Thursday, July 12, 2012

Laboring fervently- in prayers

Col 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Labouring fervently for you in prayers-  that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Laboring FERVENTLY in PRAYERS!

Do we really think of praying as something laborious?

Have you prayed laboriously lately?

Have you labored fervently in your prayers? 

Seriously- laboring , when we think of laboring we generally do not think of praying. We think of working, we think of something hard not something easy. Yet when we pray do we consider it something laborious, something agonizing?

G75 labor fervently-

- to contend with adversaries, fight
-to contend, struggle, with difficulties and dangers
- to endeavour with strenuous zeal, strive: to obtain something

- to struggle literally (to compete for a prize) figuratively (to contend with an adversary) or generally (to endeavor to accomplish something): - fight labor fervently strive.

Read those words, do they make it sound as if laboring fervently in prayer is something done lightly?

Yet we pray so much, so often and never as if it were hard work.

We are told to pray continuously, to pray always, to pray and watch- maybe we need to rethink things just a little tiny bit.  Maybe prayer isn't simply speaking to God as a friend. Maybe it isn't simple at all. I'm not saying that we have to make praying hard, but I'm saying we need to give it more REAL thought. When we talk of praying for someone maybe we need to ask ourselves if we are praying fervently- laboriously for them or are our prayers lukewarm tokens, mere good hopes and thoughts. 

Good hopes and good thoughts for someone aren't bad things at all, and if that's what a person is inclined towards doing it's not wrong. We aren't all led by the Spirit in the same way. Remember some are called to be teachers, others preachers, other evangelists, we all are called to pray.  But perhaps some are called to be more fervent prayer warriors - so to speak, I don't know, I don't have all the answers of course but we are told to study and in studying we are learning- all by the GRACE of God.

When I read this verse-

Col 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

- it just really hit me  - that laboring fervently in prayers- because I'm not sure if I pray that way and maybe I really, really need to. It's not that I don't pray - I do all the time, but to call it 'laboring fervently' well I'm not sure I do that all that often. I know I have but I think I need to do it more.

We are to be praying for others, praying that they may STAND PERFECT and COMPLETE in ALL the WILL of GOD!

All in Christ's righteousness! All in Christ's LOVE! We have to pray this way for each other because we will have to stand perfect and complete all in the will of God- it's the only way we should stand- fully in HIM, always in HIM.

All too often we get busy praying for the various things people desire but isn't the greatest prayer for another truly praying for them to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God?  Seriously. If this life is a temporary life- temporary to eternity- then praying for someone to STAND PERFECT and COMPLETE in ALL the WILL of God- is more important than anything else. What good is it to pray for a person to 'get well' if you are only truly praying for them to get well without concerning yourself with their eternal life? Do you really only want them to get well for this life? No, I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for people to get well but let us also pray for them to be Christ's and all that means.  Let us pray for God's will to be done and we KNOW it's God's will for us to be His in Christ. Above all- HIS WILL is most important and that we live according to HIS will not our own.

Please Lord, please help us to be YOURS fully. Teach us to pray laboring fervently in prayer for others to YOURS, for us to be YOURS fully, always!

Guide us with the HOLY SPIRIT, help us to stand perfect and complete in ALL Your Will!

All in YOU!

All by YOUR LOVE!

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