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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Being Like Epaphras

"Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God." Colossians 4:12 (ESV)

A couple months ago I was able to speak at a ladies event at my church.  I was surprised to be asked and thankful for the opportunity.  In God's awesome way He knew that I was going to do this and provided me with lots of time to prepare.  I sought out a pastor friend for suggestions on scripture passages and I humbly received two of his sets of sermon notes.  What a great starting point those sermons turned out to be!

As I would sit through Sunday School and church services and while reading my Bible at night, I would come across scripture that dealt with prayer and write it down on a list.  I happened to be doing a lot of reading through the Old Testament at the time and so as I prepared my "sermon" many of the verses were from the OT.  Sometimes we Christians forget that the Old Testament has a wealth of knowledge and information.  The old covenant pointed to the new covenant.

Anywho, I'm getting away from the intent of this post.  Let's get back on track, shall we...

I find this verse about Epaphras powerful.  I start to ask myself lots of questions as I reflect on this verse.  Do I pray for others? How do I pray for others? Am I praying that others grow mature in their walk with the Lord? Am I praying that God's will be done?  Often I am unable to answer these questions in the way they should be answered.  Humbling, but not in a good way.

My walk with Christ continues to grow; this is as it should be.  If it wasn't growing, I better be dead.  The example of Epaphras reminds me that I have a lot of growing to do.  My challenge to myself and to those who read this blog is to follow Epaphras' example: pray for others to mature and be in the will of God.

Are you up to the challenge?

Sister Jane

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