Thursday, February 5, 2009

How About Supporting Your OTHER Leaders

While you're praying for your country and your president and the speaker etc. etc. Pray for your pastor and ministers, too. They would really appreciate it.In fact you can pray for ministers that may do things you don't like.
First, you can pray for their salvation. I mean in case you aren't sure. There are some that leave me wondering!
Second, you can pray for those who you think are sincere but sincerely wrong, or nuts!
Third, you can pray for your pastor. Hopefully you think he's at least OK theologically and in his competency.
But how do you pray?
How about a few tips from Paul's little letter to the Ephesians.
Eph 6:19 "And pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,"
First the pastor needs the utterance. The words to say. In preaching, counseling, leading his staff, and leading his family. HE needs to know how to communicate the things that are needed. Its hard to be misunderstood when you try so hard to say things correctly. You want those in your office to see your heart, to be comforted or afflicted, whatever is necessary. He needs an unction with his utterance when He is preaching. A sense of knowing not just that he's right theologically, but that he's right for this group of people.
Second, He needs boldness and fearlessness. Again, he needs it not just in preaching but in talking and counseling and in answering the picky people. He needs to be fearless defending the gospel. He must be fearless when he speaks truth to power. He must be fearless when he preaches on sin to the church. He must be fearless even if they are going to vote on his continued emplyment.
Third, he wants to communicate the gospel with clarity. He wants to make it plain. But he needs to hold to the faith cleanly and clearly as well. Pray that he grows in his understanding of the things of God and that he communicates these things in such a way that the door is opened for the work of the Holy Spirit to convict, convince, challenge and change us all.