Table of Contents
I.
Regularity of Persistent Prayer
II.
Specificity of PersistentPrayer
III.
Intensity of Persistent Prayer
INTRODUCTION
On 13th April 2024, I preached a
message on prayer titled: “The Power of Persistent Prayer”. I preached on 1
Thess. 5:17 with two words in a verse, “Pray continually”. I expounded the
Greek adverb for “continually”, and it is read as “adialeiptos G=89”. I mentioned
that “adialeiptos” was used in medical literature of a hacking cough.[1]
Thus, “Pray continually” is to pray persistently, as the hacking cough is
persistent in nature. “Adialeiptos” in relation to prayer is used only once in
the Bible by Apostle Paul.
The evening, I will continue to preach on
persistent prayer. However, I want to introduce to you a verb that associated
with persistent prayer, it is read as “proskartereo”, and the Strong’s Greek
index is G4342. Both Paul and Dr. Luke use this verb to describe “be persistent
in prayer”.
The verb “Proskartereo” is defined as
“To persist in adhering to a thing, to be intently engaged in, to attend to
constantly”. [2]
In Colossians, Paul admonishes believers to be persistent in prayer, the grammar is in the form of imperative, which is a command. The grammar as a command carries the same weight as “being filled with the Holy Spirit”.
Today, I will lead you to examine the prayer life of Epaphras and see how Epaphras prayed a persistent prayer in his ministry. Who was Epaphras? He was only mentioned in Colossians and Philemon. His name means lovely. He was from Colossae, “he is one of you” (Col. 4:12), and he planted the church at Colossae: “You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave – a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf” (Colossians 1:7 NET). He was also a fellow prisoner with Paul (Philemon 1:23). It is noteworthy that Paul commended him as “a faithful minister of Christ” in Colossians 1:7. The text we are going to examine this evening is as follow:
“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.” (Colossians 4:12-13 NIV)
This morning reveals to us that Epaphras is the student and practitioner of persistent prayer, and we can find three postures of persistent prayer adopted by Epaphras to pray persistently for believers in the Church of Colossae planted by him. The three postures are as follows:
|
Key Description of Epaphras Prayer
life Colossians 4:12-13 |
Posture of Prayer To Describe His Prayer Life |
|
Always |
Regularity of
persistent prayer |
|
He specifically prays for a definite group of people in the church.
His objective is clear, that they will mature and to stand firm in the will
of God. |
Specificity of
persistent prayer |
|
Wrestling, working hard |
Intensity of persistent
prayer |
Epaphras holds a unique distinction among all the friends and coworkers of Paul, and Epaphras is the only coworker commended by Paul for his prayer ministry. Therefore, the study of Epaphras’ prayer life will reveal to us Epaphras as a founding pastor of the Church of Colossae, how he prays for the flock under his charged. Thus, the prayer life of Epaphras is obviously able to throw some lights to modern believers on how we ought to pray for the church. It is also worth taking note that Epaphras is obedient to obey the command of engaging himself in persistent prayer. His obedience to the command to pray persistently is a challenge to all of us not to treat persistent prayer lightly as it is a command required our obedience to engage in this form of prayer.
This is the proposition of the sermon:
Every Christian can engage in persistent
prayer that will bring significant impact on lives of people being prayed for by
adopting three postures of persistent prayer in one’s prayer life.
The three postures are:
I.
Regularity of Persistent Prayer
II.
Specificity of Persistent
Prayer
III.
Intensity of Persistent Prayer
The title of the message: “A Model of a Persistent
Prayer?”
I. REGULARITY OF PERSISTENT
PRAYER
“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.” (Colossians 4:12-13 NIV)
In Colossians 4:12, Epaphras is described
as someone who “is always wrestling in prayer” for the Colossians. Epaphras’ posture
of praying constantly is in line with the description of persistent prayer in 1
Thessalonians 5:17 of “pray continually”.
