"There is a sermon by old Matthew Wilks about our being epistles of Christ, written not with ink, and not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart; and he said that ministers are the pens with which God writes on their hearts' hearts, and that pens need nibbing every now and then, and even when they are well nibbed they cannot write without ink--so he said that the best service that the people could render to the preachers was to pray the Lord to give them new nibs, and dip them in the ink afresh, that they might write better than before. Do so, dear friends, do not blot the page with your censures and unkind remarks, but help the preacher by pleading for him even as Christ prayed for Peter."
~Spurgeon, The Preparatory Prayers of Christ, emphasis mine
God has given us the privilege of interceding for those who shepherd us. How important this is, to pray for the Lord to keep them, to preserve them, to strengthen them! Not praying for our pastors is just one way of many of taking them for granted, of being ungrateful for this gift from the Lord.
Gardiner Spring puts it this way:
"Nothing gives a people so much interest in their minister, and interest of the best kind, as to pray for him. They love him more, they respect him more, the attend more cheerfully and profitably on his ministrations, the more they commend him to God in their prayers. They feel a deeper interest in his work the more they pray for him; and their children feel a deeper interest both in him and his preaching, when they habitually listen to supplications that affectionately commend him to the throne of the heavenly grace."
~A Plea to Pray for Pastors
Perhaps at the core of many a church's disillusionment with their pastor is their failure to consistently and fervently pray for him. When we find ourselves becoming increasingly critical of our shepherds, maybe the first thing we should ask ourselves is if we're praying for them. Truly, how often do we send our ministers into the pulpit without once having prayed for them during the week, and then we roast them over Sunday dinner and make of list of the many ways they displease us? Oh, God forgive us for neglecting this duty, this privilege.
Today is the perfect time to make a commitment to regularly pray for your pastor. And go one step further--let him know you're faithfully praying for him, be it by packaging up a lovely fountain pen nib or just sending a note. And what shall we pray?
Thomas Brooks, in his book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, asks his congregation to pray in this way for him:
"That ye would pray for me, who am not worthy to be named among the saints, that I may be a precious instrument in the hand of Christ to bring in many souls unto Him, and to build up those that are brought in in their most holy faith; and 'that utterance will be given to me, that I may make known all the will of God' (Eph. 6:19); that I may be sincere, faithful, frequent, fervent, and constant in the work of the Lord, and that my labour be not in vain in the Lord; that my labours may be accepted in the Lord and his saints, and I may daily see the travail of my soul.
But, above all, pray for me, that I may more and more find the power and sweet of those things upon my own heart, that I give out to you and others; that my soul may be so visited with strength from on high, that I may live up fully and constantly to those truths that I hold forth to the world; and that I may be both in life and doctrine 'a burning and a shining light,' that so, when the Lord Jesus shall appear, 'I may receive a crown of glory which he shall give to me in that day, and not only to me, but to all that love his appearing.' (John 5:35 and 2 Tim. 1:8).
~Thomas Brooks
Of course, that's just a start. There are many prayers to pray for our pastors. The important thing is to just do it and do it faithfully.
Thanks be to God for our pastors and for the duty and privilege of interceding for them before the Lord!
With love,
Trisha
