Another guest blog by Barry Greer. Barry is a great writer with wonderful insights to church and Christian issues.
Praying For Your Pastor
Do you pray for your pastor? Do you realize that HE is the most spiritual person in your life?
I understand that a spouse, parent, sibling, or other church members have a great influence in
your life concerning the things of God, but make no mistake; YOUR PASTOR is the only other
person, beside yourself, that will give an account to God for you! Think about that statement for
a moment. As we individually stand before the “Judgment Seat of Christ” giving an account of
our own lives (Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.), the
Lord will have your pastor give an account of you as well (Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give
account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you). How powerful
and sobering!
I must confess, to my shame, I hadn’t always prayed for my pastor, as I should. This left him
more vulnerable to the attacks of the devil. As with any army, you disable the leadership, your
chances of winning increase. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. Souls, lives, eternities are at
stake. We all, as fellow soldiers with Christ, have a responsibility to the Lord of sabaoth (James
5:4) to pray for our pastor, the one who watches for OUR souls. That is why we are to put on
the “Whole Armour of God”, made complete by prayer (Ephesians 6:13,18 Wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God… Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit….
Here are a few reasons to pray for your pastor.
1) The Gift of God: The Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 3:16), and eternal life (Rom 6:23) are gifts of God, but so is a pastor (Jeremiah 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding). What great love our Father has for us, and wisely has given us a man who will feed us with knowledge and understanding. He needs our prayers.
2) The Gospel of God: This world is spiritually “hard of hearing” concerning the gospel, deafened by sin, self and Satan. The man of God needs wisdom and power to proclaim truth. (Colossians 4:3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ…) My pastor, being led by the Spirit of God, knew exactly what to say to me the night I struggled to be saved. He needs our prayers.
3) The Glory of God: Individually, we are to bring glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31 …whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.). Corporately, the Lord established His 3rd institution for that very purpose (Ephesians 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus…). Christ is the Head of every church, but has placed a man in an “office” to oversee each church (Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some…pastors and teachers). With that office, the pastor has a great responsibility. (Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.) He needs our prayers.
The Apostle Paul regularly instructed the churches to pray for those in leadership. He was very much aware of his own need for prayer (Rom 15:30, Eph 6:19, Phil 1:19, 1 Thess 5:25, 2 Thess 3:1). His ministry would not have been successful without the saturation of prayer.
Child of God, your pastor needs your prayers. Be assured, your pastor daily brings your name before the throne of grace. (2 Corinthians 11:28 … that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.) Time after time after time, my pastor has given testimony of praying for our church, and members in particular. Should we not also intercede on his behalf? Support your pastor in prayer and thank the Lord in the interest of His Gift, His Gospel, His Glory.
For Christ,
Barry J. Greer
Jer 32:27
3 comments:
Awesome post! Praying for our Pastor should be a "given"! After all, he works all week to glean from the Word a message that is meant just for me!!! He deserves my prayers! Thanks for the post!
Thank you for such a wonderful explanation and exortation to pray for our pastors. My husband is in his first pastorate after almost 20 years as a youth pastor. We are well aware of the need for prayer for him and our family because of his position! You are so right about it being Spiritual warfare and believe me when the Lord is blessing, Satan is right there trying to tear it all down! Thank you again for your wisdom and for your encouragement!
In Christ,
Shannon Harvey
pastor's wife
Hamilton, TX
This is soooo important!! A lot of Christians just don't know the battle that a pastor goes through in the ministry. The devil knows if he can get to the pastor and his family then he can get to the church as a whole. My husband has faced many battles as our family has too. I would hope that each member of a good biblical...doctrinally sound church prays for their pastor. He carries burdens for each family in the church as well as has to pray...get God's mind on a message and then make sure he is right before God in order to have God's power be on the message. My husband says that preaching one message is as physically exhausting (as well as emotionally and spiritually exhausting) as working one 8-hour job. So when the man of God has to preach twice on Sundays and teach SS if he does....imagine how wore out that man is at the end of the day on Sundays. He needs our prayers for strength and wisdom and protection. If anyone is not praying for their pastor (and his family) they need to start and know the importance of it.
Great post Bro. Randy!!!
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