Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: p[rayer

from omelets to hair dye — December 8, 2023

from omelets to hair dye

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We were seated at a diner as we looked over the breakfast menu. The Grecian Omelet caught my dad’s eye – only – when he ordered, he absentmindedly asked for a hair product – Grecian Formula. My mom almost fell out of her seat laughing. Fortunately, the waitress brought him an omelet instead of a bowl of hair dye.

Ah, but I am my father’s son, subject to the same silliness.  When I send my order up to God, in prayer, I don’t always know what I am truly asking for.  I may think I do, but maybe I don’t. 

“Is what I seek the best for me?   Is it the right time to have it?  Am I mature enough to receive it? Am I even asking for the right thing?”  So many questions that befuddle me.

Fortunately, God knows me well and Romans 8:26, tells me He provided some help.  It says, “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” NETBible ®

That’s encouraging!  The third blessed member of the Trinity is aware of how weak we are when it comes to our prayers.  He understands that we may not know how we should specifically pray.  So, He helps us! 

He intercedes so that the need is clearly made known in heaven and is correctly met on earth.  The verbs are in the present tense reminding us that this intercession happens on a 24/7 basis. 

The Holy Spirit is the one who says, “Father, he is asking for hair dye, but what he really wants and needs is some eggs.”

So maybe we should just say, “Well Holy Spirit why don’t you just order for me?”  I suppose He could, but prayer is one of those exercises that draws us near to God who treasures our prayers.

Consider Luke 11:9 where Jesus urges us to pray. He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”  NETBible ®

It’s like so many other issues in our walk with God.  We are often expected to take the first steps by faith, and then the Lord steps in and helps us accomplish what we could never complete without Him. 

Prayer is actually an underappreciated privilege.

With the Hindus, only the Brahmins, the highest class, are permitted to pray to their god.   A person could be a billionaire, or a high-powered political leader, but if not a Brahmin, they are forbidden to pray. They must seek a Brahmin, even a boy Brahmin to pray their prayers for them.

Can you imagine that?  Suppose it is the middle of the night, and your infant son has a raging fever, and you desperately want to reach out to heaven for help – but you are not allowed because you are not of the Brahmin caste.

How blessed is the Christian.  Every one of us has full access to the throne of grace.  We have freedom at any time or place to personally approach God in prayer. 

The Muslim may not pray until he learns how to do it in Arabic, for his god hears only prayers offered in what Muslims believe to be the holy language.”    

Can you imagine a new convert to Islam from Latin America.  He won’t be able to pray until he learns Arabic.  He may need to pray for help in order to learn Arabic – so that he can pray in Arabic – but he is stuck.   

How wondrous it is, that all over the world at this very moment, people of every race and culture are praying in their own tongue and our omniscient and gracious God is gathering those prayers in and answering them accordingly. 

God has made praying easy and as rewarding as possible.  So why not pray? 

A Prayer:  Lord I pray that I might pray. Help me to sweep away the self-imposed obstacles that keep me from it.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

does God ever tire of our prayers? — November 15, 2023

does God ever tire of our prayers?

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I have two questions concerning prayer:  1. Does God ever get tired of hearing our prayers? and 2. Why did she just pray for someone’s underwear?

As to the second query: When my wife and I were first married, we wanted to merge our quiet times.  As a morning person she had always read her Bible and prayed early in the day.  I, on the other hand, am a night owl and always had my quiet time just before bed. 

Being the sweet accommodating wife she is, she adjusted and came over to the after-dark side. 

And it made our prayer life kinda fun.  At times, she could be in the middle of the most earnest prayer, when the drowsies hit.  Her mind stopped, but the words kept coming.   She wandered off into silly senseless things like that time she prayed for someone’s underwear.

Now as to the second question: Does God ever get tired of hearing our prayers?   Shockingly – the answer is yes! 

I was reading through Exodus (during my nightly quiet time) and this is what I found in chapter 14.  Israel had left Egypt under the leadership of Moses but God had assured them that they were headed for the promised land.

Unfortunately, they were trapped on the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh at the rear ready to exterminate them.  Israel earned a few more frequent crier miles by complaining once again. 

