Orange Moon Monday, September 1, 2025 "A Mighty Voice"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"A Mighty Voice"    

      

        Whenever a new piece of technology reveals the universe to be far more vast than previously believed, a reality of infinitely greater magnitude expands in our awareness of glory and wonder…

    "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).

    Hands made the incredibly complex devices that allow us to explore the the vast reaches of creation, requiring hundreds of years of thought, study, effort, materials, and precise manufacturing methods and materials.  Conversely, a simple, but eternally sublime voice made the creation we seek to discover:  

   "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.   For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6-9).

   A blessed and personal truth lies in this wonder of God's power and creativity.  If He can create and sustain a universe by simply speaking, can He not act accordingly in every aspect of our existence to meet our needs?  Scripture answers.  "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).  He will, of course, provide according to His glory, purpose, wisdom, and timing.  But He will provide for every need that is truly a need, as He deems and determines.  That He could create all things by "the breath of His mouth" assures us of His supply administered by the promise of His unfailing Word.  "He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25).

    Consider the challenges of life presently at hand.  Do any of them require a divine power greater than the creation and sustaining of the universe?  This includes matters of the heart, mind, body, circumstance, situation, and condition.  Which more require God's presence and working than His initial origination of all things?  Or His eternally perpetual sustaining of all things? (Colossians 1:17).  If no answer comes, the greatest of all answers lies before us.   Is anything too hard for the Lord?" asked God regarding His own ability.  The prophet answers.  "Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee!" (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17).  Thus, the problem, the challenge, the pain, the sorrow, the perplexity, and even the tragedy - all exist within the scope of God's ability to perform, and the power of His promise to resolve.  All.

   Somewhere just now, some believer faces the measurably greatest challenge of the moment.  He does so in the assurance of an immeasurable power so great in God that, like the creation of a vast universe, He merely speaks to make manifest His provision.  The first evidence of such supply is "the peace of God which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).  Peace, where it seemingly should not be - God has spoken by His Word and He speaks by His Spirit to make possible such seemingly impossible grace.  He then works outwardly in ways that accord with the unfailing wisdom of His purpose in Christ, which we will understand better by and by.  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).  Our most "challenged believer" will find God's Word more than enough to address his dilemma, as will we.  "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)

   Our Lord once spoke to nothing.  Something sprang into existence far more vast, complex, and beautiful than any telescope will ever fully reveal. Can anything be too hard for such a One, including the challenges of this day, this hour, and this moment?   As we gaze into the Word of God, our hearts rest, whatever the measure of our challenges.  Immeasurable grace and power await us as we remember and affirm "Nothing too hard for Thee."

"Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth, o sing praises unto the Lord.  Selah.  To Him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, He doth send out His voice, and that a mighty voice.

(Psalm 68:32-33)

Weekly Memory Verse  

    But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

 (Philippians 4:19)

   

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Orange Moon Saturday, August 30, 2025 "The Lamb Slain"

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

"The Lamb Slain"    

      

       Because born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ still sin in our present lifetime, we do well to understand God's perspective in the matter as well as possible.

    "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).

    Before sin or sinners ever existed, God purposed the way of forgiveness and redemption through His beloved Son.  Every sin He has ever forgiven graces the repentant, trusting supplicant because "Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).  Before His advent, mercy flowed based on faith in a coming Savior and what He would do.  After Calvary, mercy flows based on faith in the Savior who has come and what He has done.  Thus, the sinner in need of salvation receives a gift purchased long before he existed.  The saint in need of restored fellowship with God also receives the gift of forgiveness and a cleansed consciousness that has awaited us from everlasting in the heart of the Heavenly Father who loves to pardon us far more than we love to be pardoned.  "He delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).

   No one has ever had to drag forgiveness from the heart of God.  It rather bursts forth from the depths of His glorious being in the vast measure promised to the repentant: "He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).  Certainly, we must come in the way He has made through the Lord Jesus, and we must come with true repentance and "godly sorrow" (II Corinthians 7:10).  Whence comes such remorse?  Growing realization of "the Lamb slain" from everlasting in God's heart, who became the Lamb slain in space and time, most fosters both the faith and sorrow that accompanies forgiveness offered, and forgiveness received.  Long before the most wicked sinner ever existed, a way had been determined to make possible his redemption.  Long before the most wayward saint ever distrusted and disobeyed his Father, a way had been determined to make possible his restoration.  "There is forgiveness with Thee" (Psalm 130:4).

   Ever and always, in all things, God's abundant supply precedes our desperate need.  We first tell the unbeliever not that he is a sinner, but rather that there is a Savior of sinners.  Upon this basis, we proceed to inform the lost of how lost they actually are.  We direct the focus of the failing Christian not first to his unbelief and disobedience, but rather to Christ as his abiding intercessor, and to the truth that God does not impute sin to the account of believers (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 4:8).  Only in this wondrous illumination will the believer truly see his sin in the light of the Savior, resulting in genuine repentance that leads to restoration.  "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).

   "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."  We begin here in sharing the redeeming and restorative Gospel with unbelievers and with with each other.  Or we do not begin at all.  Long before our hearts so needy of a Savior existed, God's heart so filled with purpose to provide a Savior existed.  Forgiveness has always flowed with this current of mercy, the bloody current of the Lamb slain.  It always will, including this moment for that most wicked sinner, that most wayward saint, and for you and me if necessary.  Yes, mercy awaits at the throne of grace, as it has from everlasting in the Heart of grace.

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

(Romans 5:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse  

   The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

(Romans 8:2)

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Orange Moon Friday, August 29, 2025 “An Eye Toward Forever”

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

"An Eye Toward Forever"    

      

       "Safety is of the Lord" (Proverbs 21:31).

      The safety God promises and administers sometimes involves rescue from danger, and sometimes rescue in danger.

    "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and rescued him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6)

    "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Corinthians 12:8-9).

   Our Heavenly Father works in our temporal challenges with a primary focus on eternity.  This does not discount or minimize His present protection from dangers and difficulties.  We often experience rescue from our troubles as we look to our Lord.  Sometimes, however, He allows challenges to remain with us for purposes that reach far beyond this present life.  Had the Apostle Paul not experienced the abiding "thorn in the flesh" to keep him from pride for having received "the abundance of the revelations," would the New Testament epistles he wrote exist?  Not likely.  A proud apostle could not have served as God's primary voice and pen of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus.  How many have received eternal life through faith in Christ by the light that shines in Paul's writings?  How many believers have walked in the power of God's grace revealed in words that could not have been written without wounds?  Millions will read the Apostle's writings today because God worked with an eye and a heart that saw far beyond Paul's earthly lifetime.

     As He does in us.  The happenings of today in our lives matter much to our Heavenly Father.  However, He loves us far too much to always act according to the our perception of current need.  Today's matters matter for tomorrow and forevermore.  Thus, if thorns remain, we can be confident that we shall by and by better understand the eternal benefit of their lingering.  For now, we trust the perfect heart and mind of God, rejoicing by faith that He loves us enough to work primarily with forever in view.  Any good father would do so.  A perfect Father most certainly does.  Thereby He strengthens us when thorns linger as…

"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

(II Corinthians 4:18)

Weekly Memory Verse  

   The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

(Romans 8:2)

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