Praying for Your Pastor
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The New Year is just around the corner; for many us, that involves fresh resolve to grow in godliness and in the spiritual disciplines.
Here is one resolution I would encourage you to consider making: regular prayer and encouragement for your pastor. I read today the conclusion of Kent and Barbara Hughes's book, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, and thought it would be worth reprinting here:
Consider printing this out, placing it in your Bible, and putting this prayer into practice.
Here is one resolution I would encourage you to consider making: regular prayer and encouragement for your pastor. I read today the conclusion of Kent and Barbara Hughes's book, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, and thought it would be worth reprinting here:
Every pastor knows that the strength of the ministry rests on prayer, and that it is those faithful souls who pray regularly for him and the church who bring God's special blessing upon the ministry. This fact invites a marvelous "what if" scenario. What if not just a few but the entire leadership and congregation prayed in detail every day for the pastor and their church? What would happen to his heart, to his preaching, to worship, to evangelism, to missions? Can there be any doubt that the minister and his people would know greater enablement than ever before in their lives?
Prayer is where the congregation must begin in this whole matter of encouragement. Will you make a personal commitment to encourage your pastor by daily prayer for him and his work? If so, we leave you with this suggestive outline, from which you can draw your own prayer list.
Pray that he will be a true success: that he will be faithful, true to God's Word and hardworking; that he will be a servant, following the example of our foot-washing Lord; that he will love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength; that he will truly believe what he believes about Christ; that he will lead a holy life, and not succumb to the sensuality of our culture; that he will lead a life of deep prayer, following Jesus' example; that he will have a positive attitude free from jealousy.
Pray for his ministry--for his preaching, for time to prepare, for understanding the Word, for application, for the power of the Holy Spirit in delivery, for Sunday's services, for his leadership, for immediate problems he is facing.
Pray for his marriage--for time for each other, for communication, for a deepening love, for fidelity.
Pray for his children by name. Perhaps you might ask the pastor or his wife how they would like you to pray for their children.
Consider printing this out, placing it in your Bible, and putting this prayer into practice.
posted by JT at Monday, December 04, 2006
6 Comments:
Justin, I printed out a sermon by John Piper done in '78 on praying for yoru pastor. I gave it to mine to let him know I am praying for him and his family. He is an interim pastor until we find a new permenant pastor. I will make a copy of yours and pass it along too.
thanks for the great reminder, it makes me realize that I am often too vague and generalized as I pray for my pastor and our staff.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a great sermon along these lines—"A Minister's Plea."
Enjoy.
Mitch
Here is a resource from Nancy Leigh DeMoss called "31 Days of Praying for your Pastor" available in PDF. I also encourage people to take 31 days to pray if they are looking at leaving their church.
http://www.reviveourhearts.com/pdf/31DaysPrayingPastor.pdf
As a pastor myself, i know that i am dependent on the strength of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of God's people.
It really makes my day when one of the folks in our congregation walks up to me and tells me that they have been praying for me over the past days or weeks.
It is a good thing to feel bathed in prayer, as it feels not only encouraging, but protecting as well.
A little late, but I liked this post and finally got around to linking it on my blog. Thank you for the good suggestions.
Reading Deeply
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