Though
his name appears only three times in the New Testament, you ought
to know Epaphras. What is
said of him is not only interesting,
but instructive.
For
example, Colossians 4:12-13 says, “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”.
The
first thing to notice is that Epaphras is commended for his hard
work in prayer
for the church. Sadly, I
must admit that
I do not always give prayer the attention it deserves. I pray at the start or the end
of
meetings. I may pray
before a meal. If
something really worries me, I will pray
about it, but what I need to understand is that prayer is not just
another
thing that Christians do, it is the thing.
Essentially, prayer is the only real spiritual work we have
because it
is what brings the power of God into our circumstances. As the saying goes, “When we
work, we
work. When we pray, God
works”.
The
other interesting thing is the content of Epaphras’ prayers. When I pray, I ask for things
like peace,
safety and joy for myself and those around me.
By contrast, Epaphras prayed that the church would, “stand
firm in all
the will of God, mature and fully assured”.
In other words, while my concerns are often physical and
circumstantial,
Epaphras prayed for the souls of his friends.
This is even more significant given the fact that the
church of his day was
being persecuted by the Romans. In
fact,
the letter to the Colossians was written from a jail cell. If anyone needed peace and
safety, it was Epaphras
and his friends, but he prayed for their faith instead. In other words, he prayed
with a much bigger
picture in mind.
Epaphras’
example encourages us take prayer most seriously. It reminds us to pray about
the eternal rather
than just the temporary. In
doing so, we
too will become tuned into what is God is doing around us instead
of just doing
whatever seems right to us.
James
4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask”.
Maybe
it is time to become serious about asking.
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