Warren W. Wiersbe in his commentary “Be
Complete”, he comments on how Epaphras is always in prayer: “He was a good
example of Paul’s admonition: ‘Continue in prayer’ (Col. 4:2). Epaphras did not
pray only when he felt like it, as do many Christians today. Nor did he pray
when he was told to pray, or when the other believers prayed. He was constantly
in prayer, seeking God’s blessing.”[3]
(Quote Warren W. Wiersbe – “Be Complete” – P. 168/177 Google Book).
The commentary of Precept Austin also
states the same finding: “Paul bore witness that Epaphras was ‘always striving’
for the Colossians Christians. It was not an occasional, listless prayer on
their behalf, but a constant burden of intercession. Regularly and repeated he
bore them up before the throne of grace. His deep concern for them made him
obedient to the words of the Lord that ‘men ought always to pray and not to
faint’ (Luke 18:1).”
In church history, George Mueller was a
great prayer warrior who prayed persistently and constantly for his five
friends for salvation, he wrote how he prayed for the first three friends:
“In November
1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every
day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the
land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be.
Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked
God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was
converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on for the other three. Day
by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was
converted. I thanked God for the three and went on praying for the other two.
These two remained unconverted.”[4]
“He prayed on for twenty-five years and the
fourth man was saved. For the fifth he prayed until the time of his death, and
this friend, too came to Christ a few months afterwards. Tor the last friend,
Mr. Mueller had prayed almost fifty-two years! “[5]
The first posture of persistent prayer
adopted by Epaphras was that he prayed regularly. He was always striving and
wrestling for the church of Colossae. Epaphras’ posture of praying regularly
for his converts is in line with the scripture, just as King David wrote in
Psalm 55:17, “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my
voice.” Let us obey God’s command to change our posture to pray always, so
that revival will come to us.
II. SPECIFICITY OF
PERSISTENT PRAYER
“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.” (Colossians 4:12-13 NIV)
It is common for us to pray for general
prayer without focusing on the details of the people we are praying for.
However, Epaphras was not praying in that manner. He prayed personally. He
prayed “for you”.
Warren W. Wiersbe commented on the specificity
of Epaphras’ prayer: “Epaphras did not pray around the world for everybody in
general and nobody in particular. He centered his intercession on the saints in
Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis. No doubt he mentioned some of them by name.
Prayer for Epaphras was not an impersonal religious exercise, for he carried
these people in his heart and prayed for them personally.”[6]
Precept Austin commented on their
commentary on Colossians shares the same understanding of specificity but
expressed it in another term – Epaphras prayed a definite prayer. “Paul assured
the Colossians that Epaphras was always praying ‘for you.’ Their spiritual
welfare was his predominant concern and he kept them prominent in his prayers.
His was not that indefinite kind of praying which would be hard pressed to tell
for whom the petition was intended. He was aware of the danger that threatened
them and he prayed accordingly. His specific petitions revealed that Epaphras
had the heart of a true shepherd of God’s flock.”[7]
The
aim of Epaphras’ prayer was specific. He prayed that his converts in the church
of Colossae will “stand mature” (Col. 4:12 ESV). The word “stand” is used in
Ephesians three times in relation to spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:11, 6:13 and
6:14). This reminds us Epaphras was engaging in spiritual warfare to intercede
for his converts in the church of Colossae asking God to help, strengthen,
protect, and give courage to those brothers and sisters under attack from our
spiritual enemies. He prayed that they were to stand mature or perfect (KJV).
Epaphras was wrestling in spiritual warfare against the influence of “the
gnostic teachers who offered these Christians perfection and maturity.”[8]
Epaphras
not only praying for their maturity, but he also prayed that the Colossian
Christians will know the will of God in their Christian faith. This is in line
with the Lord’s Prayer that “your will be done” (Matt. 6:10). Epaphras prayed
that the Colossians will fully be assured (NIV, ESV, NASB) or “stand complete”
(Legacy Standard Bible) in the will of God.
