The Greatest Work
Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident of the whole will of God. Colossians 4:12
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As Epaphras prayed for his fellow Colossian Christians to stand firm in everything God wanted them to do in order to become mature believers, he didn’t utter a casual prayer now and then. Paul tells us in this verse that Epaphras prayed earnestly, which means that he was “always wrestling in prayer” (niv). It implies an act of agonizing in prayer. In today’s world we see thirty-minute solutions on network television programs. Because of the level of technology we have at our disposal, we have come to expect quick responses or results, and we want prayer to be as light and easy as possible. The saints of old understood the truth this verse expresses: prayer is work. It is easy to fall into thinking that the most vital work into which we can invest our energy and time is our career, our ministry, or the tasks of running an organization, supporting a political cause, or managing a household. But prayer is the most important work of all, and it’s worth our effort, our time, our persistence, and our wholehearted passion.
Prayers:
LORD, grant me the same strength of heart and perseverance that Epaphras had, to pray earnestly and faithfully and even forcefully for my children, both natural and spiritual, and for other believers you have ordained as my circle of prayer. Make us strong and complete and help us to live fully confident of your will.
Quotes:
WE ARE TO LABOR AT PRAYER AS A MAN LABORS AT HIS DAILY WORK. WE ARE TO PUT FORTH OUR ENERGY IN THIS WORK UNTIL WE ARE WEARY.
George H. C. MacGregor
The One Year Bible Readings for today are: Jeremiah 10:1–11:23; Colossians 3:18–4:18; Psalm 78:56-72 and Proverbs 24:28-29.
