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”

Today’s passage says that Epaphras was always wrestling in prayer for the Colossian Church. The language of wresting has to do with contending and battling. The actual root word for wresting is ‘agony’, where in prayer Epaphras agonized for this young church with much desire, burden, and passion. How do we love another?  How do we minister to one another? It is in prayer! Perhaps we are not so sure what loving another in Christ looks like-well, it is in prayer that we will be taught how to love, how to view that person.  Prayer is how we love one another. This is how Epaphras loved the Colossian church, by wrestling in prayer for them: that they may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

The first prayer was that they may stand firm in all the will of God. That they will not miss out, deviate, digress, be thwarted, or be cut short of all the plans/will of God.  This gives us an insight into prayer, for that is how each of us are enabled to live and stand in all the will/plan of God.  Prayer is how we are enabled to continue to live and stand firm in the will of God.

The second prayer of Epaphras was for maturity. If you recall, one of the main issues that the Colossians were going through was that they were being swayed in their faith by different heresies.  So Epaphras is contending, fighting for the Colossians in prayer, so that they would mature in Christ and be able to stand fully assured in Christ.

Today, are there those in your life/ministry who are being shaken or swayed in their love and devotion to the Lord?  Are there those you are concerned about due to their spiritual infancy?  Today pray as Epaphras did, and wrestle in prayer for them.  Pray for maturity so that they may stand fully assured in Christ.

-GK