Orange Moon Tuesday, September 7, 2021 "More Than Wonder!"

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

"More Than Wonder!"

      

   

     Because God is God, an eternally and infinitely self existent Being who requires nothing but His triune being of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for fulfillment, we may minimize how deeply the happenings of His creation affect Him.  We do well to avoid this misunderstanding at all costs.

   "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (Acts 17:24-25).

    "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him… By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5).

   Moses and the writer of Hebrews unite to illustrate the first direct mention of God's emotional sensibilities and how much all things matter to Him.  Enoch pleased God, to the degree he was removed from the realm of the earthly unto the glory of Heaven.  Both light and mystery present wonder to our hearts in Enoch's translation.  For the present consideration, we will confine ourselves to the simple affirmation, "He pleased God."

   All believers possess this capacity through the indwelling Holy Spirit to bring joy to the heart of God.  "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people" (Psalm 149:4).  Indeed, every human being bears such potential.  The sinner who repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ in the new birth is said to elicit "joy in Heaven" (Luke 15:7).  The saint who trusts God with a loving, humble, and submitted heart joins Enoch in bringing great pleasure to the Lord's heart.  "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more" (I Thessalonians 4:1).  Clearly, the steps of our lives matter to our Heavenly Father, so much so that seemingly insignificant beings such as ourselves bear the capacity to affect the emotional sensibilities of the God whose character, nature, and way transcend our loftiest imaginations of Him.

   God does not need us.  He rather desires us.  I have pondered these two truths for decades.  They still primarily elicit a sense of wonder far more than any other response.  The first bears witness to the truth of our Lord's eternal and infinite being as the one - the only One - who independently sustains His own existence in every way.  Wonder indeed!  The second truth, however, takes the matter beyond wonder.  The God who does not need us nevertheless desires us, so much so that our doings lead to the emotional response of a love so unfathomable it "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  What do we do in the light of this truth?  The years have never really answered that question for me.  I am not sure eternity will either.  Indeed, some things of God we ponder simply stop our thoughts, emotions, and every other response in their tracks.  The Psalmist well knew this, confessing his determination to not delve into matters "too high for me" (Psalm 131:1).  Yes, more than wonder!

   Our Father does not need us today.  He will be fine in His existence and being regardless of whether we respond well to Him, or not.  He does, however, desire us in this day.  We matter to Him today far more than anyone or anything has ever mattered to us.  How we respond will affect Him in the depths of His heart.  If we please Him by faith and the blessed fruits thereof, great indeed will be the joy we elicit in the Divine being.  If we distrust and disregard Him, great indeed will be the sorrow.  No, I do not understand such things.  Nor do I expect I - or anyone else - ever will.  It is enough to know they are true, and to ask our Lord to make them deeply significant in our hearts, as they are in His.

"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at his heart."

(Genesis 6:5-6)

"It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

(Philippians 2:13)

Weekly Memory Verse

      "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

 (John 7:38)

 

    

   

  

   

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Orange Moon Monday, September 6, 2021 "The Flow of Life, the Current of Faith"

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

"The Flow of Life, the Current of Faith"

      

   

     Our experience of the risen life of the Lord Jesus Christ flows upon the current of our faith in His grace and enabling.

   "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:15).

   "This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life" (John 6:40).

   "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).

   "I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (I Timothy 1:16).

     To the degree we sincerely trust Him and rightly believe the Scriptures about Him, the living Christ walks in us and works in us. "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).  Faith serves as the strait of the Spirit, as it were.  Our Lord's promised "rivers of living water" - His life - move within us as they find open course made navigable by our confidence in Him.  Of course, our spiritual enemies cast numerous rocks, logs, mudslides, and impediments of every kind into the waters, seeking to block the current of the Spirit's flow through us.  We counter the hindrance by expecting such challenge, and by determining to see the impediments as fresh opportunities to "continue in the faith" (Acts 14:22).  

    The moment we trust our Lord about any matter whatsoever, a "good fight of faith" begins wherein our enemies seek to block the channel of God's working by tempting us to unbelief (I Timothy 6:12).  "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).  Again, we anticipate such challenge, determining to engage in the good fight of faith whereby we recognize our role in the continuance of the current's flow within and through us.  "I will trust in Thee" declared the Psalmist (Psalm 56:3).  We concur with him, being confident of the Holy Spirit's enabling to maintain the flow of faith, and thus, the flow of Christ's life, within us (Psalm 56:3).

    Anyone who suggests the life of faith involves ease, or escape from responsibility, has never actually tried to live by faith.  Trusting God in a fallen world that operates in complete contradiction to His truth involves the greatest challenge any human heart can face.  Thankfully, the Life that flows through us as we trust God is the same life that initiates, motivates, and empowers our trust  - "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).  Christ is indeed the issue.  His Spirit leads us to the concourse of faith, and then escorts us throughout the journey as we look to Him.  The challenge is great, but the Christ we discover in the challenge provides the flow of His overcoming life that moves upon the current of our faith.

"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."

(John 20:21)

"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

(I John 5:4)

"The just shall live by faith."

(Romans 1:17)

Weekly Memory Verse

      "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

 (John 7:38)

 

    

   

  

   

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Orange Moon Saturday, September 4, 2021 "He Runs To Me"

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

"He Runs To Me"

      

   

     No one ever has to drag forgiveness from the heart of God.

    "He delighteth in mercy" (Proverbs 15:8).

    "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.  And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:18-20).

   God's heart of mercy flows with abundance of forgiveness to all who will come in the way He made for us through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Be it the condemned sinner seeking pardon, or the wayward saint requiring restoration, grace paves the path to the throne of God, and grace awaits us when we arrive.  

    The words that follow are lyrics to a new song I wrote this week.  We'll likely record it and send it out at some time in the future (although Frances hasn't even heard it yet!).  For now, I thought I'd send the words along to illustrate the subject at hand.  

I ran away from my father

although he loved me so.

And now I lie in this ruin.

How can I back to him go?

For I ran away from my father, 

I ran away from my father.

I might could return as a servant,

maybe he'd receive me so.

But after what I've done I couldn't blame him,

if he looked away and told me to go.

For I ran away from my father, 

I ran away from my father.

Now I return to my father 

in hopes I might be his slave.

For I think of his love and his kindness,

 how often I've seen his grace.

So now I return to my father, 

now I return to my father.

What is that I see in the distance,

that moves with such hurry and haste?

oh can it be, oh is it my father,

running to me with tears on his face?

For I ran away from my father,

but now he runs to me in grace.

and in his eyes I see such mercy,

and love shining brightly in his face.

Oh, I ran away from my father, but now he runs to me!

I ran away from my father, but now he runs to me!

"For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee."

(Psalm 86:5)

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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