God and others, finding fulfillment in seeking not their own, but in looking upward, outward, and away as the reflection of their Savior's wondrous attribute and attitude of altruism.  Little wonder then that we will please God more than He pleases us as He sees Christ in us, and as both He and we would have it no other way.  "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43).

    The redemption has already begun for those who believe in the Lord Jesus.  The work is in progress.  This day offers opportunity to "walk, even as He walked" in devotion to God and others (I John 2:6).  We can please God as His unselfishness shines forth in our countenance, attitudes, demeanor, words, and deeds.  The Christ who "pleased not Himself," and who so pleased His Father thereby, dwells and walks in us to lead us in such grace and glory (Romans 15:3; II Corinthians 6:16).  This opportunity of a lifetime prepares us for the opportunity of forever, when God will so please us with everlasting kindness, but when, in the wonder of "Christ in you, the hope of glory," we shall please Him more (Colossians 1:27).

"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

(Psalm 16:11)

Weekly Memory Verse 

  I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name for evermore.

(Psalm 86:12)

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