Orange Moon Wednesday, May 20, 2026 "That We May Believe"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    “That We May Believe”       

     

     “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13).

   Unto those “that believe,” the Apostle John wrote his epistle for purpose “that ye may believe.”  The faith of the new birth must increasingly become the faith of our “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).  We do well to take pause and prayerfully ponder a question that bears the greatest impact on our existence…

    “To what degree do we believe God and His Word?”

    We do not direct the question inward, but rather outward, upward, and away.  Only our Heavenly Father can answer the great question of how faithfully we trust Him.  We await His answers that will come to us by His Spirit, His Word, fellow believers, and His illumination of our hearts and minds along the paths of Providence.  “Thou wilt show me the path of life” (Psalm 16:11).

     An even greater question actually prepares us to know where we are in our journey of faith.  “How well do we know our Lord?”  Indeed, faith is fruit rather than root.  We trust others to the degree we know them.  The challenges of faith do not primarily involve their measure, degree, or nature of difficulty.  Scripture and history record that God can be trusted in fiery flames by those who well know Him:

    “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up” (Daniel 3:17-18).

    Three young men did not trust their Lord in the most dire circumstance as a mere matter of disciplined obedience.  They believed Him because they knew Him.  God had revealed Himself personally to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They had responded in faith to find Him so trustworthy that they knew He could be trusted in fires that brought light and warmth, and in fires that threatened pain and death.  His faithfulness and the knowledge thereof assured their hearts regarding His heart and its assurance that God can and must be believed, no matter what.  

    “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof” (Psalm 46:1-3).

     Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew something about our God that we must know, and having known it, we must know better and better.  Namely, no one has ever trusted the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and been disappointed for doing so.  And no on ever will.  Infinite faithfulness forever abides as the sublime character of His heart, and the governing determination of His every thought, word, action, and relationship to His creation.  How well do we know the wonder of such glory?  Not well enough.  We “that believe” must become those who more and more “may believe.”  The issue does not involve our determination to become better at trusting God, but rather more and more knowing who He is and understanding of His perfect faithfulness that motivates and empowers our believing.  Trusting God flows from the wellspring of knowing Him, and of knowing Him better and better, more and more, and “increasing in the knoweldge of God” (Colossians 1:10).  The Lord Jesus Christ defined eternal life in these terms and we close in their faith fostering and fueling light, “that we may believe…”

“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.”

(John 17:3)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(Deuteronomy 29:29)

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Orange Moon Tuesday, May 19, 2026 "Questions To Ponder"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    “Questions To Ponder”       

     

     When reading any passage of the Bible, we do well to keep certain primary questions in mind.

    “Who is God?” (John 17:3).  

     “What has He done, what is He doing, and what will He do in accordance with “the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord?” (Ephesians 3:11).  

    “How does this purpose relate to humanity?  To the people in my sphere of influence?  To myself? “ (Acts 17:28).

    “How do I respond to God’s purpose and working by faith?  What promises and assurances do I find in this passage that leads me to realize, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God?” (Romans 10:17). 

    “What commands apply to my life in this present time and hour as I seek to “do the will of God from the heart?” (Ephesians 6:6).

   “Are there promises I have disbelieved and commands I have disobeyed for which I need to repent and trust God for His forgiveness and cleansing?” (I John 1:9).

   “What new insights teach me?  What encouragements strengthen me?  What admonitions and warnings challenge me? (Psalm 25:5; 119:28; II Timothy 316).

    “What praises and thanksgivings arise in realization of God’s goodness, greatness, and His personal blessing of my life and the lives of others?” (Hebrews 13:15; I Thessalonians 5:18).

   “What Scriptural light illuminates my interpretation of past events, presence occurrences, and future possibilities?” (Hebrews 13:8).

    Most importantly, “How can I better know the love of God, and respond in growing love for Him and others?” (I John 4:19; I Thessalonians 3:12).

    These, and other questions kept in heart and mind, prepare us to discover the glory that awaits us in the Scriptures that bear witness to the Savior and His personal and pointed involvement in all things.

“Order my steps in Thy Word.”

(Psalm 119:133)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(Deuteronomy 29:29)

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Orange Moon Monday, May 18, 2026 "God's Part. Our Part"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

    “God’s Part, Our Part”       

     

    What is God’s part in our relationship with Him?  What is our part?

    The fatalist suggests we have no role in the relationship.  Whether he believes in a divine being or some influence that governs all things, the fatalist perceives all events as resulting from an overriding determination that precludes any real response on the part of humanity.  We may feel as if we have involvement in the course of things.  Appearances surely  seem to confirm.  However, the fatalist affirms freedom as mere illusion in an existence wherein everything that occurs results from the determination of God, the gods, materialistic processes, or some force beyond our understanding.  This explains the reason for many New Testament passages that address the deceptions of Greek gnosticism, which was generally fatalistic and suggested as illusion anything other than spiritual reality.  “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (I John 4:3).

     Conversely, born again believers in the Lord Jesus first all to our knees and faces in wonder when the question of God’s part and our part comes to mind.  We know He “works all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).  We also know that countless events occur that He does not determine.  “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13).  Indeed, believers often rightly affirm that our Lord controls all things.  By this, we do not mean He causes all things, but rather that He coordinates all things for the glory of the Lord Jesus, the fulfillment of His will, and the furtherance of “the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 1:11).  This results in the awareness of vast mystery, leading to the realization that we love, trust, and serve a God whose “ways are past finding out” (Romans 11:33).  

    Only a weak and tawdry God would require absolute determination of all things to fulfill His purposes.  Consider the dictators of human history, pathetic figures who seek absolute control of their populations in order to further evil purposes that could not be fulfilled otherwise.  Or think of Satan, their master.  If he could create, we can be sure he would require all that happens in his unfortunate domain to occur according to his precise dictates.  In modern terms, his denizens would live in a simulation wherein existence might seem real and personal, but which would actually be nothing more than a controlled inevitability.  The living and true God does not require such a pointed domination.  He rather fulfills His purposes in the midst of granting and requiring freely willed choices to trust and obey Him in response to His working.  Or not.  How does He do this?  How does His will coordinate with the wills of conscious beings, whose freedom He Himself created and granted?  No one knows.  We simply know that He is that wise, that knowing, that present, that involved, that able, that glorious, that active, and that loving in all things, while all the while requiring active response in us.  “I am the LORD your God.  Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 20:19).

   An ancient lie guides the fatalist.  “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).  Eternal truth guides the believer.  “His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5; emphasis added).  The former believes he can fathom a reality so wondrous that eternity will not allow for more than a modicum of understanding.  The latter wastes no time or mental effort seeking to know the unknowable.  He rather seeks to trust God completely in the awareness of our complete need for His working, while actively and proactively using the freedom our Lord formed within us to make real relationship possible.  The Psalmist knew this reality of a willed love, fulfilled by availing ourselves of the power of God:  “I will love Thee, o Lord my strength!” (Psalm 18:1).  

    Moses closes our consideration with counsel  that leads us to our knees and faces in utter wonder and dependence regarding God's part, and then raises us up to fulfill our part in the freedom of genuine and loving relationship with our wondrous Lord…

“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

(Deuteronomy 29:29)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(Deuteronomy 29:29)

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