Orange Moon Tuesday, December 16, 2025 "The Percentage of Prayer"

    

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

   

"The Percentage of Prayer"         

    

    Our first thought regarding prayer should be one of God and of wonder.  An infinite Lord desires fellowship with finite beings such as ourselves, having made us with the capacity for such communion of Heart to heart. He ever works to draw us unto Himself for this fellowship made possible through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  This includes the moment at hand.  I would therefore suggest suspending consideration of my thoughts to direct prayerful attention to the One of whom Scripture declares, "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).

   If you have returned, let us consider together a few more wonders of prayer.  Fellowship with God must be viewed as far more than 99.99% about Him, and far less than .01% about ourselves.  This does not mean our role bears no importance or significance.  It certainly does.  Our communication with God, if performed according to His truth and led by His Spirit, involves a real response to Him, as enabled by Him.  God made us with capacity for this primary reason for our existence as human beings.  When the Holy Spirit enters our hearts through faith in the Lord Jesus, believers become a personal "house of prayer" (Matthew 21:12).  We may or may not consistently avail ourselves of such grace.  The truth abides, however, that…

    "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).

    The praying Christ dwells in born again believers.  Indeed, when the Apostle Paul declared he could "do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," nothing more blessed or vital than communion with God can be imagined among the "all things" (Philippians 4:13).   "Teach us to pray" wisely asked the disciples of the Lord who dwelled with them at the time, and who would one day dwell within them as the very Life of their lives (Luke 11:1; Colossians 1:27).  He would lead them - as He does us - in countless expressions of His internal presence that result in outward doings far beyond our human capacity.  He would lead the disciples to pray, a gift of grace that no less moves within our hearts in this moment and always.  Indeed, do we really believe ourselves capable of communion with the eternal, infinite God who made and sustains a creation more vast, complex, and beautiful than all imagining?  Such a notion would be scandalous presumption, were it not for the Creator beckoning us to Himself with the promise of His enabling by the "Abba Father" of the Lord Jesus Himself.  

    As we ponder prayer, let us focus primarily on the 99.99% of God's promised presence, involvement, leading, enabling, and answers.  Thereby, our .01% will be far more responsive, genuine, fervent, effectual, and pleasing to both our Father and ourselves.  We will ever be overwhelmed by the magnitude of such a calling, and never will we feel as if we know or experience more than a modicum of what it means to commune with God.  This is precisely as it should be.  Indeed, if awe does not accompany our journey to the throne of grace, we do well to pause before we arrive, gather ourselves, and remember Who beckons us to Himself.  Yes, prayer is nearly all about God, but in the marvel of His mercy through Christ, He has made it about us as well.  The better we know this, the percentage of prayer, the better we will pray.

"Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life."

(Psalm 42:8)

Weekly Memory Verse

     "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?   For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven."

(Proverbs 23:5)

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Orange Moon Monday, December 15, 2025 “That Which Cannot Be Taken”

    

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

   

"That Which Cannot Be Taken"         

    

    At the same time God gave the freest and greatest gift ever given, an earthly ruler enacted a tax to take.

    "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.  And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city" (Luke 2:1-3).

   "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

    This will not be a diatribe against taxes, but rather a rejoicing in a gift so wondrous that it applies to everything in our lives.

    "He that spared not His own Son, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

    The world's economy affects us all and we must responsibly act in accordance with with its parameters and protocols.  However, the primary economy by which believers live involves God's promise of provision, and our determination to respond in faith.  In times of economic plenty in earthly terms, we seek to remember Solomon's wise warning: "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?   For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven" (Proverbs 23:5).  Indeed, earthly treasures ever seek flight, either in their substance, or our ability to enjoy it.  Certainly, we give thanks for things, but always in the realization that anything we can hold with our hands will one day fly far from them.

