Colossians 4:12-13 NKJV “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis.”
“Great zeal” in this scripture we read talks about burden. Epaphras had burden for God’s people. So, it was not the prayer that came first, it was the burden that came first.
From the premises of what we are looking at, the greatest burden anyone can actually pick or run with is the burden to see men stand complete and perfect in the will of God. To see men becoming all that they can be in Christ. That is the burden that will push you into ministry.
You won’t do well in ministry by running with your assignment without this burden and as a matter of fact, it is the burden that gives birth to ministry. If there is no burden, there is no ministry. You might get tired in ministry without a burden. The desire of God is to see men becoming all that his son died for, that men are established in the fullness of the reality of Christ and the fullness of the dynamics of redemption. That the redemptive work of Christ is in full manifestation in the life of mankind, that’s the greatest burden.
For Epaphras, it is not more of prayer ability, it is that there is a burden. So, it is not that you won’t be tired to pray, it is that you won’t stop until you have seen what God intend to see in your life. For instance, you have been praying for a brother and it seems that all the prayers you are praying for look as if he is not reflecting it. You can get tired easily and stop praying for the brother but the only thing that you need to see is what God can do with his life.
The point here is, the growth of men is possible, men can be stable. Maturity is possible. It is the burden that can drive us that each man stands perfect in the will of God.
We are not going to stop until we see the formation of Christ and men stand perfect in the will of God.
Until men come to the place of growth and maturity and men become stable.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you (KJV).
Some church folks will make the job easy for you and some will not. The work is hard on its own.
There are folks in church who will not make the job easy for you. If you do not have burden to pray for them and see them grow you will go tired.
However, before they came we developed a burden inspired by their nonchalance and unruly attitude. This is why growth is possible and this can be done by going into our closet, praying for their stability and travailing for their maturity. Despite the messages and what they have been taught they are still unconverted through their conversations and what they say. Which will make it seem like the Pastor’s job is futile. It is wise that we submit and let Christ be formed in us. Regardless of any acts portrayed by those believers we will not get tired with their actions. As we teach them we travail. It is about teaching and travailing.
Epaphras caught the burden of Paul. He was under the strong preaching and teaching gift of Paul. He was not praying differently from what Paul was preaching. There are individuals that when we give them the opportunity to lead prayers and we listen to what they are praying on, it is mostly not aligned with the will of God. It does not show what they have learnt about Christ. It does not show stability, irrespective of that we will not grow weary.
If there is anything we should pick from these is that we should run with the teaching grace and the travailing grace. The teaching grace will not be enough. We are going to see men become what we have taught via the travailing grace. We must pray that men become established and matured. Men become stable in God. The truth is we would keep having them in different growth patterns and levels. There is no issue of someone not knowing his left from his right. However, the real pain is seeing one that is being taught and still behaves as a baby. This is why there should be a corresponding leadership growth. This is why regardless of the experiences, we stay put. This is why if we pick ministry before burden we would not last. You will wear out.
The people you pray for will behave in a bad attitude despite you praying over them. Some people in this category are those we have affection for. Irrespective of that fact, we must put our friendship aside because we are going to stand before Jesus. Every believer must grow and the evidence of maturity is Christ likeness and they do not reason the same way they did five years ago.
This means that we can actually birth possibilities. This means that everything the Father did to make all of us to be stable in Christ we also travail that it is materialized. The goal is that men can be sound in doctrine. Men will stand perfect and complete. We will teach and travail till this is perfected. If teachers who teach in the classrooms can be disturbed when a child is underperforming, that they go all the way to pray that their efforts are not wasted, we would do the same.
The desire of the father is that men leave babyhood and mature in Christ., taking responsibility. Our joy is in seeing that God has men as co-workers in his vineyard. Stephen prayed for the conversion of the men who persecuted him. Saul became Paul because someone prayed for his conversion. The impact of that one soul on the body of Christ is immense.
The reason why we give up on people is because we have not seen what God can do out of them., so, we get discouraged quickly. Notwithstanding, in the case where we have a foresight of what God wants to make out of them, seeing them in the full manifestation of what God is doing changes everything. You become committed to bringing them to the place of establishment. Don’t be in a rush to write off a man because he is still taking baby steps in faith. You just do the work continuously. The people we train have the tendency of growing and becoming better than where we helped them grow to. The responsibility rest on us to grow ourselves because we may think we have gathered all we need to know but there is more, so improve yourself and grow. Many believers leave a local church because they have grown and want more challenging responsibilities in the body of Christ.
The focus in life is that we don’t get discouraged., we stay focused on the job. We have a master to give account to. The stubbornness of his people, his sheep will not make us give up on the calling of God on us. We should keep running and stay focused. We should see what a person can become in God. We should look out for the possibilities of what they can become in Christ. One area of life you should intensify further is in travailing. What God is calling us into is travailing. If at all we will see great result, we have to travail.
That men will be filled with the knowledge of Christ., that Christ be formed in them. It hurts when believers who should be teachers of the word by now are still struggling with the elementary. It is a pain for the father. The focus of this teaching is how you handle those who are not willing to grow. The devil came that you would give up on them but it is your responsibility to ensure they are established. The balance for this is that we be disciplined with those we lead in the local church. The greatest burden anyone can run with is to see men established in the will of God. Men becoming all that Jesus died for. We should see men become arrows in the father’s quiver. Men getting rooted and firm.
Epaphras aligned his calling with what God was doing. As Paul taught, Epaphras travailed. The travailing calling on him was an offshoot of what he had been taught. He wasn’t praying for the demons to disappear or battles be silenced. He was praying that they be established and grounded in the truth we learn. It is high time the church stayed focused on their assignment and mandate. That men don’t talk around traditions but stay with the truth only. The evidence of growth includes: Christlikeness, Stability and Maturity. With great burden prayer is birthed, you won’t be discouraged to pray.
If those that were praying for Peter’s release saw ahead the supernatural release of Peter from the prison, they wouldn’t be in doubt when they heard a knock.