Prayer - The Gateway to Worship, Obedience, and Refuge with Penny Cooke

Ever wondered about the transformational power of prayer in your life? With guest Penny Cook, we tackle this profound question as we redefine prayer as not just a conversation but a gateway into worship, obedience, confession, refuge, and even spiritual warfare. Penny and I delve into what we call the six Ps of prayer: purpose, passion, pattern, practice, power, and potential, helping listeners understand the immense spiritual depth and breadth that prayer encompasses.

This episode isn't just about understanding prayer; it's about integrating it into every aspect of your daily life. Penny and I discuss the importance of developing a passionate relationship with God through prayer and how to silence the noise of the world to focus on the Holy Spirit. We explore the Lord's prayer as a guide, emphasizing the importance of intentional prayer time. We also share insights on how to make prayer a constant in your life, using reminders to keep you on track. Finally, we discuss the life-saving potential of prayer, offering insights on the transformative power prayer can unleash when we truly connect with our Heavenly Father. Tune in to discover a new perspective on prayer and its potential to reshape your life.



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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We think of passion, we think of feelings, and it's not always about our feelings. We're not always going to feel like praying, we're not going to always feel like reading our Bible, Even if we love Him. Sometimes you just don't feel like it. But it's an obedience If we're passionate. I mean, what did Jesus say? If you love me, you will obey my commandment, and if we love Him, we will do it, even if we don't feel like doing it.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Hi, I'm Ruth Hubsap. Kim, welcome to the Out of the Darkness podcast, where we help you navigate life's trials based on faith and biblical truths. Today, my guest on Out of the Darkness is Penny Cook. We are talking all things prayer. I'm excited to have this discussion with her. We are both passionate about prayer and how the power of prayer can transform our lives. Welcome, Penny, to Out of the Darkness and I am excited to have you here today. And we are talking here.

Speaker 2: 1:23

We are both excited because we are talking about a subject that is a passion for both of us and unknown to us, because God is a God of excellence has given us both the same message about today and talking about the same thing. So today we're talking about prayer and all of the things that come with prayer and how we pray, all of these wonderful things, and we're going to cover what we kind of dubbed because we both came up with the same things the six Ps of our prayer conversation today, and it'll be the purpose of prayer, the passion of prayer, the pattern of prayer, the practice of prayer, the power of prayer and the potential of prayer. So, since we have all of these areas to cover, let's jump in. So the first one that we're talking about, penny, is the purpose of prayer, and I think once we've covered that one and understood what prayer is, I think it helps everything else kind of fit into it. So what is your definition of prayer? What is the purpose of praying?

Speaker 1: 2:53

Okay, I think there are a lot of purposes to prayer. Some people will say prayer is a conversation, and it certainly is that. Prayer is a relationship, and it certainly is that. But I think within those it's so much more that maybe we miss when we're just thinking of it in those terms. One of the things that I see as prayer is worship, and we know that's how Jesus started the Lord's prayer Hallowed be your name. Right, it's confession. He also taught us to say forgive us our debt, as we forgive those that we may have sinned against us. So worship and confession are huge.

Speaker 1: 3:51

I think obedience is huge, because over and over in the Bible, we're told to pray, to pray without ceasing, and so it's obedience. It is anguish. We see this in the Psalms, when we see the Psalmists just anguishing, pouring their heart out. And we can do that with our Heavenly Father too, and sometimes that's what prayer is for us, right, we're just anguishing. We have a God that we can come to, a Heavenly Father that we can just crawl up on his lap and cry if we need to, and so, along that same line, prayer is a refuge. It's a refuge to come to him. It is listening. Sometimes prayer is just zip it, don't talk, just listen, and sometimes that's just reading his word. I was thinking about this recently and I think that part of prayer is reading the Bible, because that is how God speaks to us. One of the ways that God speaks to us is through his word, so sometimes reading our Bible is part of prayer.

Speaker 2: 5:15

I agree with you on that one, because if we're not deep into the Word of God, how can we know what his will is for us? How can we discern right from wrong when we're being bombarded in this world with all kinds of ideas? The churches are compromising and are in, you know they're. They're, you know, accepting what the world says and tweaking it to look religious or churchy like. And how can we know, if, what our leaders are telling us?

