Struggling in Prayer | Cross Connect

Prayer is sometimes a struggle. There are prayers which seem to be answered immediately and without the need to pray over and over. We don’t seem to need to devote hours of prayer for those matters. But then there are prayers which need to be prayed again and again for years before the situation changes. You have likely experienced this in praying for an unsaved spouse or a friend with a long-term problem. It may be that you have prayed over and over about a particular habit or sin in your own life. In these situations prayer involves a struggle. These are the kinds of things which came to mind when I read Col 4:12:

“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” (Col. 4:12 ESV).

Notice what Epaphras is struggling towards in his prayers, “that you may stand mature and fully assured in the will of God”. Christian maturity and knowledge of the will of God is the goal. Epaphras did not struggle so that they might have some material thing or so that they might achieve a career goal. His concern was that the Colossians would be people who are godly, Christ-like, assured in God’s will, knowing God’s promises, and walking in obedience to the gospel. This is a very long-term goal. It is what God desires for all Christians everywhere. God does not simply want people to believe in Jesus, but he wants people who are disciples of Jesus, who desire to know about him, to know him intimately, to grow like him and to obey him. God wants people who follow Jesus to know who they are in Christ, to find their identity in him, and to continually stand strong in a world which is opposed to all that God desires. This is what Epaphras was struggling in prayer for.

Paul also struggled towards this goal. He wrote earlier in the letter to the Colossians:

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 1:28-2:1 ESV).

The fact that Paul and Epaphras were struggling to see the church mature is no small thing. The word translated ‘struggle’ here is used of people competing for a prize in an athletic contest or of those who are fighting against an enemy. We might think of this as Paul and Epaphras struggling towards the prize of seeing the church mature in Christ. They have to struggle in this because it is not trivial for Christians to come to maturity, to know the mystery of Christ, to know the will of God, and to be obedient disciples who are confident in their identity. This struggle is not necessary when we ask for something which does not involve the human will.

To understand the struggle we need to begin at the beginning of human existence. Humans are unlike the animal creation in that they are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-28). Connected with being the image of God is human sovereignty over the created world (“let them rule over … all the earth” v 26). Humans were also given responsibility to obey the voice of God – “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (2:17). Humans, then, are given the ability to exercise the will and are intended to exercise it in accordance with the will of God. When Eve was tempted by the serpent in the garden, both Eve and Adam exercised their will to do the opposite of the will of God by doing what was forbidden. Since that day the human will has been in rebellion against God.

Because humans are created in the image of God they are not objects which can be manipulated or transformed without giving consent. Having given humans the capacity to use the will, God does not remove that capacity even though sin has distorted the will in dreadful ways. There is no way, then, to transform the human will from without. This is why God sent his Son to become a human being. In order that we can be restored into the image of God (Col 3:10) the Son of God took on the likeness of humanity (Phil 2:7). Jesus entered into the human condition in order to transform the human will from within. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3 ESV).

Jesus had to exercise the human will as it was supposed to be used, to glorify the Father in Heaven in complete, uncompromising obedience. This is why Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit so that he would be tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1; Luke 4:1). As Jesus was tempted by Satan he did not yield as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, but overcame temptation by obedience to the word of God. As Hebrews 4:15 tells us “we have a [high priest] who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.” But Jesus did not do this as God as such. He was filled with the power of the Spirit in order to live a sinless life (Luke 4:1). In this way Jesus actually transformed the human will by living a human life and exercising the human will in the way it was intended to be used. Nothing less than this work of God done by a human being, filled with the Holy Spirit, could accomplish this transformation.

The Gospels record many instances of Jesus praying. But the time when Jesus struggled in prayer is in the Garden of Gethsemane. There he experienced real conflict within himself over going to the cross. He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark 14:34). There in Gethsemane, knowing that he was about to go to the cross, he struggled in prayer so that his human will would fully submit to the Father’s will. This was no easy thing. “Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’” (14:35-36). Jesus prayed this prayer three times. Three times he asked that he would not have to go to the cross. And three times he submitted to the will of the Father. This was no mere show for his disciples. Jesus was genuinely fearful of dying and had to genuinely struggle with the fear in order to be obedient. Luke’s account tell us that, “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:43-44).

My point is that Jesus has struggled in prayer and now he has attained the prize, he has reached the goal. That is to say, Jesus has already arrived at the place that we are headed for. He has been raised from the dead and is a fully mature human being, living continuously in the presence of God, knowing the Father in complete intimacy and giving and receiving glory within the triune life. That is what we now struggle for. That is the prize which awaits us at the culmination of the Christian life. From his position as exalted human being at the right hand of the Father Jesus now intercedes for the saints. In that sense he is continually struggling in prayer, not for himself, but for the people of God. Jesus struggles in prayer for us. He also continues to speak to his church through the Word of God, which is living and active. In this way, Jesus struggles to mature the church, his bride so that we might be spotless and without blemish, ready for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.

