Orange Moon Friday, April 3, 2026 "Three Passages"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Three Passages"

 

     Three passages.  Three companion Scriptural passages we could read daily for a lifetime and only begin to plumb the depths of their glory and wonder.  I submit them to your consideration with no further comment, other than to suggest a measured and deliberate reading that allows their wondrous light to shine as brightly as possible within our hearts.

    "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to Heaven…     

     "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.

   

     And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.

  

     Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:1; 20-26).

    "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7).

     "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."

(Romans 5:5)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

(Psalm 100:5)

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Orange Moon Thursday, April 2, 2026 “From Everlasting”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"From Everlasting"

 

    Only God has existed "from everlasting" (Psalm 90:2).  All other beings and things had a beginning through the creative agency of the One, the only One, who has always been, and who "made all things" (Proverbs 16:4).

    This raises a fascinating question.  What was God doing in the eternity before He created angels, the universe, and human beings?  The Bible does not address this question directly, with the exception of one its most beautiful statements, uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Father just before He suffered and died on the cross of Calvary…  

    "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).  

    Loving relationship and fellowship characterized the triune God''s  "doings" before anything or anyone existed.  Certainly, the vibrantly active Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" did much before creation (Ephesians 1:11).  Loving relationship and fellowship is that which we know without question characterized His activity "from everlasting."

    As those created in God's image, this eternal occupation of personal devotion and communication with others reveals that our primary reason for being involves the same…

    "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.] And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). 

    We exist to be loved by God, and to love Him in response.  This relationship leads born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to love others as the fruit of His relational presence within us.  Certainly, we do much as human beings through our "fearfully and wonderfully made" capabilities (Psalm 139:14).  Nothing compares, however, with the loving relationship and fellowship that has been in God "from everlasting," and which now exists in us through Christ forevermore.  "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).  

    To know the love of God and to love Him and others in holy response constitutes the primary reason for our existence that proceeds directly from the eternal reality of our Lord's own being.  We "walk in truth" as we "walk in love," realizing that the centrality of relationship that had no beginning in God began in us when we trusted the Lord Jesus (III John 1;4; Ephesians 5:20).  It will have no end in either Him or us as the eternally ancient "from everlasting" glory of loving relationship becomes the eternal "to everlasting" destiny of God and His redeemed.  

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love."

(Jeremiah 31:3)

"I will extol Thee, my God o king, and I will bless Thy name forever and ever."

(Psalm 145:1)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

(Psalm 100:5)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, April 1, 2026 "Not Alone"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Not Alone" 

       

    Under the radar.  Behind the scenes.  Far from the crowd.  The Lord Jesus Christ lived most of His earthly lifetime in private rather than public terms.  Scripture records only one "public" episode during the first 30 years of His earthly lifetime, on the occasion of being left behind at the temple in Jerusalem.  There, He astonished religious teachers by His wisdom and knowledge (Luke 2:42-52).  However, eighteen years of obscurity followed the event, as through His earthly parents, His Heavenly Father made known the largely hidden paths to which He called the Lord Jesus.  Even during the three years of His ministry, our Savior often retreated to solitary places in mountains, wildernesses, and gardens to seek the privacy that characterized so much of His earthly lifetime.  He often sought aloneness - because He realized He was not alone.

    "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32).

     As born again believers "walk by faith, not by sight," the presence of God with and within us often  presents great challenge to our remembrance (II Corinthians 5:7).  We know He is with us, believing the truth as a matter of doctrine and conviction.  However, life often tempts us to feel, think, and act as if we are alone.  No less than David the Psalmist, a man sure of his Lord's "very present help in trouble," also cried out, "Why standest Thou afar off, o Lord?  Why hidest Thyself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 46:1; 10:1).  What we know to be real is not always what we feel.  Nor do appearances always indicate the abiding presence of our Lord at all times, and in all things.  "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone on the housetop" (Psalm 102:7).

    A great portion of our lives finds us journeying along obscure pathways of both heart and life.  The challenge of solitude calls us to remember the One who lived most of His life privately because He knew so well the Father best found under the radar, behind the scenes, and far from the crowd.  In Christ, God bestows the gift of Himself as the Life of our lives, the abiding Presence, and the fulfillment of our hearts.  "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" said our Lord.  Because of His redeeming work on our behalf, we can say the same.  We must, first, because the Truth is true.  And then because our Heavenly Father would have us realize and affirm by faith that even when we feel alone and hidden to all, the words of the Lord Jesus form our confession as well - "I am not alone."

"I am with you always."

(Matthew 28:20)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

(Psalm 100:5)

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