The Labour Of Prayer
Grace is not an excuse for a sloppy life of prayer. Every man under the Grace of God has the ability to pray because the Holy Spirit in him is the Spirit of Grace and supplication.
Colossians 4:12
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
The labour of Epaphras over the saints at Colosse is an effect of Grace. This is Paul’s testimony about Epaphras, and what he said is remarkable. Epaphras was “always labouring fervently”. You can not have the burden of prayer for a long period of time if you haven’t received Grace for it, especially when it is an intercessory prayer.
The fellowship of the Spirit is a labour in the Grace of God.
Let’s look at Jesus at the prayer life of Jesus.
Hebrews 5:7
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.
This is the record of the Son of God, look unto Jesus and be inspired. Jesus shows us how Grace produces in us the labour of prayers for others.
Notice the intensity of Jesus’ prayers “with strong crying and tears”. This is prayer borne from the bowels of love.
Labour comes with an agony, but you can sustain such kind of labour with agony when you have the Grace for it. One way to know you have obtained Grace to labour in prayer is an uncompromised hunger and compassion that follows suit.
Luke 22:44
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Jesus was not praying this prayer for himself, Jesus was in agony in prayer for me and you. Jesus’ soul, as the Son of man was “exceeding sorrowful” even unto death in prayer for us.
Matthew 26:38
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
There is an intensity in Jesus’ prayers that goes down the soul. Jesus wept in prayer to God. He Himself is Grace personified, but He was encased in humanity. There was enough Grace to Him to go through what He went through for us; so we can follow His example and partake in the fellowship of His suffering.
Prayer is more of a fellowship than it is of a request. It is the call of the soul. Prayer is one the greatest privileges God has given to man. Think about it, that you and I can come into the presence of the creator of the whole universe, and talk with Him unrestricted is amazing.
We live in desperate times, we live in a world of uncertainties, we live in a world of tribulations and pain, only by prayer can we change the world and cause it to work for our good. This is the labour that the Grace of God produces in us.
DECLARATION
I yield myself to prayer. I am active and alive in prayer. I pray with with utmost alertness in season and out of season. I do not cease in prayer. There is fire in my altar and it burns day and night. I am on fire!
SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
Luke 18: 1; Ephesians 6: 18
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