Wrestling ( Ephesians 6 v 18 )

We continue to look at Epaphras the servant of Christ who prayed for his fellow believers,yes he prayed,but consider how he prays,we read that he was always praying.I showed a person recently a plaque with these words on  it,'Prayer changes things'. I asked him if he believed this,his reply and further conversation,indicated that he may have prayed earlier in his life, but not now.Churches used to have prayer meetings, but not now. But Epaphras  was always praying, he had not given up,or given in,no he was always praying.The hymn writer  wrote,'We perish if we cease to pray,' are you perishing?Here is part of a prayer I read,'O God of the open ear,teach me to live by prayer',help me prize the privilege of prayer,that when I advance not in prayer,I backslide,may I be helped by your Spirit,to pray,to pray, to pray,in Jesus name . Amen.

Wrestling ( 1 Timothy 2 v 1 )

From Jacob to a man you may not have heard of,we read about him in Colossians 4 v 12 , his name was Epaphras ,Paul calls him a servant of Christ Jesus.We do not know  much about his service,other than  what  Paul writes, that he was always wrestling in prayer for the believers in the church at Colossae. Do we realise that prayer can be an important service, for your local church,when we talk about the church we are talking about the people,.Such a ministry is indispensable,and vitally important, our Pastors needs our prayers ,the sick need our prayers,the young people need our prayers,the sorrowing need our prayers.and so we could go on,let us pray for one another,let this be part of our service.

Wrestling ( Genesis 32 v 26 )

So there was Jacob wrestling with an angel and the angel requests of Jacob to let him go, but Jacob had other  ideas ,and this is what he replied,''I will not let you go unless you  bless me''.  ( Genesis 32 v 26)  Why did he request this?,here is an answer,  its found in ,Proverbs  10 v 22, 'The blessing of the Lord ,it maketh rich , and addeth  no sorrow with it. ''. My ,  no wonder he wanted to be blessed   ,consider the following,' I'll that He blesses  is our good and unblest good is ill, and all is right that seems most wrong if it be His sweet will'.Later on Jacob would experience heartache when Joseph his favourite son was perceived dead ,but this man had Gods blessing upon him, and it all worked out for good.                                                           

Wrestling ( Genesis 32 v 26 )

So here we continue to consider Jacob wrestling all night with the Angel of God,he has received a permanent limp,but he keeps on wrestling, even when he the angel requested him to let him go.His response to this request was this,''I will not let you go unless you bless me''.Jacob wanted something that was so important the blessing of God in his life. There are many who humanly speaking  have  everything,money,health,etc,all that counts for nothing if the blessing of  God is not upon their  lives. The first and most important blessing from God we all need is  the forgiveness of our sins,it cannot be bought , but we can miss it so easily. The result is truly awful ,the sin that is in our lives can continue to control us and destroy our lives,and most awful of all,take us to Hell,and shut us eternally out of Heaven. We receive the blessing of forgiveness through Christs death on the cross,but we must seek it whole heartily,as if are lives depended on it,which it does..Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered ( Psalm 32 v 1 )

Wrestling ( Genesis 32 v 23 - 32 )

 When I think of wrestling I think  of 'Big Daddy', whose real name was Shirely Crabtree ,he was a  big man ,he had a 64 inch chest,he rarely got beat.One was never sure how genuine the contest were,but it was fun to watch,and indeed somewhat innocent .In the Bible we have a mention of two people involved in wrestling ,the first one was Jacob who wrestled all night with an angel  ( Hosea 12 v 4 ) the angel of Jehovah ,the Lord Himself.No one appeared to win but we can be sure that the angel could have won,but there was a purpose,first of all he was weakened permanently,  by the angel, sometimes God weaken us C P ..2 Corinthians 12 v 7 ff .to keep us humble, and to make us realise our dependence on God,and to make sure He will receive all the glory.

Alcohol ( Colossians 2 v 16 )

 Over the last few years at Christmas a neighbour  gives me a present,usually it is box of biscuits and a bottle of alcoholic drink,this year it was a bottle of whiskey. Now the question some may be asking is it not wrong for a Christian to drink alcohol ?.it could be that some think  it is even a sin,they may even doubt that those who drink are  saved.There are Christian denominations in which one is not be permitted to join if one drinks alcohol.  Now of course, one does not have to have ,much of a brain to realise that there are problems with drinking alcohol ,many are  slaves to it,and it destroys lives,families ,causes road deaths. I would never  advocate the drinking of alcohol,but I am not going to set myself as a judge as regards those who drink.I 'm sure the key is moderation in all things, let us remember that all things are lawful,but not everything is beneficial, we have the right to do anything, but we should not be mastered by anything.  ( 1 Corinthians 6 v 12)

Why ?. ( Philippians 1 v 29 )

I just received an update  on Christians who are suffering for their faith, like Pastor Nadarkani who is serving a ten year sentence in prison, in the land of Iran.There are three other Christians serving sentences also,and I could name a lot more who are serving time in prison.Many Christians have been murdered in northern Nigeria, one picture I saw recently was that of three women who each had one ear cut off. It all seems so meaningless, and we may ask the question why, such brutality? why indeed. It is Derek Tidball who wrote the following, ''We should never be surprised when suffering comes as a result of our standing for the gospel, for we live in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation ( Philippians 2 v  15 ); and are  surrounded by people who live as enemies of the cross of Christ''.