When Prayer Is Hard Work – Part 1

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. Colossians 4:12

Paul writes, ‘Epaphras, who is…always laboring fervently for you in prayers.’
Sometimes praying for others feels like ‘laboring’. Once you understand and accept that, not having ‘tingling sensations’ when you pray won’t discourage you. You can smile and tell yourself, ‘This is the way the Bible says it will be sometimes.’ G. Campbell Morgan said, ‘A man may offer a prayer, beautiful in diction and perfect in the number of its petitions. But if it gives him gratification afterwards, that prayer cannot have been truly prayed.’ What did he mean? Simply this: you’ll feel good after you’ve prayed, but your goal isn’t to feel good about the fact that you have prayed, or that you felt particularly good during the process. Observe: 1) Prayer is a duty. It’s like going to work. You do it because it’s a commitment, and because of the rewards it brings. 2) Prayer is a discipline. The old-timers used to talk about ‘praying through’. Through what? Through wandering thoughts, through fatigue, through fears, and every other form of resistance and distraction. When you enter the ‘prayer zone’, Satan will fight you at every turn. But when you stand in the name of Jesus, the powers of darkness will retreat and you’ll prevail (John 14:13-14). 3) Prayer is a delight. It won’t happen every time, but if you’re faithful to the place of prayer there’ll be times when your whole being will be conscious that God is present, answering your prayer and giving you guidance. And even when the answer isn’t completely clear, you’ll leave His presence saying, ‘Now I have peace about it.’

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me “wrestle in prayer” for others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen