Col 4:12 (read)
Paul mentions the prayers of Epaphras because there’s something special about his prayers. His prayers are something we should emulate.

His prayers aren’t ones does out of habit. Rather, it is done diligently. In some Chinese translations, it says the way he prayed was likened to wrestling. This reflects the great effort he put in prayer.

The Israelites understood what praying like wrestling was like, because their forefather Jacob once wrestled with God. Why did Jacob have to wrestle with God? At that point in time he was afraid Esau would kill him and his family. He thus prayed for the deliverance of their lives. How could he not wrestle?

Epaphras likewise was praying for the spiritual deliverance of the members. That’s why he didn’t just pray fervently but in the manner of wrestling. If we understand and adopt such an attitude, we too will pray like a wrestler.

If he prayed with the attitude of a wrestler, how would he fall asleep while praying, or have his mind wander? If we are praying like a wrestler, we put in all our effort, heart and soul as we fight until the battle ends. We won’t be able to sleep or get distracted.

Epaphras’ prayer was like wrestling for the souls of others. Paul testifies of this and it’s a model we should emulate.

Furthermore his prayer wasn’t diligent once-off. He persisted and continually prayed. No matter what environment or conditions he met, he didn’t stop this kind of prayer.

At that point in time, Epaphras was in prison with Paul. He was restrained and suffering physically. Yet he still interceded fervently for the spiritual lives of the believers. The content of his intercession was for spiritual matters and not physical things. This doesn’t mean we can’t pray for physical matters. Didn’t Jesus perform miracles like the multiplying of bread, healing of illnesses, the casting out of demons? We are allowed and can pray for our physical needs. But we should all the more pray for our spiritual needs, which is more important. Why then do we usually pray for physical needs rather than spiritual needs?

We often pray for those who are physically ill. Because of this, we usually think intercession is for physical matters. But physical illnesses won’t destroy the soul. It won’t defile the soul. On the contrary, people who’re physical ill can purify themselves and draw closer to God. The irony is that people who are able bodied are so busy they depart from God. They’re physically in good shape but spiritually not. Should we not pray for the salvation of their souls?

So when Paul talks about the prayer Epaphras, we too should emulate his prayer. The matters that were prayed for then are applicable today as well.

What are the matters he prayed for/interceded about?

1. That the believers may be complete in all the will of God
   It’s not that believers don’t obey the commandments of God, they just don’t FULLY obey the commandments of God. For example, they want Jesus to be the saviour to save their souls. But they don’t want Jesus to be Lord of their lives to govern their lives. They are willing to offer money, but are unwilling to spend more time to come before God to worship Him. They pray fervently for God to answer their prayer but don’t listen to the requests of the Lord. They want to follow the Lord but don’t want to carry the cross while doing so.

To such believers, Jesus says:
Luke 6:46-49
Jesus was disappointed and worried for some believers. He was disappointed because they acknowledged Jesus as Lord but they don’t want to do the things He said. Their faith was built on earth without foundation instead of on the rock. When the floods come, they’ll collapse. Why didn’t they want to lay their foundation on the rock? Did they not know there’ll be incoming floods? They knew. But weren’t willing to pay a greater price; additional labour. Because building on the rock is very laborious. Just like what Jesus mentioned in v48 “the man who builds the house of the Lord must dig deep to lay the foundation”. You have to remove all the soil away and you don’t know how much earth you have to remove before you reach the rock. It’s not just a bit of earth, here says you have to dig DEEP. Digging itself is tiring and requires much effort. To dig DEEP, you’d need even more effort and energy. Just building on the earth itself is so much easier. As long as you’re not so unlucky and don’t encounter floods, your house will stand. Meeting floods doesn’t happen often. So many don’t want to put in the effort to dig deep. But the wise will put in the effort. As long as there’s one chance of the floods come, they’d dig deep. Some more, it’s not just their lives at stake but also their families. How can it be that because of laziness, lives are lost?

Today many believers want to walk the easy path. It’s not that they don’t want to follow Jesus. They just feel following Jesus shouldn’t be so tiring. They think they can follow Jesus with less burdens. They feel many troubles are caused by human beings. It’s true that in some religions, religious leaders have come up with rules that are over burdensome. These are men’s rules.

Jesus asked His disciples why they followed Him so diligently. “No matter what your motives are, if you don’t take up your cross and follow Me, you won’t be able to make it.” Jesus already told us it’ll be difficult.

Matt 7:13 (read)
The path to destruction is broad. The path to salvation is narrow.
Jesus doesn’t compel us to walk this difficult and narrow way. He even tells us few will walk this narrow way because of its difficulty. Why would anyone walk on it then? When you know the end of the narrow way is salvation. Then no matter how difficult, you’d walk on it. Jesus tells us the end of these two paths. Which will you take?

Jesus also doesn’t tell us to dig to the rock and lay our foundation on it. But He tells us the end. When the floods come, the house not build on the rock will topple.

No matter how difficult the way is, we still have to continue. How do we know this is the way of the Lord? The Bible tells us. Only the word of God can lead us to eternal life. How can Man’s word lead us to eternal life? Who do we listen to? For ourselves and those we love, choose the right path and walk on it.

