Praying for Your Shepherd
"To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people." Titus 3:2
This afternoon we will begin our annual conference for Pastor’s and their wives. I love this group of men and women who are committed to serving God through the ministry of the local church.
I want to share the next two days the number one way that you can impact your church: PRAY FOR YOUR SHEPHERD.
I had a man once come to me who wanted to know if I would help him “fix” his pastor. He wanted me to read all the documentation that he had gathered to prove that his pastor was teaching erroneous truth (which he wasn’t) and help him figure out a way of fixing the situation.
Right before this brother had asked to me with me, I read a box complied by Dr. John Piper entitled The Power of Words and the Wonder of God (published by Crossway). One of the chapters gave the answer for how to fix your pastor: PRAY FOR YOUR SHEPHERD. The author of the chapter recommended seven ways to pray for your pastor.
Here are the first three:
Here are the first three:
1. Pray that God would give your shepherd a discerning mind. Your shepherd need to discern who the sheep, swine, wolves and dogs are so that he know how he and the church should respond.
2. Pray that God would give your shepherd thick skin. Critics can be merciless, and Judas-like friends can be even crueler. Your shepherd receives mean-spirited emails from the people he cares for, suffers from constant gossip and rumors about him and his family, and spends hours every day simply turning the other cheek. When he fails, he is criticized for being a poor leader. And when he succeeds, he is criticized by those who are jealous. When he is young, man he is criticized for being inexperienced and arrogant. And when he is old, he is criticized for not being as energetic, passionate, and innovative as when he was young. Pray that your shepherd would have thick skin and selective hearing to ignore people and comments he should -- and yet to receive the people and comment he should.
3. Pray that your shepherd would have a good sense of humor. With a good sense of humor, shepherds will be overcome with anxiety and stress and will miss wonderful opportunities to laugh deeply from the gut as an act of faith. Shepherds are imperfect as are their individual sheep (sorry, but it's true!) and their collective flock.
Ministry is pressure, and humors is a good release valve that helps to relieve the pressure. Without the release valve of humor, the pressure on a shepherd increases until he simply breaks. This break will be spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical depending upon the weakest cracks in his life. Too many shepherd break. Some leave ministry altogether, while others limp along as their outlook grows bleaker, darker and more somber.
2. Pray that God would give your shepherd thick skin. Critics can be merciless, and Judas-like friends can be even crueler. Your shepherd receives mean-spirited emails from the people he cares for, suffers from constant gossip and rumors about him and his family, and spends hours every day simply turning the other cheek. When he fails, he is criticized for being a poor leader. And when he succeeds, he is criticized by those who are jealous. When he is young, man he is criticized for being inexperienced and arrogant. And when he is old, he is criticized for not being as energetic, passionate, and innovative as when he was young. Pray that your shepherd would have thick skin and selective hearing to ignore people and comments he should -- and yet to receive the people and comment he should.
3. Pray that your shepherd would have a good sense of humor. With a good sense of humor, shepherds will be overcome with anxiety and stress and will miss wonderful opportunities to laugh deeply from the gut as an act of faith. Shepherds are imperfect as are their individual sheep (sorry, but it's true!) and their collective flock.
Ministry is pressure, and humors is a good release valve that helps to relieve the pressure. Without the release valve of humor, the pressure on a shepherd increases until he simply breaks. This break will be spiritual, emotional, mental, or physical depending upon the weakest cracks in his life. Too many shepherd break. Some leave ministry altogether, while others limp along as their outlook grows bleaker, darker and more somber.
I will share 4-7 tomorrow, but I want to challenge you: pray for your shepherd! If you want to see God work in your church, make a commitment to pray for your shepherd. Pick a day or two each week and pray! You might just be amazed at what God might do.
PS – And it might be that before he starts to work on your pastor – He just might start with you.
PS – And it might be that before he starts to work on your pastor – He just might start with you.
Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Team YOU: Exodus 23-24; Proverbs 30; Matthew 20:1-16
Motivations: Faith is remembering that the "saint" who drives me crazy is indwelt by God and precious to him. Pamela Reeve
Practice to Remember: Level 1:Ephesians 2:10; Level 2: Ephesians 2:11-18
Powered Up: Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised. John Bunyan
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