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.
Summary: Epaphras’s prayer is a wonderful model of what to pray for ourselves and each other.
In this passage, we learn a bit more about Epaphras.* Paul says he is “one of you” which I take to mean he is originally from Colossae. Somewhere along the line, Epaphras must have met up with Paul because Paul explains that Epaphras brought the Gospel to Colossae “on our behalf.”
To review, here is what we know about Epaphras:
- He is a Colossian
- He is a “fellow servant”
- He is a “faithful minister of Christ”
- He worked as a minister on behalf of Paul.
- He reported about the Colossian’s “love in the Spirit.”
- He is a servant of Christ Jesus.
- He is a prayer warrior.
Finally, there is his prayer for the Colossians. He wants his fellow believers in Colossae to “stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.”
Why?
Once, when Paul and his companions were in Philippi, he was thrown in jail for casting out a spirit out of a woman who had been following them around. When God arranged an earthquake and to have their chains loosened in the middle of the night, the jailer was terrified. When he came to his senses, he asked the most important question ever:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)
Paul’s answer was simple. He says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved …” (Acts 16:31).
Believe and be saved.
It really is that simple, but there is a caveat. What if we have doubts? What if we are struggling with sin? What if someone teaches us something different than Paul’s gospel?
The answer is in Epaphras’s prayer.
He prays that “you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.”
There are four things here to consider:
- Standing firm.
- The will of God.
- Maturity in our faith.
- Assurance in our relationship with Jesus.
All four are related. If we don’t know the will of God, it is impossible to stand firm in it.
Maturity in our faith is the foundation for standing firm. If we don’t mature, we will struggle with our standing.
Assurance in our relationship with Jesus is an outgrowth of knowing the will of God, being mature in our faith, and standing firm.
If you need something to pray for, these four things Epaphras prays for the Colossians are a good place to start.
Application: Know the will of God so that you can mature in faith, stand firm, and find assurance in your relationship with Jesus.
Food for Thought: What does it mean to mature in our faith?
*We first visited Epaphras in our post on Colossians 1:7, “Two Servants”
Please click ‘’Continue Reading” for comments.