Speaker 2: 5:55

are correct what we're reading is right, and I always say this is what I have gathered from my studies. Now you need to do your homework and go and read the Word of God for yourself and say, oh, I see what Ruth said. Or I need to talk to Ruth about this, because this is what the Holy Spirit spoke to me about and I think that's your. That's the key right Listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us For that discernment yes.

Speaker 1: 6:31

We just not going to have discernment Apart from the Holy Spirit. We can't have discernment, but we need to tap into it, you know. And that kind of leads me to one other thing I was going to say and I saved it for the last one and that's that prayer, prayer is warfare. Once we have that discernment and we know what we need to be praying about, then we go to war for it. And I think a lot of times we don't see that about prayer, that there's so much happening in the heavens when we pray, you know we're not. We're not battling against flesh and blood, but principalities and darkness and the rules of the evil world, and so one of the ways that we fight that is through prayer. It's so important in these days where the world is going mad. Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 2: 7:33

You're right about that. Now let's talk a little bit about the passion of prayer, and I mentioned this to you before we started that. Last week, I was reading something and it dawned on me that even in ancient Egyptian times, the Egyptians were praying to the sun. And when we look around us, right, all of the religions of the world are praying to a God that they have, let's say, built or created. And whenever and I see we see this so much now on social media it doesn't matter where. When something goes wrong, it says praying, for you know, when we are in a desperate time, and when we're in desperation, our DNA, our being, needs to cry out and pray to whomever it is that they're praying for. So it is a natural reaction for us to pray. And how do we harness that so that we are praying the way that our God, our Creator, intends it to be?

Speaker 1: 8:56

Well, you just said God, our Creator, and I think that is key. Are we praying to just? We don't even know who? Are we following other Gods throughout our days without even realizing it, or is our passion for the God who created us? So that, I think, is foundational. When you first said passion, the first thing I thought of was do we have that passion? It is in our DNA, but I think the enemy keeps us distracted and discouraged and disillusioned and I think a lot of times we lose that passion, or maybe it gets displaced or something, because the world keeps us our eyes on other things and just keeps our focus away from the God who created us and wants that relationship, has a passion for us. Think of the passion that he had, you know. Talk about the passion of the Christ, because he died for us. He suffered and died and took all our sins on him. That's how passionate he was and that's where our passion needs to be.

Speaker 2: 10:39

And you're right about the noise, and I think that there was, I don't remember what the war room, the movie, the war room where they took prayer into a closet. And I remember myself when I rejected what I had grown up in, the faith of my parents and my children and my parents and my grandparents, and I turned into the world. Well, I needed to silence the Holy Spirit right, because I was being convicted.

Speaker 2: 11:19

So, I filled my life with a lot of noise and the noise just got louder and louder and louder and when that noise would dissipate the Holy Spirit, I struggled to hear the Holy Spirit right, because I had tuned my ears off from that practice of hearing what the Holy Spirit says. So you're right, we need to step away from the noise of the world and really focus in to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Yeah, One of the things that comes to my mind as you were talking to is that it's not about feelings. You know, when we think of passion, we think of feelings and it's not always about our feelings. We're not always going to feel like praying, we're not going to always feel like reading our Bible, even if we love Him. Sometimes you just don't feel like it. But it's an obedience If we're passionate. I mean, what did Jesus say? If you love me, you will obey my commandments, and if we love Him, we will do it, even if we don't feel like doing it.

Speaker 2: 12:47

Yes, amen to that. So then there's the how do we pray, the pattern for prayer, and I think the best example of it was when the disciples and I mean we all ask the question right, I don't know where to start, how do I pray? But I think it's not, that it's not a wrong question, right? I've had people say, oh, I feel stupid asking this question. Well, no, the disciples who had spent this time at the feet of the Lord and Savior said to Him teach us how to pray, how do we pray, and we all know the Lord's prayer and how we are to emulate this prayer. Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:40

And it is beyond reciting it right yes, amen. Just to back up a little, I always think you know, when the disciples ask Jesus, teach us to pray, how do we pray, he didn't say just talk to me Now. Great, that's how we pray, without ceasing right, just have an ongoing conversation with God throughout our day. But when we're talking about, you know, that specific prayer time that we might have, that is time for real, fervent prayer.

