Orange Moon Wednesday, March 29, 2023 “Days of Old, Prayers of Today”

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

"Days of Old, Prayers of Today"

    I awoke in the middle of the night with thoughts and memories of high school classmates, most of whom I have not seen in nearly a half century.  I also pondered God's involvement in my life during the times with those people, realizing His working in my life to bring me to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ not long after graduation.

    "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands" (Psalm 143:5).

   I knew some believers during high school, and remember the witness of their lives and words.  I also remember others who somehow played a role in God's working in my life.  Most of all, I did the one thing I can presently do for people with whom I spent four years of my life, but whom I will likely never see again.

  "I give myself unto prayer" (Psalm 109:4).

   People of the our past must evoke prayers of our present.  I did not know the Lord Jesus when attending school with Henry, Ronnie, Ben, Cindy, Tanya, Paul, Portia, James, Mona, and so many others.  I know Him now, however, and am called by our Heavenly Father to remember "the days of old" with intercessions in these days.  Of course, I don't remember every person or name from my high school days.  God does, however, and He gives privileged responsibility to pray "for the ones I cannot remember, Lord."  

    I find this calling of God to our trusting hearts one of the most overwhelming realities of the Christian life.  That we can approach the living, infinite, and eternal God with requests to work in the live of others boggles the heart and the mind.  I liken it to knowing a rich benefactor who places his wealth at my disposal, and who tells me, "If you encounter someone in need, you may request my bestowal upon them, and I will respond accordingly."  The Benefactor we know possesses, of course, "unsearchable riches" (Ephesians 3:8).  Moreover, He can supply not only bread for the table, but redemption of the heart.  What a joy to pray accordingly, seeking God's grace and truth in this day for the companions and classmates of "days of old."  What a greater joy to know my remembrance and interest in them proceeds from His great love for them, a love that "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  

   I was a bit groggy in the middle of the night, and thus prayed a fairly general prayer for my classmates.  Sometime today, however, I plan on naming as many of them as I can recall, asking our Father to work in their hearts and lives.  He knows them all, of course, and knows precisely what they need in either walking with Him, or coming to know Him.  Yes, the Benefactor we approach for others and for ourselves is both willing and able to answer the requests of our hearts, motivated and administered by His heart.  Wondrous indeed, and a responsibility that, rightly perceived, seems far more like the most amazing of privileges.  Because it is.

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men." 

(I Timothy 2:1)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God."

 (II Corinthians 3:5)

    

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