Colossians 4v12

Colossians 4:12b …always struggling on your behalf in his prayers…
#75 agōnizŏmai – lit. to compete for a prize; to contest
x3 strive
x3 fight
x1 labor fervently

Luke 13:24 …strive to enter through the narrow door.
John 18:36 …my followers would be fighting
Colossians 1:29 ...for this I toil, struggling…
1 Timothy 6:12 …fight the good fight of the faith…

Sometimes, I carelessly handle another’s prayer request, as though merely saying I will pray for someone will somehow afford them the same blessings as ACTUALLY praying for them. Why do I do this?

O Father, do I ever pray to You with this anguish in my heart when the prayer concerns someone else? My total selfishness interferes with my ability to struggle emotionally in my prayers on behalf of others. I need You to intervene in my heart, that I could pray earnestly for others. Is prayer not the most important thing I could offer in someone else’s life? Something so important, yet I’m so inept at praying that way. Please have mercy on me, and make my heart hurt, even agonize over those I pray for. Let me love them as I’m commanded (John 15:17; Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 1:22; James 2:8; 1 John 3:11).