Speaker 2: 14:16

Right the intentional prayers that we have.

Speaker 1: 14:19

Yeah, good word, yeah. And he gave them points I would say to cover when we pray. And so he started out our Father, who is that? That's acknowledging God as God, as Creator Bigger than us, someone that we need to submit to Our Father in heaven. Holy is your name. Right, that's worship. That's acknowledging who God is, and when we do that, we focus on him and what he's able to do. Right, I always think of Ephesians 3.20. He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly. Above all, we ask or think, and so we are praying to the Creator of the universe, right. And Ephesians 3.21 says I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. So if he made heaven and earth, he can help us. And that's what we do. We remind ourselves of who he is and we worship him for who he is. Then we've built our faith. For the rest of prayer, right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:45

And I like that because I'm very, you know. I think I really emphasize that intentional prayer is different than the prayers that we have ongoing throughout the day, and I had to learn to carve out time, and I hate using that word. We're in such a time right where we need to carve out time for the Lord. That's horrible, and but I have been very intentional and there is that time in the morning I don't answer my phone, I don't get on social media, I don't do any of that. That is my time. I have, you know, an hour or two hours a day, whether it's reading the word of God or praying, and that is intentional. And I know I've had people say you put that in your calendar. Yes, because I need to be intentional. I don't want to put something in that time where it's not worthy of you know me doing that. So I had to be intentional, yes, Me too.

Speaker 2: 17:07

I cannot imagine my life, where I would be and whether I would know what the Lord wants me to be doing right now, if I wasn't listening, if I hadn't trained my ears to hear the Holy Spirit which leads us into the practice of prayer.

Speaker 2: 17:31

So we kind of segued into it with being intentional, because many times we sort of stumble into prayer without a plan and, as we said, we're not talking about that ongoing prayer that we have with our Lord all day long. You know, we throw in the requests, we have all these little things we want and then we move on and get busy with our lives. But, as we said, we need to be intentional, we should be Like, we should be disciplined.

Speaker 2: 18:06

That's the word, I think I was looking for I, we need to be disciplined and spend time on it and and I think we need to take prayer seriously. And I liked what you said, penny, about when people say just pray and talk to God, which is great, because that's what we should be doing, but we should also be taking prayer Very seriously.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Yes, and and it brings tears to my eyes when I think that we are not serious In our relationship Mm-hmm with our Lord yes, if you know, not only are we not Practicing the pattern that Jesus taught and you know we went over a little bit, we starting with worship, but then what did he do? We went into confession, he went into submitting to God's will. Oh, that's a tough one.

Speaker 2: 19:07

Penny.

Speaker 1: 19:09

You know the, the daily bread part, we we got that one down, I think, but we forget about all the other parts that he taught and if we're not Looking at his pattern of prayer and making it a practice, like you said, being intentional and disciplined, that's, that's the key word there. You know, we, we find time and we Schedule things we want to do, and so again, it goes back to sometimes it's not feelings, it's obedience. Now I am going to schedule this time, like you said in the morning, and I know what you mean about no social media. I have to leave my phone in the other room, otherwise I'll pick it up to look up a verse and next thing I know I want to post that verse on social media. Now I'm scrolling, so it's too much of a distraction. I have to leave it in the other room and look up versus the old-fashioned way.

Speaker 1: 20:10

Yeah, flipping through the pages of my bible, and what a blessing that is. I mean, that's another topic. Yeah, but um, yeah, disciplining it, putting it on the top of your to-do list. And one of the things I love to do is put prayer reminders everywhere, whether it be sticky notes. I have little prayer signs that say pray, and I have them all over because I want to be reminded Um. You know, even beyond my intentional time.

Speaker 1: 20:42

I'm reminded throughout the day yeah, pray, pray now.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Penny going big, going on this. And now I'm not endorsing, nor am I telling people to do this, but a couple of years ago, when my first book was coming out and I was, it was on prayer I got a tattoo on my arm and I don't know if you can see it, and you can't see it. It's right here, so it's. I see it more. No one else really can see it, and it says pray.

Speaker 1: 21:16

That is awesome.

Speaker 2: 21:17

I love that and and this, and I know that's a whole other subject, but for me this was my reminder. It's not visible to anyone else, but honestly I, when I use my hand, my arm is moving. The word pray is there front and center. For me, so you're, I practice what I preach in this instance and.

