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.

Colossians 4:12, New International Version

Few of us know much about wrestling in prayer.

Notice what Paul says about Epaphras, about how he always "wrestles" in prayer for the Colossians. The Greek word for "wrestling" is agōnizomai (where we get the word agony) which means "to combat, to fight, contend for a prize". In other words, Epaphras wasn't making some casual mentions of people in his prayers. Rather, he was actively and intensively praying for the Colossians once he found out they were struggling with their faith and understanding of Jesus Christ.

Imagine the impact and outcome if every church and believer has an Epaphras for a friend.

There are times prayer is effortless and takes up little of our time and there are times prayer is an agony that demands our fullest attention. Both Jesus and Paul understood this kind of prayer. Jesus agonised in prayer when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46) and Paul talks about "inexpressible groanings in the Spirit" during prayers. (Romans 8:26)

You have a good God who needs no persuasion to meet your every need. As such, when you wrestle in your prayer to God, you are not struggling with God but you are striving against the attacks and deceits of Satan on God's people. You are engaging in a spiritual battle to secure the victory Christ has already won for you and every believer.

A wrestling prayer is more like a marathon than a sprint—it is where you keep praying forward without losing any momentum and until a significant breakthrough is in sight. When Peter was in prison, the church went into a season of intense intercession (Acts 12:5) and then everyone couldn't believe how God heard their prayers and sent an angel to free Peter.

Do you know someone whose heart is like Epaphras?

Indeed, it would be a great blessing and joy to have someone who prays for you continually and fervently whether you have ever asked the person to do so or not. Simply put, Epaphras is a kind of friend you cannot do without.

Can you name an "Epaphras" in your life? Who are you an "Epaphras" to?