Action Prayer

Transcript

Hello, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing alright? Well, this is your friend, Bob Cook, and I’m back again to share with you from the Word of God. We’re in 1 Peter Chapter 4, and we just started walking around in the Seventh Verse. He said, the end, and that’s a Greek word “telos” which means the design, the ultimate design of God in history is to be revealed.

Now, there are many times that you and I don’t understand really why things happen. Why would a tornado come and hit the side of an elementary school killing seven innocent little children as they ate their lunch in the cafeteria? Why would a young mother develop cancer and die leaving her grieving husband and three young children motherless? Why would there be an auto accident that deprived someone of life? I don’t know the answers to these things. I take some knowledge of the fact that God very rarely has answered the why questions in Scripture. The Book of Job is full of them. Job said, “Why was I ever conceived? Why then didn’t I die before I was born? Why was I allowed to grow up? Why didn’t I die before I grew up? Why does all this happen to me?”

He never got an answer to all those why questions, but God revealed himself to Job, and Job ended up worshipping a God whom he began to know, let’s say, a little better for having gone through the experience. So God has a grand design for history and for your life, beloved. He says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of good and not of evil to give you a desired end.” He said that through Jeremiah.

And the wise man in Proverbs says, “In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.” It comes down to an individual step, even God is interested in the small things in life. Don’t let anybody ever tell you that it is fruitless to ask God to guide you in small things. God is the God of infinite detail and of infinite compassion, concerning those details. The steps, said the Psalmist, of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, yet he shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. When he putteth forth his own sheep, Jesus said, he goeth before. Our blessed Lord Jesus is interested in the direction in which you’re going and the way in which you’re going and the steps that take you there, and all of the details of your life.

You can, dear friend, pray about the smallest matters and commit them to your blessed Lord. Yes, you can. I am not one of those who claims that God is too big to be interested in revealing His will to you at any given time. Most certainly He will not reveal to you an answer to prayer something that’s already in the Bible. If you wanna know the will of God in terms of great guiding principles, go to the Word. Search the Scriptures, Jesus said, for in them, ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. If you wanna get acquainted with your Lord and to know the great eternal principles which should govern your life, go to the Bible.

But in terms of everyday’s guidance, what shall I do today? On whom should I call today, if you’re a salesman. What about junior? Does he need a spanking or loving, or both? And in which order? Shall I buy a new car or a used car or keep this one and fix it up? Shall we try to fix the roof on the house, or shall we try to get the plumber to do some re-piping on those corroded pipes? Nagging questions that won’t answer themselves, things in life that won’t do themselves. I noticed that the storm windows won’t put themselves up, the gutters won’t clean themselves, the leaves won’t rake themselves. The work that has to be done has to be done. But had you ever realized that God is interested in your work? “Commit thy work unto the Lord,” the Bible says, “And thy thoughts shall be established.” Now, all of this nearly five minutes of it. [chuckle]

Oh, this grew out of the concept, the end, the design, the grand design of God, is about to be revealed. And beloved, you will see the design, not just the loose threads on the opposite side of the tapestry. Somebody wrote a poem, which I cannot quote but it said, “My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me.” It goes on to say the poet goes on to say, “I see the underside with all the loose threads, he sees the perfect design and one day he’ll turn it around and I’ll see what he had in mind.” Yes, beloved, you will see God’s perfect design revealed, and the time is approaching fast.

I personally believe we’re very close to the end of the Age of Grace. When the trumpets shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore says Paul comfort one another with these words, Jesus is coming again, it may be very soon.

Now, what is to be my attitude then in the light of that? He said, “Be therefore… ” Now, whenever you find a therefore Dr. Ironside used to say, “You better look back and see what the therefore is there for.” He said, “If indeed God’s grand design is about to be revealed, there are certain things that should be true of you and of me.” What is it? Have a saved mindset. That word sober is made up. As I told you the last time we got together, it’s made up of two Greek words in your New Testament, sos and phren, saved mind. Phren, we get phrenology and all of that from that Greek word. So he said, “Have a saved mindset.” Look at things from the point of view of a born again Christian. What does that mean? That means you’ll evaluate all of the circumstances of life and all, mind you, of your decisions in life on the basis of what is the will of God.

For me, I’m saved, I belong to the Lord Jesus. As Paul said, “I’m a bond-slave of the Lord Jesus.” Now, you’re free from sin and become servants to God. Servants is our word. Slave, doulos. Greek word “doulos”, slave. You belong to the Lord Jesus. He said, “know ye not that you’re bought with a price, and ye are not your own, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit. Both of which belong to God.” A saved mindset is simply the quality of referring all of living to the one to whom you belong, the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, pray about everything. How do I know that I may do this? The Bible tells me so. Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything, says Paul. Be care filled for nothing. But in everything… ” Now that takes it all in, doesn’t it? How much is everything? Well, it’s everything.

In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and as a result, the peace of God that passeth all understanding so keep your hearts and minds like a garrison of soldiers camped around you. Oh yes, in everything, by prayer. Now, in everything means why you’re going through it. Many of us wait too long to do our praying, we wait until the situation has passed, and we have caved in and then we pray, Oh Lord, forgive me, I failed you. Now the Bible says, “There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest to be feared and if we confess our sins, says the apostle John, in 1 John 1:9, he is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So, there’s forgiveness, if you’ve caved in.

But he says, in everything, that means pray while you’re going through it, pray while you’re going through it. You’re in a situation where you feel your temper rising and you’re about to explode, pray then, not after the explosion. You’re faced with the temptation, which is so strong that you can feel yourself giving up, pray then, not after you have given up. You’re faced with the discouragement and with circumstances so bleak that you’re almost tempted to do away with yourself, pray then, not after you’ve given way to despair. You have been hurt so deeply that you don’t think humanly you can ever cope with it in terms of forgiving the other person, pray then, not after you’ve allowed bitterness to bear fruit in your life.

Paul calls it a root of bitterness, looking carefully lest any root of bitterness spring up thereby many be defiled. Did you realize that when you’re bitter about things, you hurt and damage other people in their spiritual life? Well, you do. And so he says, in everything, pray in the midst of the situations of life so that God can do something for you at that time. Then it’s a leverage, in everything, by prayer. We’re still quoting Philippians 4:6 and 7. In everything, by prayer. It’s a leverage. Prayer is God’s way of getting things done. So often, I’ve seen in my own life and in the lives of others, the futility of working so very hard at something to try to achieve a spiritual result. And you only… You just get exhausted, that’s all that it comes of it. You don’t get what you wanted accomplished and you just become exhausted.

Prayer is God’s leverage. Who was it? One of the ancients that said I have so much to do today that I have to spend at least four hours in prayer. I talked to frau Dr. Wasserzug years ago, this would have been in 1948. My, 41 years ago, it seems like yesterday. Time goes fast, doesn’t it folks? [laughter] Anyhow I spoke to her and I said, “You know, frau Dr., you’re in charge of this whole conference up here at Beatenberg in your Bible school and 500 of us are here as delegates and there are all these problems to cope with. And there were problems, believe me. The Americans were always hungry and didn’t like the supply or the kind of food. The Germans felt nobody understood them. The English felt that the thing could have been better organized and the Italians didn’t like the French, and the French didn’t like the Italians.

You have problems when you get all these different people together because they’re human beings, you know. And so I said to her, “You’ve got all of this on you.” I said, “If I were you, I would be climbing the walls.” And she just smiled and walked away. She didn’t say anything. Well, there was a dear lady there who had worked with her for many years, and she came up to me and she said I heard what you said, and I can give you an answer. She said I’m rooming with Dr. Wasserzug these days. I gave up my room and moved in with her so that some of you Americans could have a place.” And she said, “By 5 o’clock this morning, she had prayed through the entire day and was ready.” See there’s the answer.

Prayer is a leverage. Use prayer as a leverage for getting things done and you will find, first of all, that it keeps your own spirit calm because you’re depending not upon you but upon your Lord. And second, it sets free the divine power of the God who says, “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not,” sets free that power, and he is able to work on your behalf. One of the tragic verses in the New Testament says that in a certain town, Jesus was not able to do many mighty works among them, save that he laid his hand on a few sick folk and healed them. Not able, and it says, “he marveled because of their unbelief”. Lack of faith in your mighty Lord and lack of prayer that links faith to action oftentimes closes the door to miracle. The obverse is also true. As you commit things to your blessed Lord in prayer, you open the door to miracle. And He’s able to work.

Well, we get at some more of this the next time we get together.

Lord Jesus Christ, we worship Thee, and we pray that we’ll have the good sense to commit things to Thee, day by day and moment by moment. In Jesus’ name, I pray this, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!