Moses said, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again.” – Exodus 14:13.

His fearless words masked his fainting heart.  He too was alarmed.  He felt the pressure.  So, he wisely went to speak to the Lord about it.

But before he could utter a word, the Lord said, “Why do you cry out to me? (14:15a)   What? Moses just wanted to speak to Him, which is called prayer.  He wanted His help. 

But God, in what seems to be an impatient manner said, “Why do you cry out to me?”  And He added, “Tell the Israelites to move on.”  (14:15b)

Evidently Moses needed to pray less and do more.  He knew what he needed to do – he just needed to do it.

“Moses, your job is to get your people moving,” said the Lord. “ So, do it and quit wasting time pretending you are actually seeking guidance.”   Well, we know that prayer is important, but evidently it is an insult when used as an excuse for a failure to act.

I was truly stunned when I read this and realized its implications.   God does direct us, certainly by His Word, and sometimes through other means.   But we don’t always like the direction He gives, or maybe we are too lazy or afraid to do it – so we dither in prayer instead.

The teen asks God for money for a car.  He was offered a job which would enable him to earn it, but he doesn’t like the work. 

Sarah is asking God to bring peace between her and her brother, but she skipped right over Matthew 5:23-24 where she is instructed to take the first step. 

For months I had been praying that God would give me and my wife more ministry opportunities. I had thought about recruiting a friend who sings, to join us in a music ministry but I didn’t act on it.   

I prayed on for several more months, until I read Exodus 14:15 where the Lord seemed to say to me, “Why are you praying about this goofball?  Just do what I suggested you do.”

So, the very next morning I sent a message to that friend, and she immediately replied with excitement.  She too had been praying for such an opportunity.  

So, me, my wife and Brenda Waskowiak are teaming up to sing for Jesus, all because God refused to hear my prayer again.

A Prayer: Lord, thanks for that nudge from Your Word.  Continue to nudge us!

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Scripture references are from the NETBible ®

neither rain nor snow — December 23, 2022

neither rain nor snow

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Time to pay the bills.  I do it the old school way, by writing checks.  I tucked a $5,000 check into one envelope.  Then pasted a stamp on it and a return address sticker with Christmas graphics on it (even though it was June).   Will the folks at Chase Bank notice?  

I had several urgent errands to run and stopping by the mailbox was last on my list.  That was a mistake because I worried about that envelope all morning long. 

What if it should slip down between the car seats and get lost?  What if I go in for an Egg McMuffin, and someone should see it in the car, break in and take it?   What if I just forget about it?  The late fee and the interest would be painful.

I got to thinking, “Hey this is pretty much par for me.  When I have something on my mind, I get chained to a mental cycle of distraction and burden.  This is especially true when the issue is troublesome.

Well, I finally pulled up to the big blue box and dropped it in the slot.  And poof, my angst went down the chute along with the envelope.  

Mail is occasionally misplaced by the USPS.  But did you know that the exact figure is about a half a percent which is incredible when you consider the volume of mail that goes out each day, and you consider that there are people like me whose scribble on the envelope can’t be read.

Regardless, once I dropped that letter in the box, I was relieved, and I carried on the rest of the day without a fret.  

I wonder if that’s what the Spirit of God had in mind when He inspired Paul to write, “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7 NETBible.com

“Do not be anxious,” he said.  I kinda wish He hadn’t said that because I am the type of person that gets anxious knowing that I should not be anxious.   Nevertheless, He said, “Do not be anxious for anything.”  

Anything that causes a person anxiety is now off the table.  Health hindrances, financial foul-ups, relational rollercoasters or even unmailed bills.  All anxiety is to be shunned.

In its place should be prayer, specific petitions concerning whatever issues we face. Requests should be posted to an all knowing, all powerful, completely motivated by love – God.   It should be partnered with thanksgiving. 

Why thanksgiving?  Because He has allowed us an opportunity to be challenged and to grow and He has given us the means by which to handle our anxieties and because our prayers are welcomed and encouraged, and because our God has pledged to answer and because we know that whatever answer He gives will be good for us because He loves us.    

