Orange Moon Tuesday, October 13 2026 "Love and Liberty"

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

(A rewrite from 2023)

    

“Love and Liberty”

     Many atheist and agnostic materialists believe that human consciousness is, at least in how we perceive it, an illusion.  By this, they mean that natural forces and influences determine the internal realities of thought and choice most human beings believe to be freely exercised in terms of personhood.  Materialists contend our consciousness occurs as the product of machinery programmed by the universe in which we live.  According to their view, physics, chemistry, biology, and environment determine our consciousness rather than the personhood declared in the Bible.

    Such darkness counters the very reason for our consciousness:

   "To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  

    "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" (Mark 12:30).

     The computer on which I type this message serves me well. Through the years, it has done pretty much everything I have needed and desired it to perform.  It does not, however, love me.  Nor will it ever.  Effective as it is in processing information, it has no heart for love, either to receive or to give it.  Indeed, it has no heart.  This points to the truth that without freedom, as given by God and defined by Scripture, there can be no love.  Most importantly, there can no experience of the main reason for which human beings exist, namely, to know the love of God, and to love Him in response… 

   

    “To know the love of Christ… I will love Thee, o Lord my strength” (Ephesians 3:19; Psalm 18:1).

   Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God beckons human hearts unto His heart.  He call us to know and receive His love by faith in His atoning work, and to thereafter love Him by faith in His enabling work.  Thereby, we freely live in the wonder of His love for us, and the empowering grace of our love for Him.  "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" declared the Lord Jesus of the liberty whereby we fulfill our reason for being (John 8:36).  Only spiritual reality establishes and empowers such a glorious internal experience of heart and mind.  Deterministic materialism does not allow for love, whether in terms of Scripture, or in the intuitive realization that natural forces of the universe could not and cannot create love as we all know it be.  Certainly, our Heavenly Father has no interest in any deterministic notion of a love that would be empty, hollow, and utterly meaningless if programmed or coerced.  Neither should we.

    "God is love" declared the Apostle John (I John 4:8).  Thus, love is real.  Love is eternal.  Love is spiritual.  Love requires liberty.  It cannot be determined or programmed.  The Psalmist knew this truth of all truths, that everything in God's creation points to Him and the freedom whereby we know His love, and thereby love Him in joyous response.  Yes indeed, let us join the Psalmist in his glad affirmation of liberty, I will love Thee, o Lord, my strength!"

"We love Him because He first loved us."

(I John 4:19)

“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

  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). 

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Orange Moon TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2026 "Come"

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

“Come”  

     Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are never alone. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). In the best of times, the worst of times, and the ordinary, mundane, and everyday living of our lives, we exist in proximity to One nearer to us than our next heartbeat. "In Him, we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:25). We are as fish swimming in the ocean that is God.  Moreover, through the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, God gives us eyes, eyes of the heart, to see the great fact of our existence.

     "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty" (Isaiah 33:17).

    Not only is our Heavenly Father present both with and within us, He is also willing and able to help us regarding whatever our current needs may be. He is "for us" as Paul wrote to the Romans, and the throne of grace is ever before us, offering help in time of need (Romans 8:31; Hebrews 4:16). There is always Somebody to turn to for believers, always Somebody to trust, and always Somebody who can do something about our present state and condition. "They cried unto Thee, and were delivered: they trusted in Thee, and were not confounded" (Psalm 22:5).

   Let us open our eyes and our hearts to the great fact. Let us come both humbly and confidently to the throne of grace, never fearing we will be rejected. "He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). The Lord Jesus has made a way for us, and indeed, He is the way (John 14:6). Thus, the faithful can come, and the failing can come. The joyful can come, and the discouraged can come. The trusting can come, and those tempted to doubt can come. And while the full-hearted can come with their songs of exultation, the throne of grace is just as much a place for the broken hearted with their tears of pain. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).

    The Spirit of God and the Word of God beckon us in this moment to "look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Our Heavenly Father calls us to rest our hearts in His own blessed heart, and to find our needs met in the only place where needs are met. And the invitation of the Lord Jesus rings through the ages to all who will approach the throne of grace by way of His blood, His name and His ongoing work of interceding for all whose "faith is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness..."

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."

(Psalm 35:3)

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Orange Moon MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2026 "More Than Memories"

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

“More Than Memories”  

     When we journey to the past in heart and mind, we must be sure to go with God.

    "I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11).

     Thinking back on pleasant and happy occasions offers opportunity for something much more than memories.  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17).  When we recall our blessings with gratitude and offerings of thanksgiving, we see by faith the greatest reality of our yesterdays.  We see the Giver, the Giver who gave to us every blessing from the gracious lovingkindness of His heart. Thus, we journey to the past of God's generous lovingkindness not only in remembrance for the gifts, but with gratitude for the fount of God's goodness from which they flowed.  "Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness" (Psalm 30:4).  Yes, we remember our happy times as more than memories.  We see them as opportunities for praise and thanksgiving.

    We also look back to see our Heavenly Father in yesterday's pains, difficulties, and sorrows.  His involved and active presence served as the greatest reality of all, either determining or allowing our challenges in complete confidence He could weave them together for His glory, our benefit, and the benefit of others through us.  Regarding wrongs committed against us, for example, God did not determine people to mistreat, neglect, or hurt us.  "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man" (James 1:13).  In the mystery of His wisdom, however, He did allow the trials that occurred through the misdeeds of our offenders.  Thus, we journey with our Lord to the painful portions of our past for the purpose of seeing Him there, working together for good the wrongs committed against us (Romans 8:28).  We "sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving" for those times, and for the ongoing work of the Lord to redeem us from their effects (Psalm 107:22).  As Joseph confessed to the brothers who so dreadfully wronged him, "Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20).  Like our blessings, we recall such difficult days and all other challenging times as more than memories.  We see the opportunity to give thanks for God's "very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

   When we journey to our past, we must not go alone.  We go with the God so perfectly able to illuminate our view of days gone by.  We choose to see Him in our yesterdays of blessing, believing our Heavenly Father bestowed upon us every good and perfect gift.  We also choose to believe that no painful moment of the past escaped His ability to redeem and use for our benefit and the blessing of others made possible through our challenges (II Corinthians 1:3-7).  We will not fully understand how God works our trials together for our good.  We just know that He does.  His Word declares this truth.  He cannot lie.  He always fulfills His promises.  Thus, we journey to the past for the primary purpose of seeing our Heavenly Father there in the blessings, the challenges, and the all of our lives.  We make our memories more than memories as we give thanks and rest our hearts in the God of our yesterdays, todays, and forever.

We must not go alone

when we journey to the past,

along the trail of memories

that in our hearts hold fast.

For we did not go alone

through the blessings and the trials,

Someone was ever with us

in times of tears and smiles.

So, we must not go alone 

when we ponder yesterdays.

Let us journey with the Father

so worthy of our praise.

For He was there in all,

weaving all together,

for the glory of His Son 

and our benefit forever.

We must not go alone when we journey to the past.

"Thou hast been my help, therefore, in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice."

(Psalm 63:7)

"God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

(Ephesians 1:3; 11)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."

(Psalm 35:3)

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