Speaker 2: 21:45

I, we, we really need to practice, and I know it's odd to say this, but we need to practice to pray. Prayer is something we need to do. We need to do what we talked about discipline. It's like an athlete who trains.

Speaker 1: 22:00

Why do they?

Speaker 2: 22:01

train right to strengthen their muscle, to strengthen their core, to develop muscle memory. Well, prayer is that as well, for us right. We need to develop it, we need to practice it and we need to. This is a lifesaver. Am I over exaggerating when I say it? But prayer is my lifesaver, amen, right, because without prayer I definitely would not be back where I am walking With the Lord. So for me, it was my my. It saved my life through prayer.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Yeah what we are saying, what you're saying about your chat too. I make bracelets that say pray to sell with my book on prayer.

Speaker 2: 22:50

So I guess I recommend people get the, the bracelet. Don't get into this because you maybe some people get a lot of fingers Leave and tattoos. Yes, exactly, but do it another way. The idea.

Speaker 1: 23:10

I love it having permanently on your arm, you know.

Speaker 2: 23:14

It is and, honestly, there, there have been moments when I am fighting something or struggling with something and I look, you know how you just shake your head and look down and it's there. Yes, duh Ruth, pray, you know it. Just take it to God and prayer. Take it to the Lord and prayer, because there is power in prayer. Yes, which brings us to the fifth point, which is. The, the power in prayer here we are Trying to fix things ourselves when God's power is more than enough and it is available to us?

Speaker 1: 23:58

Yes, it is available and it is power, and that's what we miss when we don't pray. You know, when we don't.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Follow God's pattern with that has. You know, of course, the, the worship reminds us of his power. The confession clears the way for his power, right? David said, if I, if I Harbored sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. And so we don't want anything blocking that power, right? So when we Pray his way, that we it releases God's power, we rain down his power for our lives, and that is so huge. There's so much more power and prayer than Then we give credit for. You know, because if we really believe that power, don't you think that we would be disciplined or intentional?

Speaker 2: 25:10

And you know, I just. It brought me Just a snapshot. An image came into my mind when you said that and it's an Athlete trains. If you're a triathlete, you train for what? For the meat that you're going to in the future. Well, as children of God, are we not headed to heaven? That is our ultimate destination, right? Should we not be training and and and Getting others to join us? I mean, someone asked me this past weekend why do you do all this? You're you. You don't make money, you don't get anything out of it. And I said because I want everyone To know that there is hope and that there is a future for them in heaven a free gift.

Speaker 2: 26:10

I mean, we talk about giveaways and freebies and everything else, but this is the ultimate freebie.

Speaker 1: 26:19

You know, give your life over to the Lord, and the power is there and when you say you know, somebody says you don't get anything out of it. Oh, my goodness, we get more out of it than we could possibly get Physically or materially right. They, the power. Yes, we're talking about that. We're also, and God, it is God's power that gives us the peace that we get, a piece that passes all understanding. That's his holy spirit, his power, a comfort, wisdom, guidance, the help that we were talking about earlier. It all comes from his power and those are the benefits. That's what we get out of it. I'd rather have that than any worldly thing.

Speaker 2: 27:08

I am humbled every day by God's Graciousness and God's Patience with me. You know, I just want to honor him. I just want Others to see what he has done in their life and and the thought of it Brings tears to my eyes literally, because I'm always amazed that where I was and where I am today, it's, it's a miracle. I was gonna say short of a miracle, but it's not. It is a miracle because my life could have gone in so many other directions and yet I Am blessed you know, and I.

Speaker 2: 28:01

And I need to say that I am blessed because, as a child, these fundamental, the foundation was laid in my life. So when it came to that deepest, darkest moment, I was able to reach for those in my life right and I shuttered to think what would have happened if those fundamental, the basics, were not in my life as a child.

Speaker 1: 28:38

So for me as well.

Speaker 2: 28:39

You know that's. That's a whole other Discussion of training up our children Amen.

Speaker 2: 28:45

I would say that yeah, in faith, right in prayer. Teach our children to Pray at a young age Because there is potential, which is our sixth point, the potential of prayer. There is so much incredible power and and potential. All we need to do, and it's so easy is invite God into a situation, because you know, into a situation and into our lives, because prayer does change things, but more than anything, it changes us, right? Sometimes the situation I'm in Does not change because I have no control over it, but 100% will change me and I've said this, even even honestly.

