The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Peace - Pardon and Providence"
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).
How much does God desire our hearts to know His grace and experience His peace?
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3).
In direct proportion to the Lord Jesus' experience of sorrow and turmoil of soul on the cross of Calvary, our Heavenly Father purposes to fill our hearts with rest and rejoicing. He desires our peace far more than we desire our peace. This involves His forgiveness and acceptance as we come to Him through Christ. No heart can rest until pardoned through the realization that "blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:8). Receiving the grace of "the Prince of peace" bestows a forgiveness that instills assurance of a cleansed conscience and a heart free to come to God based on Christ's person and work on our behalf (Isaiah 9:6). "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).
Our hearts also rest in the assurance of God's presence and working in our lives, to the degree that "all things work together for good to them that love God, and who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Come what may, the great Coordinator of all things promises His devotion and determination to fit the seemingly disjointed pieces of the puzzle or our lives into His purpose of conforming us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29). He could do no greater thing for us, and when life perplexes us, our Heavenly Father offers us a path of peace always open to the trusting heart - "Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).
Wherever we may be in our walk with the Lord, this we can know: He desires to administer His grace, that we may access His peace. Pardon and providence unite to assure us of being "accepted in the Beloved," and of God's purpose, presence, and working to serve as the greatest truth and reality of every moment (Ephesians 1:6; 11). This is peace, the peace of the Prince of peace. There is no other, nor do we need any other.
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him."
(Isaiah 53:5).
"My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid"
(John 14:27).
Weekly Memory Verse
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
(II Corinthians 9:8)
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