Colossians 4:12-13.
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.
Prayer is the secret behind our curtains of success. What the people so and more often want to see is success but the outworking of how it came to be. As a successful young man as he was Epaphras still didn’t stop but rather continue in prayer for the people he had devoted himself to. Epaphras was the spiritual leader and the founder of the church in the province of Colossae. Apostle Paul never reached this area neither did he taught the grace of God to them, but it was preached to them by Epaphras a student of Paul.
The heart of Epaphras was to see Christ in every person in Colossae, standing firm and knowing and working in the will of God fully assured of it. He taught the people of Colossae about the Grace of God and it was bearing evident fruits in them. According to Colossians 1:6-7
“…..since the day you heard it (the gospel) and truly understand God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant….”
Having taught them and seeing them bearing fruits, nonetheless, Epaphras embraced them in prayers, praying for them fervently. His prayer work was so evident that prayer confessed that he is working hard for you and not only you but also those in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Truly he was Epaphras Christ.
What was Epaphras praying for them about?
He wanted them to stand firm and fully matured and assured in all the will of God, to reach a point of holding on to the Head (Christ) from whom all increases come from. Not being tossed forth and around by traditions of men, sabbath or new moon but knowing Christ, whom all the fullness of Godhead dwells bodily in. Maturity of our knowledge of Christ sharpens us because our value in the presence of God is not the education, money or knowledge we have but in Christ whom we have believed. As we grow in Knowledge and Understanding of Christ it makes us to get the most of out of the relationship with God. We all have the same value when we believed, it’s Christ and Him alone. Things which seem good and highly valued in the sight of men as regarded as nothing in God.
Same Heart as Apostle Paul.
Colossaians 2:1-3
“I want you to know how hard i am contending for you (Colossae) and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in hearty and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Juat as the heart toward everyone was in Epaphras, so was it in Paul. Apostle Paul was contending and struggling for these people and the everyone who had not seen his face, which includes us today. These people were leading everything truly from the point of prayer.