the full assurance of understanding, to
the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of
Christ."--COL. ii. 1, 2.

Although he was in prison the Apostle was constantly at work for his
Master, and not least of all at the work of prayer. If ever the words
_orare est laborare_, "to pray is to labour," were true, they were true of
St. Paul, for to him to pray was to work with all his might, as we shall
see from a study of another of the prayers offered in his Roman prison.

1. WHAT PRAYER MEANS.

Prayer is described as a _conflict_. We have a similar expression used of
the prayers of Epaphras, in the words "labouring fervently" (Col. iv.
12). The same word "conflict" is associated with faith, "the good fight of
faith" (1 Tim. vi. 12), and with the "good fight" of the Apostle's entire
life (2 Tim. iv. 7). Prayer regarded as a conflict includes the two ideas
of toil and strife.

The toil of prayer shows us the work involved in it. Sometimes we hear the
expression, "If you can do nothing else, you can pray," as though prayer
were the easiest of all things. As a simple fact, it is the hardest. No
man knows what prayer means unless he knows what it is to "labour" in
prayer. The strife involved in prayer implies opposition--the opposing
force of one who wishes above all things to check and thwart our prayers.
We discern something of this opposition in the well-known words, "We
wrestle" (Eph. vi. 12); and the words of the hymn are as true as they are
familiar--

"And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees."

The Apostle knew by spiritual experience that to pray was to rouse up
against himself a mighty opposition, and it was this force that made his
prayer such a "great conflict." No believer should be surprised at his
prayers "being hindered" (1 Pet. iii. 7). It is evidently one of Satan's
main objects to get the Christian to restrain prayer. The Christian man or
the Christian Church that continues instant in prayer may rest assured of
malignant opposition from the hosts of spiritual wickedness in high
places. On the other hand, we may be sure that Satan scarcely troubles
himself about the believer or congregation whose private, family, and
public praying is neglected or thought little of. Prayer is, therefore, a
"great conflict." It is not solicitude only, but a struggle; not merely
anxiety, but activity. As Bishop Moule says: "Prayer is never meant to be
_indolentl