February 2, 2012
"Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." Colossians 4:12
I am always impressed to read the testimonies of the great men of faith and their commitment to prayer. Some literally spent several hours a day, yes I said several hours a day. I would define that kind of commitment as "laboring fervently" in prayer. I am not sure that is what Paul had in mind when he wrote of Epaphras, but he must have spent serious time bringing the Colossian believers before the Lord. Prayer sometimes can be hard work because it does take time. In these verses Paul gives insight into how we become people of prayer. Epaphras had a caring heart. He had a "great zeal" for the people. He truly cared for them. I wonder if we lack zeal for people, we could sometimes lag in our prayer life. Also, Epaphras was very concerned for the people in Colossae because they were being exposed to false teaching and his prayer shows his heart as he prayed they would "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." His desire for the people was to mature – to be like Christ.
I don't know about you, but I find my prayer life is strongly affected when there is someone I really care about that I'm praying for. Let's pray that God would give our hearts a "great" zeal for people in our life. That could be our husband or wife, our children, our fellow believers in Christ, our neighbors….the list goes on and on. Let's not grow weary in bringing the ones we care for before the Lord.
Dave
Heb 4:16