To know the will of the Lord, believers’ responsibility of reading and
meditating the Word of God is a necessity. No wonder Paul in Col. 3:16
admonished the Colossians to “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” The
word of God contains all the moral will of God.
Thus, it is the challenge for us to seriously consider
praying for new visitors and converts attending our worship service, that they
will be mature and perfect, and they will stand firm in the will of God. Dear
members, we may have to change our prayer posture to pray with specificity for
everyone, and when we do our part, God will do His to revive the church and to
fill up the empty chairs. I am glad that the church is changing the posture of
zoom prayer meeting to pray for three families on every zoom meeting. That is a
good start! Revival does just fall from the sky. John Wesley said: “God does
nothing except in response to believing prayer.”
Precept Austin
shares a story of an old pastor how he prayed with specificity: “A story is
told about an old pastor who every Saturday afternoon could be seen leaving his
study and entering the church building by the back door, and about sundown he
would be seen going home. Someone’s curiosity was aroused enough to follow one
day and watch through a window. It was in the days when the family pew was an
institution of the church. The old pastor was seen to kneel at each pew and
pray for every member of the family that was to occupy it on the Lord’s Day. He
called each member by name as he poured out his heart to God for his flock. His
was a ministry of power and his people reflected the grace of God on them.”[9]
1.
Being specific helps us to
understand and know God’s heart concerning our need, request and the needs of
those we may be praying for.
2.
Praying with specificity
provides proof when those prayers are answered.
3.
Praying with specificity builds
our faith and confidence as we become more sensitive to the Spirit by allowing
Him to pray through us.
III. INTENSITY OF PERSISTENT
PRAYER
“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant
of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling (agonizomai
G75) 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 (polyn G4183,
panon G4192) for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.”
(Colossians 4:2,12-13 NIV)
Epaphras wrestle in prayer, and the word
“wrestle” is defined by Strong dictionary as: “To struggle, lit. (to
compete for a prize), fig. (to contend with an adversary), or gen. (to
endeavor to accomplish something) – fight, labor fervently, strive.[10]
Epaphras wrestled prayer, and the Greek
word “agonizomai” is used in related term of “agonia” when our Lord Jesus
prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane, “And being in anguish [agōnia],
he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the
ground.” (Luke 22:44 NIV) Thus, Epaphras’ prayer was intense, and energy
consuming. It was because Epaphras carried a heavy burden for the Colossians
that he wrestled in prayer with great strength.
Warren W. Wiersbe describes Epaphras “agonizomai”
in prayer as:
“The word used here means ‘agonizing.’ It
is the same word used for our Lord’s praying in the garden (Luke 22:44). We get
the impression that prayer was serious business with Epaphras! This Greek word
was used to describe the athletes as they give themselves fully to their
sports. If church members today put as much concern and enthusiasm into their
praying as they did into their baseball game or bowling, we would have
revival!”[11]
Epaphras not only wrestling in prayer, but
he was also praying hard (Col. 4:13 NLT) for the believers in Colossae,
Laodicea and Hireapolis. “Praying hard” in Greek is composing of two words, “polyn
G4183)”, it means much, many or often; “ponon G4192” means labor, toil,
pain, anguish, distress and suffering. Thus, Epaphras was praying with great
pain (Berean Standard Bible) for the churches he pastored.
Epaphras was very much like Daniel who
wrestled for 21 days to get an answer from God, and during the 21 days of
wrestling in prayer, the heavenly messenger at last fought his way through the
Prince of Persia, and Daniel finally got the message. The 21 days of wrestling
was hard work for Daniel to preserve until he got the answer.
