Fervent Prayer - Colossians - Weekend Edition

0:00We're glad you've joined us for Walk With the King Weekend Edition. Saturday morning extended broadcasts from Dr. Robert A. Cook. To help us reach more radio friends with daily encouragement from the Gospel, please visit WalkWithTheKing.org slash donate. Thank you for listening and thank you for your support. All right, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You're doing okay? Well, I trust everything's all right at your house. I want to go on with you in this Bible study. If I may, in Colossians the fourth chapter. And verse 12. Paul is in the process of mentioning different people who are near and dear to him, co-workers and friends. He speaks now of a papras or epiphrase. Remember Dr. Maxwell in seminary would never let us say epiphrase.

1:00He says, that sounds too much like sassaphrase. Call him a papras. Ha ha ha. Well, whatever. The papras are epiphrase, either one, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Great verse. He is, says, Paul, a servant of Christ. That word servant is the Greek word dolas, which means slave, a slave, a servant, a slave of Christ. That means that this man had really sold out to the Lord. He had given himself completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose if one is going to pray well or serve well or preach well and take a proper position in the body of Christ,

2:03there has to be a reckoning with this factor, first of all, is Jesus Christ, really, Lord of my life, in the sense that I am his bond, slave, and that he can command to me any time to do anything, anywhere. When the final curtain is wrung down on history, and every knee is going to bow, it says, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. We have the privilege of addressing him as such right now and of sustaining a relationship of Lord and Master to servant. This man, Epiphras, was a slave, he was a servant, he had given himself completely to Jesus Christ

3:04so that the Savior could give orders and he would obey. That is step number one if you want to be used of God, anything, anytime, anywhere. No limits put on the relationship with you and your Lord. It has to be admitted that for most of us, our praying is fragmented at this point because we can pray freely about things that we like, but we hold back in our praying and in our commitment when it involves areas that we don't like to think about or concerning which we don't want to give over the control to the Lord. I think we have to start here friends. There isn't any other starting place with Jesus, making Lord of your life. How do you do that? Well, you start somewhere. You give him yourself the best you know how.

4:04Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present to your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. You give yourself to the Lord. And when you do, he takes over control of your life. Then what? Then as you live through every day and every night, moment by moment, the various decisions that are to be made, the various valued judgments that are to be made, at every turning of life's corner, you seek His direction. He's your Lord. And so you say, Lord, what will thou have me to do? What do you want me to do, Lord? You ask Him to direct you in the turning of life's corners, in the making of life's decisions, in the adjusting of life's relationships. At home and at work and at school and in the community and everywhere, you ask Jesus to control your life. And when you do, he does.

5:05Step by glorious step. Make him Lord. Now, Jesus Epiphras, who is a servant of Christ, salutes you always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Laboring fervently is two words in the English. It's one word in your Greek New Testament. And it is a word from which we get our English word agonize, agonizaminas, always agonizing, laboring fervently for you in prayers. What does it take to be an effective servant of our Lord? What does it take to be a blessing to other people? It takes the kind of praying that may I say it takes something out of you, where you actually give something of energy and strength. And you enter into that fellowship of divine agonies, so to speak,

6:06that is the essence of God's concern for a fallen human nature. To pray, he says laboring fervently. Jim Mercer is an evangelist of some note you may have met him through the years. He was a good friend, but he befriended me during the days when I was active in youth for Christ and when I would have campaigns, evangelistic campaigns here and there across the world. Sometimes then our paths would cross. When they did, I would always invite him to spend some time with me in prayer. I remember on one occasion, especially, we were in Toronto in the midst of a series of what we then called World Vision rallies. Actually, it was an extended series of meetings with a missionary thrust to it, and we would give gospel invitations and challenge people for missions and take up offerings

7:11and try to recruit young folk to go to Bible College and Bible Institute and prepare themselves for the mission field and that sort of a thing. So it was a busy time, and it was a heavy time for years truly. That particular year, I was going through the ringer in some different ways, the details of which don't matter here. But it was a heavy time for me, and I needed some help. I recall having the phone ring on an afternoon, a Monday afternoon, and it was Jim Mercer on the phone. He said, Bob, I have Monday night off. I have a little campaign over here in such and such town. And he said, I have Monday night off. They don't have meetings Monday night. How about if I come over to the meeting and then stay a while and have a prayer meeting with you? Oh, I said that would be great. I need somebody to pray with. So, all right, he showed up about time for supper and we ate together and went to meeting and carried through the service, preached and gave the invitation and met with some of the folk afterward.

