A way to pray for people when they sink under hardship

Tom Harper March 3, 2025

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As leaders, we not only endure our own challenges, but we must take on the pain of others, solve their problems, give them hope.

Sometimes we take on so much that it hurts. A lot.

I've had pain pile up in business, church, and home, sometimes all at once. You can probably relate.

When we or the people we lead are stuck in a challenging cycle like this, the temptation is to escape.

But leaders can't do that, can we? Of course not. What can we do?

We can wrestle.

"Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured" (Colossians 4:12, NIV).

Epaphras wrestled in prayer on behalf of others. He implored God to help them stand strong and be mature.

Isn't that what we want for our families, employees and church flocks—that they stand up under pressure?

What if we wrestled in prayer for our people more often?

Praying for you,

Tom Harper
Founder, BiblicalLeadership.com
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Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More »

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