Imagine having someone who so cared for you that they spent time "wrestling" in prayer for you. What impact might that have in your life?
Well, that's exactly what Paul says is happening for the church in Colossae:
Colossians 4:12-13
"Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis."
Epaphras is the "Big Daddy" of the New Testament. The wrestler!
It's a great description of earnest, heartfelt, persevering prayer isn't it? It reminds us of Jacob wrestling in Genesis 32.
Sadly, it's normally only a crisis of health, or finances or disaster that makes me pray like this.
I need to see the crisis of the spiritual battle more clearly: the crisis of ongoing temptation and suffering and sin, which pulls and buffets us in everyday life. Epaphras could see these things clearly and it drove him to his knees.
Let's learn what he prays for the church.
"...that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."
What does that mean?
I think it means that they would live as Christians, amidst all the sufferings and temptations that they would naturally face. That their decisions and actions, their thoughts and words, their plans and reactions would all please the Lord, having been shaped by his Word and Spirit.
That as others looked at them, they would see something of the Lord Jesus, and certainly something of a love for the Lord Jesus.
Epaphras would know that they wouldn't live perfect lives. But would they keep progressing and going on in a life of repentance and faith in Jesus? That was his prayer.
It's a great prayer isn't it?
Who might you wrestle in prayer for with this kind of prayer?
"...that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."
