How shall we pray?

"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." -- Colossians 4:12

How should we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, whether in the Philippines or in Africa or South America or other parts of our own nation? What is the best way to pray for them? This verse gives us a good model to follow.

I'm always struck by this particular book, because we see the apostle Paul's love for all believers, even ones he never met. Indeed, the church at Colosse was not founded by Paul (2:1). In fact, these people had never seen the apostle. Yet, when Paul was in prison, Epaphras came to him to let him know about some struggles the church was having, and the apostle wrote this short but powerful letter.

Let us pause a minute. As we are engaged in our ministries, it is easy and natural to love those to whom we minister. We rejoice in their salvation, in their victories and in their progress. Also, we are saddened by their trials and failures. But what about those we never met and may never see? Are we passionate about the lives and spiritual battles of our fellow believers in places we have never been and may never see? Well, Paul was passionate about the Colossian Christians' spiritual growth, and he wrote this short but powerful letter to guard against some false teaching that had crept into the fellowship.

As he draws his letter to a close, Paul reveals to us the heart of Epaphras. Epaphras appears to be the pastor of the church (1:7), and is perhaps even its founder. But look at what the quoted scripture tells us about Epaphras' prayer life for his church, and let us follow that model as we lift up these churches in the Philippines.

Passionate prayer
Epaphras' prayer is described as "laboring fervently" in prayer for the church. It is not passionless, mindless prayer. He is passionately praying for the church. He is laboring, working in his prayers. And he is not laboring the way we sometimes labor at a job we hate; he is burning up in his labors in prayer for these people. Even so, let us labor fervently for those in the church, whether our local church or churches we do not know about.

Pointed prayer
Notice, his prayer has a point. He is praying for the church that the members "may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." How interesting. How amazing. What a prayer that is indeed. That should be our prayer, too, for us and for others.

Let us pray that prayer, with passionate urgency, for our fellow believers, where ever they may be. Let us pray that specifically for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines. May they stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.