8:17And then we went on back to my hotel room, and he said, well, now let's get down to praying. I got to get back to where I stay before too late, but let's have some prayer. He said, what do you want me to pray about? So I told him some of the things that were on my heart. And I asked him what I should pray for him for, and he told me some of the things that were on his heart. We got down to praying. Well, I prayed the best I knew how, as I always do. I believe in getting down to business and praying and telling God the truth, so I went at it. And when I said, amen, this dear brother began to pray. And he came under a tremendous burden evidently for me and for the work there. And he began to pray so earnestly that I could feel we were kneeling on opposite sides of this little single cot that was in this tiny little flea bag of a hotel where I was staying. And so we were kneeling on opposite sides of this little single cot. And I could feel that there was a kind of a quiver in his body as he prayed with tremendous earnestness that God would do some of these things that we were waiting on him to do.

9:27That he would touch me and that he would fill me with the Spirit of God in a special anointing for this task. And that he would see me through these heavy days that were upon me. And as he prayed, I could sense that his whole body was just quivering with the effort of praying. Now, oh, by the way, God met us both. He had a great campaign in, I think the name of the town was Owen's sound, if I remember. And I had good meetings there in Toronto and the Lord saw me through and I didn't die. I'm still here, hallelujah. And God answered prayer. But when we finished praying and said amen, the beads of perspiration were standing out on the brow of God's servant with whom I had been seeking the Lord's face. Jim Mercer had been agonizing for his friend in prayer. Now, somebody saying, well, Bob Cook, are you saying that you got a sweat in order to pray well? Not at all.

10:29No, I didn't say that. I'm simply saying that when you really pray, it means to labor. It means to labor fervently. And the Bible word fervent means until there's something bubbling and boiling and boiling over inside of you. The effect will fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Remember that passage from James? The effect will fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. That, my friend, is where we're at, do you see? So, always laboring fervently in prayer. Always laboring fervently in prayer. Okay, now, how do I do this? Do I have to force myself to act in a certain manner?

11:36I think this is a snare into which many people have fallen through the years. Some people have been brought up in an environment where you had to strike a certain pose in order to pray. I remember speaking with a brother, oh, some years ago now we were having a conference about something and we were conversing normally just as I'm speaking with you now in an ordinary tone of voice. Nothing special about it. And I said, hey, why do we have some prayer about this? Oh, that'll be fine. So, we get on our knees. I said, go ahead, do you pray first? I'll wind up. And the voice I heard then was entirely different from the conversational voice that the brother had been using because he started turning on what I call the pious tremulant, you know? And he said, oh, Lord, oh, my, he was really going at it. Now, you see, the point I'm making is I don't think it's necessary to strike a pose in order to impress God.

12:41He is not impressed. The Bible tells us repeatedly by our much speaking. Our Lord Jesus said, when you pray, be not as the hypocrites and the heathen because they think they should be heard for their much speaking. Long prayers weary God according to the first chapter of Isaiah. He says, when you make many prayers, he said, I am weary to bear them. So God gets tired of the posing and the play acting and the striking of special notes, shall we say, in our voices. The same thing is true, I think, for the volume of the prayer. Some people feel that you pray better if you're shouting, you know? Well, I don't think the Lord is either impressed or bothered by it. Some of my friends will remember some of those all-night prayer meetings that we used to have at Winona Lake in the old days, back in the fifties, forties and fifties.

13:44We would gather after an evening service and gather up in the free Methodist church on the hill there, up above Lake Winona. The dear brothers and sisters of the free Methodist church allowed us to meet there in their beautiful little sanctuary. And Peter Dynika, all in Peter Dynamite always didn't lay. Peter Dynika would be there to open the service and to lead it, to be with us through the night hours. Dear blessed prayer, helper that he is, wonderful brother. But he would be there to start the meeting. And so we'd have a good time. And we'd wait on God. And I'd give an invitation along about one, thirty or two in the morning. Somebody, now and then, would be saved. Somebody else would get right with God. Many victories were won that way. And the hearts were prepared for God's service. We had one all-night prayer meeting, not in the little church sanctuary, but across the street in what was then known as the Westminster Hotel.

