Portrait of a Prayer Wrestler

Another new year has come, and with it comes this perennial question: “How can I make this year better than the previous one?” For the spiritually minded, thoughts turn to spiritual wellness. Most Christians will have to admit that the area that needs most improvement is their prayer life.

Although the Scriptures abound with examples of great heroes of the faith in prayer, one worthy example is a little-known individual named Epaphras. Although there are only five verses of Scripture about him (Col. 1:7–8; 4:12–13; Philem. 1:23), he is set forth as a model for serious prayer. He was a native Colossian, apparently converted during Paul’s lengthy ministry in Ephesus on the third missionary journey, who himself became the founder of the churches in the Lycus Valley (Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis). He was their faithful circuit-riding pastor.

When false teachers began to infiltrate those churches, seeking to take the saints captive to their soul-destroying errors, Epaphras made the thousand-mile trip to Rome to report the threat to Paul and seek his counsel on how to deal with it. Paul, at that time under house arrest, penned with urgency the epistle to the Colossians. When that letter had been dispatched, Epaphras remained with Paul for some time. In Colossians, we read Paul’s commendation of their faithful pastor: “Epaphras . . . greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12). In somewhat abbreviated form, Paul described the frequency, the fervency, and the focus of the prayers of Epaphras for his people. Note especially the words “struggling on your behalf in his prayers.” This word has been variously translated as “laboring earnestly” or “wrestling” and can be transliterated as “agonizing.” It pictures the serious effort and energy of an athlete contending for the victor’s crown. Similar language is used to describe the agony of Jesus in prayer in Gethsemane. Concerning the prayers of Epaphras, Andrew Bonar said: “His were Gethsemane prayers. He made [Paul’s place of confinement] fragrant with the sweet incense of prayer.”

We speak often of “prayer warriors,” and we know the great blessing of having such saints pray for us. Epaphras may be described as a “prayer wrestler,” and what a gift from God it is to have such people praying for us.

What characterizes a prayer wrestler? Such a person (1) knows that he is in a serious war, (2) knows that this war is constant, (3) knows that the most important things to pray for are spiritual needs, (4) knows that the task will never be easy, (5) knows that he himself is in great need of prayer, (6) knows that he has divine help in his praying, and (7) knows that God can do much more than he could ever ask or imagine.

Let us thank the Lord for the prayer wrestlers who have prayed for us. May He help us all to be serious and intense in our prayers.