Orange Moon Monday, August 24, 2026 “The Path of Replacement”

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

    

“The Path of Replacement”

    

      

      We are to think as God thinks.

     “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, what soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

    The Apostle Paul’s command regarding our thoughts clearly reflects the mind of God. Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).  Certainly, nothing presents a more difficult challenge, and in and of ourselves, a most impossible challenge when viewed in terms of our mental capacities.  How then do we even begin to fulfill such a high and holy calling?

    We begin by faith, as does everything in our life and existence.  Or rather, we believe that God’s promised grace regarding all faithful obedience initiates our response.  We trust Him to fulfill His blessed promise to “work in you both the will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).  As we often suggest, we affirm “I cannot… I can… through Christ!” (John 15:5; II Corinthians 9:8).  While not perfect in this lifetime, we can increasingly and more consistently “think on these things,” again, to think as God thinks, as led and enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  

    In practical terms, this will involve much replacement.  Unlike our Lord, every thought that traces a path through our brains does not originate in perfect love, righteousness, and holiness.  “The flesh lusteth against the spirit” occurs in our thinking more than any other aspect of our being.  “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7).  The past, present, and expectations of the future bring countless notions to us that conflict with the Spirit and truth of the Lord Jesus.  Some can be avoided by not exposing ourselves to arenas of temptation.  Others, however, will come our way regardless of how faithfully we walk with God.  This will require that we “put on” thoughts that originate in His Word as the means whereby we “put off” thoughts that originate in the world, devil, and flesh (Ephesians 4:22-24).  No less than the Lord Jesus Himself lived accordingly during His earthly lifetime:

    “And the devil said unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4-5).

   Whenever we perceive any notion that conflicts with Scripture, a privileged responsibility of faith lies before us.  We “think on these things” as replacements for the contrary thoughts.  Wayward notions may remain within our field of consciousness for a time, and many affirmations of Truth may be required to “walk in the Spirit” in order to not “fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).  What a privilege!  What a responsibility!  Our Heavenly Father grants blessed, albeit challenging, opportunity to to do what believers do: “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).  We choose to believe that God’s truth serves as the way of “life and peace,” as opposed to contrary thinking that leads to “death” (Romans 8:6).

   What does Scripture say about what I am thinking about the Lord Jesus?  Myself?  People?  Blessings?  Challenges?  The mundane matters of each day?  The world?  The past, present, and future?  This day?  What a path lies before us, the path of replacement, ongoing in our minds.  We cannot control every thought or notion that enters therein.  We can remember and affirm the Word of God as that which serves in leading us to think as He thinks.  It takes a miracle, an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit leading and enabling us.  He is present, involved, and dynamically active in leading us to do so.  “Think on these things.”

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusted in Thee.”

(Isaiah 26:3)

Weekly Memory Verse

   To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

(Romans 8:6)

   

    

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Orange Moon Saturday, August 22, 2026 “Rest… Work”

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

    

“Rest… Work”

    

      

      We must rest after we work in natural terms.  Spiritually, however, we rest in order to work.

    “For He that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).

    In a life wherein Scripture calls us to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might,” no possibility exists that we could live according to God’s standards by our own strength (Ephesians 6:10).  “Without Me, ye can do nothing” declared the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples (John 15:5).  The most simple task performed in the Lord’s vineyard requires His indwelling and enabling Spirit.  This required a proactive commitment to trust God - to rest - which requires a companion determination to not commit the folly of which the Psalmist warned us: “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered’ (Proverbs 28:26).

    While such truth greatly challenges our flesh, it fills and fulfills our spirits.  Indeed, our hearts were made for the enlivening and enabling Holy Spirit to serve as the Life of our lives.  We do much with mind, tongue, hands, and feet as He moves within us to reveal the character and nature of Christ by us.  “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).  A heart at rest, however, initiates and accompanies our efforts led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Even as we sweat and pant in our labors of faith, we know deeply within that Someone else serves as the power thereof because we have acknowledged our utter weakness and dependence on Him.  Thus, we rest within, even as we work without.

    Our flesh will not rest easy in the light of such truth as it “lusteth against the spirit” (Galatians 5:17).  Thus, we return often to the altar of grace through faith built within our hearts when we trusted Christ and Christ alone for salvation.  “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).  We remove our shoes on such holy ground.  Only nail-pierced Feet may stand here.  All others kneel and rest in the glorious light of grace that will call us to arise and walk, but only as guided and enabled by “the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).  Because in the life to which God calls us, we rest in order to work.

“We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

(Philippians 3:3)

    

Weekly Memory Verse

    Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”(Philippians 1:6).

    

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