And once those prayers have been dropped in the heavenly blue box, the peace of God will flood our hearts.   We will rest in confidence knowing that “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay our divine courier from the swift completion of His appointed rounds.”  (My apologies to the USPS for modifying their motto)

And the delivery stats for an earnest prayer are the best.  They arrive at their destination nothing less than 100% of the time.

I don’t know about doing a New Year’s Resolution.  Mine usually end up as New Year’s Frustrations.  But maybe you and I can begin praying that God will remind us to pray. 

We can let the emotional strangulation we sometimes feel, become the trigger to post a prayer to heaven.

So maybe I should conclude with a prayer:  Lord I am certain – absolutely certain that I would be more able to handle the challenges of life, if my first response were to pray.  Would you help me, and us to develop that habit this year? 

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you!

the day God came to be — March 6, 2019

the day God came to be

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I remember the day that God was born – in my experience that is.  He had always been more of a dusty theoretical concept to me until He opened my eyes to His hidden, spiritual, eternal reality.

I remember being stunned to find that God was truly alive and that He interacted with me, on my turf, on a minute-to-minute basis.  He answered my super specific prayers and spoke to me by directing me to a perfectly appropriate passage of Scripture.  I was mystified by the way He loved me by providing just the right car at just the right price.

I found significance in the details of life because the God I came to know was all powerful and all knowing – everywhere all at the same time.  I wondered at the way He ordered every aspect of life according to His gracious and sovereign plan and I was grateful to be a part of it.

I will admit, though, I sometimes took it too far.  I remember closing my eyes and running my finger over the pages of my Bible.  When I stopped roving and opened my eyes, I expected God to give me a personalized message.  Today I wonder what would have happened if my finger had landed on Job 19:17, “My breath is repulsive to my wife” -NET Bible®

When I dressed for the day, I would sometimes ask God to help me pick out a shirt.  Now I just ask my wife (although God was nicer about it.)

Yes, sometimes my wide-eyed wonder was a little excessive.  The dog was exhibit A. I shared a home back then with 2 others who were also new to and awed by God.   A dog had been given to us.  He was a big mangy dirty-white cur, but we knew that God was in the details and that He must have wanted us to have the beast.

The dog was nameless so one of us suggested that we ask God to show us the name He had in mind for the dog.  We circled up and prayed a prayer that ended in this way, “and Lord we thank you for the dog – Amen.”    We opened our eyes and dropped our jaws because we knew that God had just answered our prayer.  “Amen.”  The dog’s name was to be Amen! 

Contrary to his name, he turned out to be the dog from hell.    The word Amen is used in the Bible as an affirmation of what had just been said.  It means “So be it.”  At our house it meant, “So eat it.”   The dog was a bottomless pit.  And when he had finished his dog chow, he would chow down on our shoes.   

Eventually we had to go our separate ways and none of us could take the dog with us (at least that’s what we said.)  So, we gave him to a priest who seemed to be thankful to have a dog with a sanctified name (although I hope he sprinkled him with some holy water too!)  

He later told us that the dog had escaped from the rectory.  The priest canvased the neighborhood looking for him crying, “Amen!  Amen!”  He nearly started a revival.  An African American woman opened her front door and shouted, “Praise the Lord.”  (Hey, I am not making this up!)

Well, I am a lot older now and unfortunately that sense of awe I had for God has become as dulled as my other five senses.   I wonder what happened? 

What I initially believed about God has not been undermined or contradicted by anything that I have experienced with God since.  He has been the same yesterday, today and forever – the same, ever, awesome God. 

So, what can I do to recapture that wonder?  When I take time to marinate my mind with a passage of Scripture, I do hear His voice – and it stirs me.  When I review my prayer journal and I see the multitude of specific answers to my prayers, I am moved.  God shows up in new and fresh ways whenever I step out in faith and do a mission trip – and that is awesome.  Or maybe I need to write about Him – like in a blog.  Yep even as I think about and type these God thoughts, my heart is moved to worship.

Go and do likewise and may the Lord be with you, Amen.  (not the dog)

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I recently watched this clip and the Lord stirred me.  One of my most favorites songs of worship: Knowing You.  Watch it without tearing up.  Can’t be done!