The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Faith: Beginning, Continuing"
Until we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were unaware of the power of God to spiritually birth us into relationship and fellowship with Himself.
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
After believing, we must discover the same power whereby we walk with God in faith and obedience. Those "saved through faith" must learn to "live by faith" (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 1:17). Unlike the new birth, provided as a one time, eternally abiding gift of grace, walking with our Lord involves a step by step trust of believing. We must grow in the knowledge of God and the understanding of His truth in order to meet by faith the challenges of life, as led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We trust a person to the degree we know them. Thus, we must seek to increasingly discover who our Lord is and how He acts in order to realize "the power that worketh in us" as His "exceeding, abundantly above all we ask or think'' measure of grace. Thereby, we realize our walk with God to be no less the result of grace received through faith than was our spiritual birth provided by Him (Ephesians 3:20).
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7).
The beginning of our relationship with God resulted from the truth that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). By His written Word, the Bible, the Lord communicated His living Word, the Lord Jesus, to our hearts. We believed and thereby entered into relationship with God. Faith still comes by hearing, and hearing continues by the Word of God. We avail ourselves of the Scriptures in order to better know the Lord and understand His truth. This equips us in times of temptation and challenge to overcome sin, fear, and despair by trusting and submitting to God. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (I John 5:4). The matter involves growth and maturing, which again results from "increasing in the knowledge of God" whereby we more and more trust Him because we more and more know Him (Colossians 1:10).
We were born and born again for this sublime knowledge of the most winsome of beings. Whatever this day holds of its busyness, responsibility, and privilege, let us seek to live our lives trusting in whatever we have discovered of God and His truth. Let us also realize that to whatever extent we have known Him, the journey has just begun. When this day ends and we close our eyes upon it, no greater sense of satisfaction will bless our hearts than the knowledge that we have sought to know our Lord better and trust Him more. Such grace and truth can be found in His Word, by His Spirit, through His people, in His world, and along the pathways of providence whereupon God purposes to meet us and further us in the faith that began and continues our relationship with Him.
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit."
(Romans 15:13)
Weekly Memory Verse
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
(Colossians 2:6-7).
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