Orange Moon "Unanswered (Answered) Prayers Monday, October 7, 2024

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

Unanswered (Answered) Prayers

   Sometimes prayers that seemingly must be answered apparently go unanswered.  And sometimes, prayers are answered that appear not to have been.

    Had we been in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, we might have earnestly sought the help of God for a man unjustly accused and tried for crimes against the state.  The horrible injustice of Roman execution by a cross awaited the accused if found guilty.

     "Father, this man has done nothing amiss!  On the contrary, He has done all things well!  I have seen Him help so many by His words, His actions, and even miracles that certainly You inspired and empowered!  Please, Lord, save this man from the terrible fate that will cause Him undeserved shame, suffering and death.  Please, Lord, help this man!"

     No nobler or more well-meaning prayer could be offered for an innocent man.  If answered, however, the consequence would have meant the eternal damnation of the entire human race.  

     "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?… Christ died for our sins… we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Luke 24:26; I Corinthians 15:3; Romans 5:9).

     God would not and could not have answered such a sincere prayer, as prayed.  He sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world for the very purpose of suffering and dying for us.  However, it could be said that God did actually answer, albeit in a far greater mode and measure than the supplicant who prayed could envision.  God saved His Son from death by resurrection from the tomb rather than deliverance from the cross (Hebrews 5:7).  Moreover, He saved us from death by the freely given deliverance made possible by our Lord's cross and empty tomb.

   "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight… God raised Him from the dead...Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God" (Colossians 1:22-23; Acts 13:30; 2:12).

     More to the picture than meets the eye always occurs when God is involved.  If good and noble prayers seemingly go unanswered, it may be that our Lord's response involves far greater purposes than we can perceive.  Yes, sometimes a cross is His answer, a cross that serves as prelude to a resurrection that could not occur without death.  His ways transcend our understanding as the bestowal of His grace often winds through dark valleys of pain, sorrow and loss.  "We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" (Psalm 66:12)

      2,000 years ago, seemingly unanswered prayers on behalf of a just man led to eternal salvation for multitudes of the unjust.  The same principle may apply when our current prayers apparently find no response from the heart and hand of God.  He may well be accomplishing a purpose far beyond our comprehension, some means of redemption that requires a death to make possible a resurrection.  Long ago, prayers were doubtless offered for a just man nailed to a cross.  God answered by leaving the Lord Jesus thereupon until He died, and then by raising Him from death unto life everlasting for Himself - and for us.

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.  Amen."

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

Memory Verse

   "We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place."

 (Psalm 66:12)

       

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Orange Moon Saturday, October 5, 2024 "The Lens of the Lamb"

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

"The Lens of the Lamb"

    As referenced in a previous message, God sees the human race through the lens of "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" and the Lamb slain "in the fulness of time" (Revelation 13:8; Galatians 4:4).  Thus, He sees the unbeliever as one for whom His Son died, and the believer as one in whom His Son lives.

    "And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 2:2).

    "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" (Galatians 4:6).

    Do we join our Heavenly Father in this view of grace and truth, based on the Lamb slain, the Lamb risen, and the Lamb as the singular hope for human hearts?  To illustrate, I have very poor vision.  Without my glasses, the world appears as a blur.  When I put them on, however, things become clear.  This precisely accords with Biblical and spiritual mindedness, based on the person and work of the Lord Jesus as it relates to the person and need of all in my sphere of influence.  We must see through the lens of the Lamb, as our Father sees.  The Apostle Paul referred to this clarified vision, based on the cross, the empty tomb, and the Spirit of God's redemptive moving upon and within human hearts:

   "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthans 5:14-17).

    Of all people, Paul did not ignore failings of the flesh, either of himself or of others.  He well knew that not all unbelievers would trust the Lord Jesus, nor would all believers walk faithfully with Him.  However, he determined to see all first  and foremost through the lens of the Lamb.   To the Apostle, human hearts were either the temple of Christ in fact, or the temple of Christ in  potential.  Our brother's philosophy and protocol regarding every person he met could be summed up thusly: "We thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."

    Let us put our spiritual glasses on, thinking, praying, speaking, acting, and relating to every person in our life through the lens of the Lamb.  Far too much was suffered and sacrificed by our Lord to hold any other view of hearts more precious to God than we can begin to imagine.  Much changes when we see clearly, first, in our own hearts and minds, and then, in our influence on the hearts and minds of those we determine to see as does our Father, through the lens of the Lamb.

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear."

(I Peter 3:15)

"To be spiritually minded is life and peace."

(Romans 8:6)

Memory Verse

    Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves."

(Psalm 100:3).

       

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Orange Moon Friday, October 4, 2024 "How Shall We Escape?"

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

"How Shall We Escape?"

    The Jewish believers to whom the epistle of the Hebrews was written were tempted to return to the ritual of Moses' law, turning away from the reality of God's grace and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ.  The writer communicates dire warning to believers regarding such a detour:

    "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:1-3).

   Hebrews served as a stark warning to believers of the first generation that neglecting "so great salvation" provided by the grace of so great a Savior would inevitably result in God's loving discipline.  The warning stands for us.  "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6).   To escape such discipline, we must be careful and prayerful to not "turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven" back to codes or rituals that speak from earthly voices of deception (Hebrews 12:25).  

    Of course, most believers are not Jewish and have never lived under the law of Moses.   Before salvation through Christ, however, every human being constructs some way of life by which to survive and hopefully thrive.  After we believe, our spiritual enemies tempt us to "turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage" (Galatians 4:9).  If we succumb, seeking to live the Christian life by vain philosophies, protocols, and practices that do not align with grace and truth in the Lord Jesus, our Father loves us enough to make our way difficult in order to direct our way back to His throne of grace.  "Thou hast shown Thy people hard things" (Psalm 60:3).

   The Christian life can only be lived by the "grace and truth" of the Lord Jesus (John 1:17).  God calls us to "walk even as He (Christ) walked" (I John 2:6).  No possibility exists for such a life apart from God's freely given favor received - grace - in accordance with the light of Scripture in how to live accordingly - truth.  We must "know the grace of God in truth" (Colossians 1:6).  This requires vigilance regarding any theology, philosophy, or practice of life that supplants our only hope for genuine godliness.  We do well to maintain an ongoing discourse of prayer with our Heavenly Father regarding so vital a matter, making possible so vibrant a life.  Thereby, we avoid His necessary discipline applied when we exchange reality for illusion and delusion:

    Heavenly Father, show me where I am living from the grace and truth You have so freely given in the Lord Jesus.  Show me where I am not.  I ask You to confirm, defend, and enhance the former, and expose, reprove, and correct the latter.  In the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen."

   "Hard things" administered and allowed by our Heavenly Father occur for many reasons.  One may be that we have veered from grace and truth in Christ by succumbing to devilish distractions that tempt us to live by former futilities of vanity.  God loves us enough to redirect us by chastening and scourging if we so wander.  We will not escape His discipline if we succumb to the temptation to escape His grace and truth.  Let us therefore consistently seek His confirmation and correction, and as the writer of Hebrews requested…

"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear."

(Hebrews 12:28)

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth."

(John 1:14)

"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

(Galatians 3:1-3)

Memory Verse

    Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves."

(Psalm 100:3).

       

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