    In times of want, we remember the Apostle Paul's example of trusting God regarding need: "Therefore, I take pleasure in… necessities"(II Corinthians 12:10).  Where did Paul find his greatest pleasure?  Where do we?  Certainly not in things with wings, as it were.  Heavenly treasures rather fulfill our hearts, where they forever abide.  I have long suspected that if the experience of God's peace and joy could be measured, we would find the believer most filled with such grace not in a circumstance and condition of earthly plenty, but of need.  If we apply this possibility to our own lives, the truth will be obvious that whatever leads us trust God, even if difficult, fills our hearts far more than that which may fly away at any moment.  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

     Let us enjoy God's blessings of earthly provision.  He would have us do so (I Timothy 6:17).  Let us enjoy, however, in the realization that the world ever seeks to take from us, and is often quite successful.  God, conversely, gives that which cannot be taken.   He gives Himself to those who trust in the Lord Jesus, the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted.    He also gives us both the opportunity and the responsibility to make our choices as to whether things with wings will be the portion for which we seek, or treasures of the heart freely given, and that endure forevermore.  The richest person on the earth in this moment likely knows this truth in circumstances that might surprise us on first consideration.  But then, upon further contemplation guided by God and His Word, we will smile and acknowledge, how could it be otherwise?

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

(Matthew 6:19-21)

"And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all, for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had."

(Luke 21:2-4)

Weekly Memory Verse

     "Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?   For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven."

(Proverbs 23:5)

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Orange Moon Saturday, December 13, 2025 "Draw Nigh"

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

   

"Draw Nigh"         

    

    In the most elemental sense, God ever and forever abides with those who have entered into relationship with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

     "I am with you always… I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5).

    Regarding our Lord's spiritual proximity to us, we can never be closer to Him than we are through His promised and enduring presence.  Interestingly, however, James calls us to "draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8).  This refers to closeness to our Heavenly Father in terms of conscious response and fellowship.  We determine by faith to relate to Him through the means He has given, including…

    Prayer.  "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:12).

    The Scriptures.  "Let my cry come near before Thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to Thy Word" (Psalm 119:167).

    Fellowship with believers.  "For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established, that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me" (Romans 1:11-12).

    Providence.  "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Roman 8:28).

    Expectation.  "My expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:8).

  Fellowship with God does not simply happen.  He must work to lead us in communion with Himself, which He does in every believer through the Holy Spirit's active and involved presence.  However, we must respond, again, by availing ourselves of gifts given for the purpose of communicating with the Lord by faith.  We do not see, hear, or touch Him, of course, nor do we always feel or sense His presence.   "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II Corinthians 5:7).  Our fellowship with Him is no less real, and is actually the closest we come to reality as we commune with the very Life of our lives.   "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).

    Why does James write that God comes close to us when we avail ourselves of coming close to Him?  The answer suggests one of the most marvelous expressions of the love and grace of our Lord we can imagine.  He has already given the aforementioned means for our response.  More importantly, He has given His abiding and motivating presence (Philippians 2:13).  That which awaits therefore involves our faith in believing such blessedness, whereby we play a real role in relationship with God.  He desires  genuine fellowship with us rather than merely programmed inevitability.  In the sense of communion with Him, if our response to Him did not matter as much as it does, James would have written, "Draw nigh to God.  Or not.  It doesn't really matter because He will draw nigh to you regardless of what you do or don't do.

    This, James did not declare.  He rather tells us that we must avail ourselves of God's freely given presence and means of communication with Him.  What a privilege!  What a responsibility!  What an opportunity!  And what a sacrifice made possible the establishment of real relationship with God and real fellowship with Him.  This most speaks to the issue we consider.  We may draw nigh to our Father because He drew away from the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.  "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?!" (Matthew 27:46).  The answer?  That our Father's promise might bless us with His abiding presence:  "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."  And also that we might have a fellowship with Himself that means something because it is real and vital.  How He blesses by such grace, and by that which must be perceived as a gift beyond description: "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you."

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith."

(Hebrews 10:19-22)   

Weekly Memory Verse

  Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

(Psalm 36:5)

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