For the third posture of wrestling in
prayer, some may have reservations. If we are using our own energy to wrestle
or labor in prayer, that will be the work of the flesh. However, if we allow
the indwelling Holy Spirit to energize us to travail in prayer, it is
scriptural. Look at the description of Paul’s experience wrestling in prayer: “To
this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon
the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.” (Col. 1:29, Weymouth
New Testament)
Warren W. Wiersbe commented on Paul’s
wrestling in prayer: “What a picture of prayer! So much of our praying is calm
and comfortable, and yet Paul exerted his spiritual muscles the way a Greek
runner would exert himself in the Olympic Games. He also taught Epaphras to
pray the same way (Col. 4:12).” [12]
David Brainerd was a classic example of a
man wrestled in prayer:
David Brainerd was one of the most
influential, yet little known, figures in 18th-century American evangelicalism.
He kept a detailed diary of his life, and published later by his friend
Jonathan Edwards, which is how we know so much about him.
“David Brainerd lived in the 18th century,
the first half of the 18th century. He was a missionary to the American Indians
on the frontier there, a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards. He died of
consumption tuberculosis at age 29. Very brief life. He had been a missionary
to the Indians only four years. Very, very short time of missionary service.
Why then has his life had such an incredible impact on the spread of the Gospel
and specifically on missions as it had? Out of all proportions to its brevity
and this short length of his service with the American Indians. Why?
Well, I think it’s because he was a man of
prayer who wrestled so faithful in prayer and wrote about those wrestling in
his diary. And then Jonathan Edwards took that diary and published it and it's
never gone out of print since. Still in print today. And when you read it, you
can just feel the fire of the Holy Spirit coming through the words, you're with
him as he wrestles, you can feel the urgency, you can feel the passion, the
fire. There's a heat there. There's sweat pouring from his body. And he teaches
us how to do this kind of wrestling prayer.”[13]
CONCLUSION
We have reached the conclusion of this
morning titled “How to Engage in Persistent Prayer?”. We have witnessed how the
founding pastor of the church of Colossae prayed for the converts in three postures
of persistent prayer: regularity, specificity, and intensity of persistent
prayer.
Church, I appeal to you to emulate saints
throughout church history to pray persistently for souls. I will challenge you
with few quotes of men of God to pray earnestly for souls:
George Whitefield, the famous English
evangelist, said, “O Lord give me souls, or take my soul!”[14]
DL Moody: “Use me then my Savior, for whatever
purpose and in whatever way Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart an empty
vessel; fill it with Thy grace.”
“Praying Hyde” a missionary in India:
“Father, give me these souls, or I die.”[15]
John Hunt, a missionary to the Fiji
Islands, a prayer upon his dying bed: “Lord, save Fiji, save Fiji, save these
people. O Lord, have mercy upon Fiji: save Fuji.” [16]
[1] John F. Walvoord and
Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary NT. (SP Publication, Inc.,
1983), 708.
[2] Samuel Bagster, The
Analytical Greek Lexicon (London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1967), 350.
[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Complete (Cororado Spring: David C.
Cook, 1981), Google Book 168/177.
[4] https://sermons.logos.com/sermons/120117-mueller%27s-persistent-prayer,
accessed 11.12.2024 10.53am.
[5] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustration (Assurance Publishers,
1980), 1052.
[6] Warren W. Wiersbe, 169/177.
[7] https://www.preceptaustin.org/colossians_412-18#4:12, accessed
11.12.2024 10.59am.
[8] Warren W. Wiersbe 169/177.
[9] https://www.preceptaustin.org/colossians_412-18#4:12, accessed
11.12.2024, 11.01am.
[10] James Strong, The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Word
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996), 560.
[11] Warren W. Wiersbe, 169/177.
[12] Ibid., 81-82/177.
[13] https://twojourneys.org/sermon/fellow-workers-for-the-kingdom-colossians-sermon-21-of-21/#:~:text=David%20Brainerd%20lived%20in%20the,Very%20brief%20life,
accessed 11.12.2024, 11.08am.
[14] Paul Lee Tan, 1317.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
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