Thoughts On Prayer;

 PRAY SPECIFICALLY–

 “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 firm, mature and fully assured in all the will of God.”-{Col 4:12}

 Epaphas-God has included him in His Word, and note the High-Value HE places on a person who prays…Epaphras Bio is that he is…
… A Bond servant of Jesus Christ,
“…Always laboring earnestly” Literally, “striving as in the agony of a contest.”... AND this he invested in, wrestled spiritually in prayer for…OTHERS…

and Praying with Purpose-“…that you may stand firm, mature and fully assured in all the will of God.”…

 

Epaphras PRAYS; “Observe his pattern of prayer: He prays constantly, fervently, personally, and specifically. A good pattern to emulate!”-{preceptaustin}. Guzik observes that “Epaphras prayed well because he cared well. If he lagged in zeal, he certainly would have lagged in prayer.”

 

1. – PRAYER IS A PRIVILEGE;…Epaphras Chose To Pray. While we are all gifted with different spiritual gifts to build up the body of believers and glorify Him in specific ways as we chose to exercise those spiritual gifts, {Read 1 Peter 4:10-11}. Though we each have different spiritual gifts, YET we CAN ALL PRAY. Irrespective of what “Gift ” we have or have not been given! Prayer is not for the few but ALL God’s people, not on specific or isolated occasions but any time, all the time access to His Throne to receive mercy and grace to help in time of need- included-{Heb 4:16}

2. – PRAYER IS HARD WORK; …Working against demonic thoughts, a world system that has rejected the Lord Jesus, His Word, His ways, and against ourselves,- the traitor within us that is tempted, not convinced we need to pray or that Prayer works, especially when we have been praying what seems a long time and nothing seems to change. We yield to the temptation and become disheartened, and yield to despair and throw in the towel and quit. We falsely believe God is not good, for if He was He would have done something by now- on our timetable, according to our plans! We fail to realize His ways at times is for us to continue to persevere in prayer otherwise we will spiritually faint.- {Read Luke 18:1}.Your fight is not against flesh and blood but principalities in the high places Paul wrote to the Ephesians {6:12}, and to remember that ultimately all realms, both physical and spiritual realm are under the Divine Sovereign Rule of our God and Father who has given all authority to the LORD Jesus “…All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” -{Matt 28:18} “BUT GOD…” calls us, commands us to pray. He has made it possible through the giving up of His Son to the cross and raised Him from the dead to show His acceptance of His sinless, perfect sacrifice, to allow us permanent, loving access to Him, and be a part of the family of God for all eternity,”…accepted in the Beloved.” -{Eph 1:6}

3. – PRAYING IS AN ATTITUDE AND ACT OF FAITH. Faith pleases Him-{Heb 11:6} – So we pray not to be accepted by Him but because we are accepted because of Him…{Heb 11:6; Eph 1:6}. We pray by faith because He asks us to and is a privilege He affords us to draw us to Himself and know Him better. For example if we lack wisdom in a trial He commands us to ask and He promises if we ask in faith He will give it to us -{James 1:5}. Faith Glorifies Him- {Rom 4:19-20}. 

4. – PRAYING IS AN ACT OF LOVE– “He who has My commandments and obeys them LOVES Me.”-{John 14:21}…Since He commands us to pray and continue to do so, is an act of obedience to his command…and in doing so is LOVING Him…so you pray as an act of Love To Him. What a motivation to pray! To show Love to Him and because as by faith you do so it is pleasing to Him!

 

 We Don’t Drift Into Praying. We Chose To Pray- Motivated by His LOVE for us and Others.

 Amplified Bible-  “Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. [He is] always striving for you earnestly in his prayers, [pleading] that you may [as persons of ripe character and clear conviction] stand firm and mature [in spiritual growth], convinced and fully assured in everything willed by God. (Amplified Bible – Lockman)”

 Lessons From Epaphras Prayer Life
* Pray Persistently
* Pray Perceptively – {Understanding it is a spiritual battle}
* Pray Personally For others
* Pray Purposely.

5. – PRAY SPECIFICALLY…UNDERSTAND THAT SUCH PRAYING IS A SPIRITUAL BATTLE…

 Epaphras IS someone who has caught my attention for years. We don’t know much about him, “But God…” wants us to know this about him- he was a man of prayer, and His high value on such a one was that he included it in His eternal Word!

Indeed if you could write something on his headstone it may read, “Epaphras a Servant of Christ Who LABORED IN HIS PRAYING FOR…OTHERS” … you too can be such a person…who prays specifically. Ask God specifically.

6. – PRAYER IS AN ACT OF COMPASSION; 

He prayed wholeheartedly, specifically, but compassionately. The emphasis on his praying that is held up to us here is his intercession for others. The compassion he had for their spiritual well-being was his primary concern, and the Scriptures have him memorialized for generations to see the value God places on prayer. Epaphras, he prayed well, for he cared well! 

7. – PRAYER’S PRIORITY; – “Whatever you ask in My Name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”- {John 14:13}. Ask According To all that is in agreement with His Nature, as revealed in His Word, ask for His glory, Honor fame as the ultimate motivation in your praying and He promises you will have it!

8. – PRAYER’S PATTERN; Why not write down Colossians 4:12 and carry it with you and when you have an opportunity, read it word for word, phrase for phrase memorize, meditate upon, and then SPECIFICALLY PRAY this for someone else. Or you could place it on a bathroom mirror and while brushing your teeth read it and the more you read it the more you will become familiar with it and memorize it… And you will Know you are praying His Word, according to His Will.  You can Pattern your prayers after His Word! 

PRAYER… 

 PRAY ON…by faith…because of Love!