SIX REASONS TO PRAY FOR YOUR PASTORS ~ Apostle by Bola Adewara

INTRODUCTION:

Here are six reasons to pray for your pastors!
Recently, God has impressed upon me the importance of praying regularly for pastors. In this sense, I am talking of people occupying the five-fold ministry of our Lord: Apostles, Teachers, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors.

1. PASTORS FACE A HIGHER JUDGMENT

Being called into any of the five-fold Ministry is rewarding but dangerous. James cautioned that not many should become teachers because they will face stricter judgment. Once you are a preacher of the Word, you are responsible for the souls of your congregation or the people you are sent to.

Men of God stand before God to speak to Him on behalf of their congregation, and they stand before the congregation to speak the mind of God to them. The more the congregation, the more souls you will account for. Lord have mercy.

For me, nothing is exciting about this job. If I were you, I would look for a few members to take to heaven. Not this 21st-century churches filled with Pentecostal rascals and spiritual vagabonds going where!

Reasons to pray for pastors — * Pray for Pastors

2. PASTORS ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF GOD ON EARTH

Pastors steward God’s glory in the church and before the community. Their character is to be sterling, and their reputation unblemished. The personality of a pastor reflects on the church members.

The more the pastor knows, the more the church grows. A stunted pastor, a stunted church. A vibrant and intellectually sound pastor would attract and build the same members. If a ministry is crawling or without impact, check out who the pastor is.

Pastors can’t do it alone; they need people to work with them. In their need for a reliable workforce, many have got their fingers burnt, betrayed, and hurt.

Some pastors weep in their closets over what friends and church members have done to them. We can help them. Please pray for your pastor.

3. PASTORS FACE GREATER TEMPTATIONS THAN CHURCH MEMBERS

There is no sin like the sin of a clergyman, and no one Satan desires to bring down more than them. If you know the secret pains of most men of God, you will see the urgency in praying for them.

For some of them, their biggest challenges or enemies are their spouses. Some of their children. Some face more challenges in their churches as the devil comes in the form of church members to derail their ministries.

The philosophy of the Devil is to strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter. The Devil wants to ridicule God before you and I. Please pray for your pastor.

10 MENTORING MASTERCLASS QUESTIONS FOR APOSTLE JULIUS OLANIYAN

4. PRAY FOR YOURS PASTOR BECAUSE THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS LIKE YOU, AND I

So many of us see them as superhuman. No. Preachers are human, exposed to the same foibles and peccadilloes as you and I. The difference is that many give themselves to prayers, and God has kept them.

Their strength lies in your prayers and cooperation, the promises of God and the covenant they have with Him. Pray for them always that they may not fall and misbehave, that the words in their mouths would be fire, and that their eyes would see farther and deeper in the name of Jesus.

5. PASTORS CARRY BIGGER WEIGHTS

These men of God are exposed to diverse facts and information; for confidentiality reasons, all they can do is bottle it up.

Whether it is a piercing word of criticism, a church member’s scandalous sin, a draining counselling session, an enervating Sunday school session, a choir filled with principalities, a rigorous day of sermon preparation, or ushers bickering amongst themselves.

THE SECRET LIFE OF A PASTOR: Some of the unique problems that Pastors face

All of these burdens can mount up to make the strains of ministry seem nearly unbearable. A lazy man can’t pastor a church. Believe me.

In a single Church, there are diverse people with diverse pains and needs. The pastor is expected to minister to them all. Pastors are expected to be fully equipped educationally and spiritually.

In the 21st century, being anointed is not enough any longer. There is a place for anointing, a place for education and a place for intelligence and leadership. The anointing can take a pastor up, but he requires the character to remain there.

God left the uneducated Peter, James and John for a more equipped and educated Paul. Our preachers can only function by our prayers. Pray for them, please.

6. PRAY FOR YOUR PASTORS SO THAT IF THEY ARE BLESSED, YOU ARE BLESSED

The sixth reason to pray for pastors is that if you raise your pastor, you are raised. It is natural. It is spiritual. I am talking of the true pastor.

Over the years, I have noticed that the more I pray for my pastor, especially his preaching ministry and his family, the more I get fed from the pulpit.

If church members would suspend judgements and see pastors as men sent to feed them, the better for us to see the Glory of God. Let us pray for our pastors not to be surrounded by spiritual thugs who come to give them bad names.

Go to so many churches; there are loafers around them pretending to be raising the hands of Moses. Lazy people swarm around pastors seeking what to eat from them.

These criminals create false images for the pastors by which many of them are judged.