Jesus also teaches us how to pray. One of the things we ought to say is: Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven. The will of the Lord in heaven is obeyed by the angels thoroughly. But on earth, the will of the Lord is often neglected and disobeyed by Man. That’s why Epaphras interceded for the church. So that they can become perfect in the will of God. So that they won’t be selective Christians but obey God fully.

What else did Epaphras intercede about?

1. That the believers will be full in their faith
   All of us have faith. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be before the presence of God. But is our faith full?

Luke 12:28-32
The disciples of Jesus would naturally have faith. Otherwise they wouldn’t have put aside all to follow Him. But they didn’t have much faith, they had little faith. That’s why they worried over many things in life. They worried over possible difficulties or trials they would encounter. That’s why Jesus told them, “O you of little faith”. But He then continued, “Do not fear little flock.” If we’re a large flock, our fears would reduce. But if our numbers are few, our fears would be inversely proportionate. We might feel that we’re so little yet the problems we face are so huge. Naturally, fear develops in our hearts. Jesus knows. That’s why He tells us, “Do not fear little flock.” It’s true we are a little flock compared to others. Our strength is little. That’s why we have many worries. But Jesus knows we are little, and have many worries. That’s why He tells us, “Do not fear. For it’s your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” How can such a little flock complete the construction? How can this little flock oppose the great strength of adversaries/anti-Christ? How can so few preach to the ends of the earth? Seems insurmountable. We forget it’s the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. One day the construction will be complete and we’ll be victorious. Let us not be fixated on being little and the failure we witness. If we look at any construction project, it seems like a mess at first glance. But once the project is complete, how magnificent the building is! It’s because the workers have glanced the blueprint that they are willing to labour and put in effort. If the project was impossible to complete, who would be willing to sacrifice so much?

In Revelation, Jesus revealed to us the glory. We see how beautiful the holy city will be. If we were to compare the spiritual Jerusalem to church today, we see a stark contrast. When we see the problems in church and how some believers are, we may doubt. Some people challenge if this is really the true church. How can the true church be in such a state? But because we see the word of God and the abidance of the Holy Spirit, we believe it will be glorious at the end. Jesus has already allowed us to see the end result. Look to the end result, then we’ll be able to persist in our faith. Jesus gives us the Comforter to be with us forever. When Jesus said He would depart, one can imagine how afraid the disciples would be. He said when He goes the Comforter would come and be with them forever. After the day of Pentecost, their attitude towards their faith changed. Some were fearful and doubtful at first. But after receiving the Holy Spirit, they no longer feared or doubted even when they faced worse things. The Lord Jesus was with them through the Holy Spirit. That’s why they weren’t afraid or had any doubts. They followed the words of Jesus and entrust all things to Him.

Don’t we have the Holy Spirit with us today? When we speak in tongues, is it not the same as the apostles? Do you think the 2000 year gap changed it?
With faith, we do according to the will of God and He will grant us the Holy Spirit as evidence so we won’t fear or doubt. Then we’ll be filled with much faith to face the problems we have. If we don’t, we’ll be like the disciples in the beginning who fled. But after that, they could’ve fled but didn’t flee. They were loyal unto death.

What caused them to be filled with so much faith? The word of truth and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. These two are so important for they help us to understand who we believe in is real.

What else did Epaphras intercede on?

1. That the believers will be able to stand
   If we aren’t able to stand firm at the end of the day, no matter how victorious or zealous we were in the past, it will amount to nothing and be a great pity.

2 Tim 4:10-11
Paul brings news about two workers. One is good news, which comforts us. The other is bad news, which saddens and makes us feel it’s so wasted 遗憾. The good news: Mark who departed has become a good worker. The bad news: Demas forsook the Faith because of the world.

In the church we often see members coming and going. When people join, we’d be glad. When members depart, we’d be sad. Why would they leave? Everyone has a different reason. Whatever it is, let us be like Mark. Even though we leave, we return. There are some like Demas who forever depart once they depart.

He didn’t depart because of sufferings but because he loved the world. The greatest temptation in the world seems to be money. It’s not suffering that causes believers to fall. Perhaps they may murmur and grow cold in their faith. But when they quieten themselves, they’ll return. Sufferings are able to cleanse our thought and be resolved to turn home. But the temptation of wealth truly causes a person to stumble. That’s why Jesus tells us there’re 2 masters. One of them is Jesus. Who is the other master that competes with Jesus? Mammon. If we allow wealth to become our master, we have betrayed Jesus because we are now loyal to a different master.

It’s not wrong to earn money but if we betray our Lord Jesus for money, that’s a great error.

Some people say: 有钱样样好、没钱样样难
With money, everything will be well. Without money, bewitching will be difficult. A very pragmatic saying.

But what can we use to exchange for our soul?
Isn’t this saying more pragmatic? How many years can money satisfy you? You spend so much of your life to amass so much wealth. How much of life can you spend to enjoy the wealth you amassed?
When death comes, how will you face the Lord of life? What can you use to exchange for your soul? Death will come to all men. Very quickly we will die. Coffins are for the dead and not for the old. There’re some people that we think are going to die but still haven’t die until now. There’re some people that we don’t expect to die and suddenly when we hear the news they’ve died, we say, “Huh. HE died??”

Be concerned about whether we can stand firm in the presence of the Lord. That’s why Epaphras prayed for this matter.

Let us intercede for each other that we may all be able to stand firm in the presence of the Lord.