14:46I think it has a different name now. But we were in what was called the Rainbow Room, which was sort of a ballroom kind of a thing in this old hotel. We were gathered there, perhaps a hundred of us, praying, and got on into the night hours, you know, one and two o'clock. Well, our brother Dynika was praying about something. And when he prays, at least he used to, I haven't been with him in a prayer meeting now for a few years. But when he used to pray, he would get right at it and speak quite loudly to the Lord. And that was his way of doing it. And sincerity and earnestness were mixed together with the high decibel level of his praying. So he was praying at rather a loud pitch. Well, some of the guests upstairs, of course, could hear what was going on, and it was hard for them to get to sleep. And so someone sent a message down to the desk clerk to ask those people down there, pleased to kind of tone it down so they could get some sleep.

15:52And so the desk clerk faithfully came in with a note and handed it in. And Wally White picked it up and read it, and went over to Peter Dynika and tapped him on the shoulder and interrupted his praying. And he said, you know, Peter, the people upstairs wish that you'd tone your prayer down. And beside, he said, Peter, God isn't deaf, you know. And Peter Dynika looked at him and he says, no, and he isn't nervous either. He isn't nervous either. And he went right on. Well, he did. We kept it down a little bit. Then after that, you know, we didn't want to cause people to lose whatever blessing they might have had by being robbed of their sleep. You have to be thoughtful when you're praying. But the point is, God is probably not impressed by our loud praying or by the lack of it. He's impressed by the earnestness of the heart. That when I pray us, enter into thy closet and shut the door. And when I shut the door, pray to thy father which seeeth in secret, and thy father which is in secret, shall reward thee openly.

17:04The effect will fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The prayer that touches your heart, the prayer that makes a difference in you when you pray it, the prayer that costs you something in emotional and spiritual and physical energy, the prayer that recognizes that praying is labor. And there's a load to be lifted and a burden to be carried and a responsibility to be faced, and the challenge to be met, praying that meets a challenge. Always laboring agonizing is the word, laboring fervently for you in prayers. Many of us, I think, have to face the fact that our praying is far too bland. We pray sincerely. I'm not cutting any of you down and accusing any of our listeners of insincereity or hypocrisy.

18:06You'll have to settle that if it's true in your own heart. But let's assume now that what we're saying in our prayers is sincere, okay? But our praying is bland and it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't make any difference in us. It doesn't make any difference to us. And it doesn't really make any difference outside of us. It's a kind of a spiritual exercise that doesn't amount to an awful lot. Now, how do you change that? Someone is saying, okay, cook if you want me to pray different, how do I pray different? Okay, let me just talk about that for a moment. Honesty, number one, honesty and prayer. Tell God the truth. If we confess our sins, the word confesses homologueo, which means tell us God the same thing we already know. Agree with God about it. Tell God the truth. Tell God the truth. Agree with God about something. That's the first thing, honesty and prayer. Instead of saying, Lord, bless me and help me give up this habit, confess to him that you love that habit and that you don't really feel like giving it up, but that you're willing to be made willing.

19:14Tell God the truth about things. When you resent somebody instead of saying, oh, Lord, bless Mrs. So-and-so, tell God the truth. Say, Lord, I resent Mrs. So-and-so. And I feel resentment rather than love toward her, and I want you to forgive me for that and give me the divine love for this lady. Tell God the truth. All right? Confess whatever is sin. That's the second thing. Confess whatever is sin. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If you try to cover it up, he that covereth his sin shall not prosper. But who's a confesseth and forsaken it? The forsakeneth that shall have mercy. Says the word of God. And so let the Lord cleanse sin. Then what? Tell God the truth. Confess all known sin. Then what? This man was praying, libering fervently for others. So have an intelligent concern, an intelligent, that means informed, an intelligent and informed concern for the needs of others.

20:23Paul says in Philippians, look not every man on his own things only, but every man also on the things of others. Barry won another's burdens and so fulfill a law of Christ. Pray one for another, says James. Confess your faults one for another and pray one for another, that you may be healed, the effect will fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And so an intelligent and informed concern about the needs of others. Oh, incidentally, you'll find that when you start praying for other people, your own needs seem somehow to be met. If you're feeling dreadfully lonely, you start praying for other people, you'll feel less lonely, you'll feel comforted. If you're terribly discouraged, you start praying for other people, you'll feel encouraged in God. I can't tell you how this works. I only know that it does. When you start praying for others, you yourself are blessed. Of course there's a scriptural warrant for this. Go back in the book of Job and it's at the Lord, bless Job, when he prayed for his friends. Remember that passage just in the end of the book of Job.

