Orange Moon Tuesday, June 16, 2026 “The Remembrance of Resurrection”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“The Remembrance of Resurrection”

      “When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:22).

    Remembering that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, in accordance with what the Scripture hath said, comprises much of the life of faith to which God calls us.

    Regarding every circumstance, condition, or situation, recalling the empty tomb prepares us to view our hearts and lives as full of the risen Lord Jesus.  We do so by faith, affirming the resurrection regardless of anything that may contradict the truth that began our walk with God, and continues it forevermore.  Indeed, the confession of the risen Christ that occurred in the first blessed moment of our salvation serves as the ongoing affirmation of faith whereby we live in the light of our Lord’s victory.  “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Romans 10:9; Colossians 2:6).

    Such faith involves far more than simply the fact of our Lord’s life beyond life, glorious as that is.  We must also remember and affirm the significance and application to our lives of such truth.  A present, active, and engaged Lord Jesus is risen from the dead.  We rejoice in His empty tomb not only at Easter, but also in the myriad opportunities life affords for the remembrance of resurrection.  In all things, the confession of a vitally present and active Christ secures our hearts and strengthens our capacity to enjoy our blessings and face our challenges.  “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (II Corinthians 2:14).

    Is the Lord Jesus risen from the dead?  Is He present - vibrantly present and active - in our hearts and lives?  Life will present countless opportunities, privileges, and responsibilities to remember and answer “Yes” to these most significant questions of our lives.  An empty tomb means that this moment, whatever it may hold, teems with the risen life and active presence of our triumphant Savior.  Such is “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” and such is the grace given to us for remembrance, affirmation, and confession (Jude 1:3).  The tomb is empty.  The throne above is occupied.  Jesus Christ is Lord.  This is truth.  This is reality.  This is the fact of this moment, and of all that will follow.  May this, the remembrance of resurrection, be with us now and always.

“He is risen, as He said.”

(Matthew 28:6)

Weekly Memory Verse

     Sanctify them through Thy truth.  Thy Word is truth.

(John 17:17)

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Orange Moon Monday, June 15, 2026 "Feel. Real?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Feel.  Real?”

   In a number of sporting activities, the adage “Feel is not real” applies.  What one may perceive himself to do in throwing  a ball, swinging a club, or moving the body may not reflect the actual motion and action.

    The adage does not apply to the Christian life.  Feel is very real in our experience, and can have either beneficial or negative impact.  However, what we feel may not always accurately represent the truth.  The Lord Jesus Christ spoke indirectly to this in His command, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24).  The Psalmist also vividly illustrates in a statement and question seemingly in conflict...

    “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

    “Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?  Why hidest Thou Thyself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1).

   Why did David so strongly affirm God’s “very present help in trouble” on one hand, only to question the Lord’s presence on another?  The answer lies in truth and experience.  The affirmation reflected fact and reality.  God is indeed a very present help in trouble.  The question, conversely, reflected how David felt emotionally, perceived mentally, and perhaps even sensed physically.  These responses were real.  He did, in fact, feel at times as if God was far away in times of trouble.  However, the responses were not true.  God abides as a very present in trouble, regardless of mental, emotional, and physical experience.  Trusting the Lord meant that David had to acknowledge the contrary impulses and notions of his flesh, which were real enough as to gravely impact his walk with God.  However, a greater reality - God and His truth - called the Psalmist to “the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).

    The realities of truth and experience continually call us to the victory of faith.  Feel is real.  It has its effect.  We must never allow it, however, to serve as the truth by which we live.  Thankfully, emotions and sensations do often flow in accordance with the Holy Spirit’s leading in believers.  Never, however, are they to be accounted as truth in its essence.  We “judge not according to appearance” by judging according to the “Thus saith the Lord” of the Scriptures.  Who is God and what has He said in His Word?  This is truth in its essence.  He is truth.  His Word is truth.  Herein we we make our stand in reality, the reality that acknowledges feel as real, but never as the heart and essence of Truth.

“I am… the truth.”

(John 14:6)

“Sanctify them through Thy truth.  Thy Word is truth.”

(John 17:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

     Sanctify them through Thy truth.  Thy Word is truth.

(John 17:17)

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Orange Moon Saturday, June 13, 2026 “The Centrality of Words”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“The Centrality of Words”

   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him” (John 1:1-3).

   If we were created by One called “the Word,” and if He sustains our being, we can be sure that words will be central to our existence.

    They are.  

    “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).

   “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:37).

    

    Little wonder the Psalmist prayed a most earnest prayer: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

    And another…

    “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try (test) me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).

   In eternal terms, we live or die based upon the words we think, and the words we speak.  “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).  Words thought, spoken, and and believed began our relationship with God.  They also determine the quality of our ongoing response to Him as we “walk by faith” (II Corinthians 5:7).  We therefore look to the Word Himself for leadership and enabling in this most fundamental aspect of our existence.  

    "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

    Maintaining an ongoing discourse with our Heavenly Father regarding this most vital matter must serve as the one of the believer’s most focused aspects of prayer.  We also do well to seek God’s truth about words in His Word, the Bible.  Considering the issue with fellow believers furthermore aids in directing what we think and speak.  Finally, we realize how challenged we will be along the pathways of providence, and how much opportunity lies therein to replace wayward words with truth, whether thought or spoken.  

     Of the disciples, Luke long ago wrote, “They remembered His words” (Luke 24:8).  May the same be said of us, and may we think and speak them as well.  The living Word made us.  The Word sustains us.  The Word lives within us.  He can empower us in this most vital of matters.  He will, as we think of Him and speak of Him in the words given in His written Word.  No issue is more important in this life, nor will it ever be in an existence begin and forever continued by what God has thought and said, and by which we think and say in response.

“I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.”

(Psalm 138:2)

Weekly Memory Verse

      Great is our Lord, and of great power.  His understanding is infinite.

(Psalm 147:5)

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