Because Jesus has both worked to transform the human heart and is continually struggling to enable us to attain maturity, we can participate with him in this task. Returning to the passage with which we began: “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” (Col. 4:12 ESV). What I have said about the work of Jesus is vital in understanding this statement. It is not that Epaphras has some personal, intrinsic power of his own to bring about the maturity of the Colossian Christians. We would be foolish if we believed that struggling in prayer was some kind of human work disconnected from the work of Christ. Such a human work could never accomplish the goal of Christian maturity. We could not bring our own selves to maturity let alone enable others to do so. On the contrary, Epaphras was given to struggle in prayer as a gift of participating in the work which Jesus has both completed and is still involved in. In his prayer for others he acted in loco Christi (Latin which means ‘in place of Christ’). Paul knew this too. He says, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (1:29). It was the work of the risen Jesus in and through Paul and not Paul’s own power which enabled the struggle on behalf of others.

This foundation is necessary before we can arrive at some consideration of what this means for you and me. Firstly, what are the biblical means of struggling for the maturity of the body of Christ? Again returning to the passages I began with in Colossians:

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

Epaphras struggled in prayer and Paul struggled by teaching the Word of God. These two ways of bringing the church to maturity are evident also in the book of Acts. In Acts 6 there was a problem in the church regarding the distribution of food etc to widows. The apostles would not take care of the problem themselves since they insisted, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word in order to wait on tables … we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2, 4). We can conclude from this that the primary task of Christian leaders is to strive to bring the body of Christ to maturity through the ministry of prayer and the word.

How then does this impact upon you and I? Not everyone is an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, or a pastor and teacher. These responsibilities of Christian leadership are given to some, but not to all. So what do these verses then have to do with those who are not called to a specific ministry of teaching or of prayer? It may not be that you are called to teach the word since perhaps it is not your gift. However, it is clear that Christians do not mature through advice gleaned from watching Dr Phil. So whenever you are with other Christians it is appropriate to speak the Word to one another. This admonition is given to Christians in many places. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” (Eph. 5:18-19 ESV). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16 ESV). The upshot of this is that even those who are not called to a ministry of teaching can encourage others with the word of God. In this way we can contribute to the maturing of other Christians.

Many of you have been given gifts in regard to intercession. But not everyone has that gift. However, there are still many injunctions in the Bible about praying for others. Paul asks the Ephesian Church to pray for him (Eph 6:19). He also requests that the Colossians pray for him and Timothy (Col 4:3). Similar requests are found in 1 Thess 5:25, 2 Thess 3:1 and Heb 13:18. This may involve a short prayer when you think of someone or a more concerted effort to pray for particular people every day. Prayer is something which all Christians should be engaged in. Whether we are people with a gift of intercession or simply ordinary Christians whose gifts lie elsewhere we can pray for others that they may reach maturity in the faith, may know the will of God, may understand the mystery of Christ, and may be fully assured in the will of God.

Another way of understanding the struggle in prayer is that when we pray for someone we are entering into spiritual warfare. This is a large topic and I only want to make a few remarks here. The devil has been the enemy of humanity since the Garden of Even. Since the first temptation the devil has a strong influence over the human will. 2 Tim 2:26 tells us that Satan has taken people captive to do his will. Eph 2:2 says that he is at work in the sons of disobedience. But as Christians we have been freed from captivity to the devil and we now wrestle against him instead of obeying him (Eph. 6:12). For this task we are given the armour of God. But most of the armour described in Eph 6 is defensive, that is, protective. We have precisely two offensive weapons which are stated in verses 17and 18, “and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” In other words, the weapons of spiritual warfare stated here are the Word of God and prayer, the same two things which are useful in the struggle to see Christians matured in Christ. These weapons are effective because Jesus has already defeated the devil on the cross (Col 2:15). Jesus’ death and resurrection made us alive when were once dead in our transgressions (Eph 2:1, 4-5). So when we enter into spiritual warfare we know that what we are doing is participating with Jesus in his work and we know that he has in fact already won the battle.

To sum up, the reason why it sometimes takes years to see the answers to our prayers for people has to do with the transformation of the human will. Jesus has already changed humanity by becoming a human being. He struggled in prayer so that he would be able to submit his human will to the Father and go to the cross. He has thereby overcome the rebellion of humanity against God. We can participate with Jesus in seeing people come to maturity in Christ. This is done in two ways: through prayer and the proclamation of the word of God. Another way of looking at this struggle is as spiritual warfare. We enter into the battle using the word of God and prayer. There are two very important things to remember here. 1) It is not that we accomplish the task of bringing people to Christian maturity. Rather, we share in the work that Jesus has already done. And 2) No matter whether you are specifically called to a ministry of teaching or intercession, it is still part of the Christian life to encourage, rebuke and strengthen other Christians with the word of God, as well as pray for other Christians to become mature.