21:32He'd been through all of these troubles and his so-called friends had been harassing him and brow-beating him throughout quite a period of time. But now Job has had a meeting with the Lord. He said, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine I see it thee and I have heard myself in repentant dust and ashes. And so God told Job, you better pray for your friends. So it says, the Lord turned, this is the verse I'm looking for, Job 42, 10, the Lord turned the captivity of Job. That means He turned things around for him. When was it? When he prayed for his friends. Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Prayer. First of all, tell God the truth. Second, let him cleanse your own heart. Third, exercise an intelligent and informed interest in the needs of others.

22:36Next, bring those needs earnestly before God. Whether you pray louder, soft, whether you, whether it costs you some extra perspiration or not, is beside the point. Ernestness is the index of effectiveness here. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, bubbling, boiling over is that kind of a word. Ernest mentioned of the needs of others in your prayer and then take the step of faith. The ABCs of prayers I've told you often are these. Ask, believe in claim. Ask, believe in claim. And after you've brought a need to the Lord, then let your faith reach out and visualize it as being supplied. For any time you find a promise in the Word of God, you can stand upon that promise and reach out the hand of faith and receive by faith. God's blessed answer. Yes, you can. Always laboring fervently for you in prayers. Now sometimes the burden will be so heavy that you will weep. That's been true of me many, many times.

23:42Sometimes the burden will be so heavy that you can only groan and you just can't really verbalize the feelings that you have. They lie so deep and they're so intense. But you know that you have to seek God about some things and so you just wait before him and groan out your petitions. I'm comforted when I read Romans 8. The Spirit also help with our infirmities. But we know not what we should pray for as we are, but the Spirit Himself make a thinter session for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. God knows what the Holy Ghost is trying to say through you, even when you can't verbalize it yourself. Sometimes those burdens are so heavy and the feelings lie so deep. And the secrets of your soul are so intense that you just don't really find the words, but you seek God anyway and he meets your need. Ah, yes. So whether or not it costs you physical agony is beside the point. Yes, it may. I want you to know that. Yes, it may cost physical effort. Yes, it may cost tears. Yes, it may cost emotional outlay.

24:49Yes, it may cost praying until you feel almost physically exhausted, but your faith has reached out and touched the hymn of the divine garment and you know that the answer is on the way. Well, whatever it costs, it's worth it, isn't it? Ah, yes. Now what was Epiphrase praying for? He said that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. What a beautiful expression. That is. That you may stand perfect. That's the Greek word, tell you which has to do with the accomplishing of the divine purpose and also the idea of maturity, the accomplishing of a divine design. We speak of the various arguments for the existence of God and there's one that's called the teleological argument, which means it's an argument from design.

25:54You have a great universe that's operating on split second time and by which we set our watches and clocks, God's clock never varies. You have all of the laws of nature, you have the vast universe, beyond us, and you have a universe of small things beneath us, the microcosm that is found in every living cell with its genetic codes and all the rest. And we know down deep in our hearts that no amount of chance could have brought about this intricate design of creation. Well now that's the concept that you have in this word that you may stand perfect. In other words that you might measure up to God's beautiful design for you. Isn't that a lovely thought? He was praying that these people might measure up to God's beautiful design for them. I think one of the saddest things is to see people whose lives have missed the mark and they have to settle for second best or third best because they refuse to let God's design be worked out in their lives.

26:57Oh, when we pray for our friends and loved ones, we ought to pray as did Epiphrase that God's perfect beautiful design might be worked out in their lives. Perfect and then what else? And complete. Now that word complete, that's a long Greek word. Want me to pronounce it for you? Peplero foramenai. How about that? That's a big one. What does it mean? It means filled up bit by bit to overflowing. That you may stand perfect and filled up to overflowing in all the will of God. Oh, this is worth praying for. He didn't pray that they might have a new house to live it. He didn't pray that they might have new clothes. He didn't pray that even that they might be delivered from the persecutions which were so all around them because of the danger of being known as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

28:02He prayed that they might stand perfect and complete. They might measure up to the divine design for their lives and that their lives might be filled up bit by bit to overflowing in the will of God. What a beautiful prayer. Dear Father, today help us to do our praying earnestly and effectively and in line with the will of God. I ask in Jesus' name Amen. That's all for now until I meet you once again by way of radio. Walk with the King today and be a blessing.