In our daily Bible study, last night we were reading the fourth chapter of Colossians. I was struck by the two verses I shared above. Paul knows the power of prayer and so he admonishes the believers in Colossae to be devoted to prayer, while being watchful, which I take to mean alert and aware of all that is going on in our lives, especially the spiritual; and to be thankful, which I take to mean in, and for, all things.
But the meatier part of the verses is that word "wrestling" as that man Epaphras did in his daily prayers. I took that to mean that the man not only knew about the trials, temptations and challenges of the believers, he took them on in his prayers. That means, as we pray for a dear one who is battling cancer, take on the cancer in your prayers! Wrestle that cancer in Jesus' name, asking the Lord be the victor in the struggle. If the opponent is doubt, take on the doubt on behalf of your brothers and sisters who have shared they are doubting. Is your friend needing a better job, or a job because they are unemployed? Take that on as well! Prayer is a full contact activity if we make it so! If you wrestle in prayer and your friends know, they will, as Epaphras asked, be able to stand firm in whatever comes, knowing the will of God is being done. They also can face it with maturity and the assurance that we need in our lives.
So, as we get prayer requests, join forces with God as we wrestle against some powerful opponents, but knowing that God's power is mightier, and it is God's will, not ours, that gets done.
Lord, as we pray together, we join forces with You as we take on the enemies of dear ones in our lives as they have shared with us. We wrestle against disease and illness in the bodies of family and church members. We ask that these would be defeated and deployed to outer darkness where they can harm no one else. We take on doubt and despair, asking that You remove those from loved ones, and make them mature and assured of their worth and value in Your loving eyes. We take on anything and all things that stand in the way of our loved ones and You. May You have the final word and the victory as we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen!
