07/20/2024
Let’s take a moment this morning and ask ourselves "When was the last time I prayed for my pastor?" We often get wrapped up in praying for those in need around us in our daily lives and forget the importance of praying for our pastors, priests, and reverends... but as Paul taught... Praying for our pastor brings them strength, and us joy.
“I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.”
Romans 15:30-32 ESV
Pastors are our spiritual leaders and quite often we begin to feel that they are without need for prayer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our spiritual leaders are human just as we are, except they have received a calling that is different than that of most lay people. They embody the same propensity to sin that we do and if you follow the news, you will find that they succumb to it just as the rest of humanity does. They need our prayers in the face of temptation and evil... Just as we need theirs.
As a pastor becomes more beloved by his congregation, he must guard himself against drinking the Kool Aid. As his congregants treat him with increased reverence and honor, he needs to remind them and himself that even though he has a walk in which much has been given... much is expected, and the forces of darkness are coming mightily against him. Our reverends need the prayers of the saints in their congregations.
As one who has been a member of the Intercessory prayer team at my church it amazed me how infrequently the ministers of my church came for prayer. It is worrisome; if we aren't praying for them and with them, then who is? I don't think my church was alone in this phenomenon. Pastors don't like to reveal their soft underbelly to their congregations... but they should.
I was asked to delivered a speech to all of the managers and executives of my company nationwide. The topic of my speech was "Our Legacy" and since I work for a hospital company the legacy I found most important was our legacy of caring. My speech was very personal in nature and necessitated that I reveal my own soft underbelly. When I had completed my speech I couldn't read it without crying. How could I possibly present such a speech and how would it be received?
Finally, I asked my wife to read it and confided in her that I didn't think I could make this speech without crying as I stood before a thousand or more people... She said "make the speech. So what if you cry, they will see that this is from your heart." Then, I called my prayer partners and asked them to pray for me.
So on the appointed afternoon I walked across the stage before a packed auditorium, with cameras capturing the scene and broadcasting it broadly... And made the speech... And as I spoke I choked up, and fought back the tears. Then something amazing happened. As I walked back to my seat the next speaker met me mid stage and hugged me. As I exited the stage the organizer of the conference told me that her phone "Blew Up" with emails, tweets, and text messages of support and amazement as I spoke... The message was resonating... God was using me to deliver the simple message that even in corporate America... Caring for others was our greatest legacy.
People need you to be real and vulnerable before they let you into their hearts in a way that truly changes them. Pastors need to drop their armor and ask their congregations for prayer; not just once every long while, but regularly. Humbling yourself before God means humbling yourself before His children... And they will love you all the more for it.
If you are a pastor, ask God this morning for the courage to be vulnerable; ask Him to lead you to the prayer closets of your members, parishioners, and congregants. If you are a lay person, pray for your pastors; let's ask God to strengthen them in their calling and to protect them from the evil forces in this world. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit anoint their teaching and preaching as they lead us into spiritual truths.
I pray this morning that God will refresh you as you pray, and that His joy will fill you as you kneel this morning... Even as Paul said it would. Then as we enter our churches and workplaces, I pray as Paul did at the conclusion of Romans 15... “May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
Prayer:
Father, thank you for our pastors and spiritual leaders, and thank you for hearing our prayers as we pray for them, but Lord, thank you most for humbling them and allowing them to reveal to us in humility those things that trouble them, tempt them, their needs, and those things in which they have sinned, so that our prayers can be directed towards the heart of their shortfalls or desires. Holy Father take away the pride and fear of rejection that prohibits each of us from sharing our faults with others. Help us to reveal our weaknesses so that those around us can lift us up in prayer as they should. Teach us not to judge those who step forward asking for help or forgiveness so that they might find strength in our compassionate prayers, and the prayers of others. Each day we intercede for many who are sick, dying, need forgiveness, or are lost and in need spiritual guidance, so why Lord do we think that those you have called to high office do not need our prayers as well? Why Lord do we believe that our pastors, teachers, deacons, and other leaders are somehow more perfect than we are, or don’t need the same fervent prayer as the most admitted sinners who enter our churches? Lead those you have called, like you did Paul, to ask others for prayer, and then teach us to pray for them without our criticizing them unjustly. Give joy to us as we pray for our pastors, and give greater joy yet to our leaders as we lift them up in their contrition, and various needs and weaknesses, before you. In this way Father, let the last become first, and those who see themselves to be least, pray in the Spirit for those who they perceive to be greater than themselves. Perfect us in these things we pray, and we will praise and honor you as you answer us.
“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 ESV
“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.”
Hebrews 13:18-19 ESV
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Brothers, pray for us.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-25 ESV
Amen!
Rich Forbes