Speaker 2: 29:42

Even before I was walking with the Lord, there was, there was something in my mind that always said if I can't change it, I'm not gonna worry about it. But now it's very different. My you know the way I think.

Speaker 2: 29:58

I cannot change it, but the Lord can change me, mm-hmm, and and let me be able to deal with that Situation. I can reach my full potential right to, to be able to, to deal with it. So you, you know God moves mountains and can transform a sinner such as I to find my love. To find love, joy and peace. How much greater right the potential of prayer.

Speaker 1: 30:36

I know I Was thinking as you were talking of Ephesians 3, 20 he is able to do exceedingly Abundantly. Above all, we ask or think, yeah, according to what the power that works in us, his power, and why wouldn't you want that potential of what his power can do?

Speaker 2: 31:06

Yeah, there, there is no excuse for it, right? I mean, once you have seen the power and the potential, you can't turn, you cannot ignore it. I think, I think you become fervent, like us, passionate, right, because we've experienced it it's you know, just take a look around at people who discover, I don't know, a new food, a new way of life. They become, they, they're passionate, they talk about it and.

Speaker 2: 31:41

You know, I I never thought I would be that person that you know I would. This is what I I'm passionate about and I want others to To experience it.

Speaker 1: 31:54

Experience, and that's that, that, just the word that was coming to me. When we've Experienced God, when we've experienced his power in our lives and the potential of prayer and Answers that we've gotten whether he's answered it the way we prayed it or just did something in us that we found, the, you know, deepened our relationship with him, that's just way more, way more than anything.

Speaker 2: 32:27

It is awesome and amazing and I I am glad that we've we were. I know it's short, we covered a lot, but it has all the all the important bits of it, you know, and I think that is what is Important. But before I let you go, penny, can you let us know what is happening? I know you have two exciting projects that are coming up, so tell us a little bit about those.

Speaker 1: 33:00

I was just thinking about this in the in in regard to the potential of prayer. What if we don't pray? I always think about that. What do we miss? What is the potential that we miss when we don't pray?

Speaker 1: 33:15

and I say that to say that we all need to be praying for our countries and for our world and that sounds like a big one, like you might be thinking I got enough on my plate, I got enough to pray about, but could you just say a little prayer? You know, even if it's not every day, a few times a week, our world needs prayer and I really felt this so deep in my heart when the Lord spoke to me about writing a book, about praying for, in my case, america. But it there really prayers that can be prayed for any country? And we're praying for our world. When we pray for our countries, we're praying for our world.

Speaker 1: 34:06

And you know America, particularly, was a significant in the world for helping others and reaching out and and I'm afraid that's, you know it's going away unless we Really Seek the Lord. You know what does he? He told us in 2nd Chronicles 714 if my people who are called by my name Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways Is that confession part, that repentance part? Then I will hear from heaven and heal their land. And whether it be America or Canada or anywhere, we need to be praying for our country and for our world.

Speaker 1: 34:57

And so that's my project, that I've been working on. It's pursuing prayer for America, and again, I say it for America, but it's for any country. And then my other one is just my fun project of my children's book and so hopefully that's out by the time this airs. But that's the wake-up prayer and Just want to teach kids again, like we were talking about, that you can pray to God First thing in the day and any time throughout the day. We don't have to save it for bedtime.

Speaker 2: 35:35

Yeah, well, I will put all of these in the show notes and Just check the show notes and you'll get all the information. Well, penny, this has been a blessing. I thank you so much for your time and for your knowledge and for your wisdom. Oh, thank you, I am. I'm always blessed speaking with you and I look forward to our next conversation me too.

Speaker 1: 35:59

Thank you so much. God bless you.

Speaker 2: 36:08

Thank you for joining me. To stay connected, follow me on Instagram and Facebook. If you like this podcast, can you help me find new listeners by leaving a rating and review? This small step takes only a moment, but really helps grow the listening audience. So let me thank you in advance. I hope you have a wonderful day and until next time let's continue on our journey as followers of Jesus Christ. I am Ruth Huff sapien.