I. Introduction

A. This morning I want to share with you something that’s been on my heart for a long time, but I wasn’t quite able to figure out how to put it into terms that would cover all the bases until I can across a sermon with this title by Dee Duke. Even though I’m using Dee’s outline, the examples and the burden I’m sharing are my own. Please bear with me as I help you know how to pray for me, so that God will be glorified and our church will become all that God has for us.

II. Seven Ways to Pray for Your Pastor

A. (NEW SLIDE) First, pray for my protection from the temptations of the devil. As leader of this church, it’s like I have a bull’s-eye tattooed on my back. Satan tempts some folks more than others. He always attacks and tempts Christian leaders more than others, and he always attacks and tempts those who are seeking to follow after God with all their hearts. A few verses out of 1 Chronicles 21 help us understand how our enemy can tempt leaders. Verse one: (NEW SLIDE) Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the Israelites – in other words, he tempted David as the leader of the Israelites. David gave in to the temptation. Verse seven: God was very displeased with the census and he punished Israel for it. The leader gave in to temptation, and the results were devastating for his people. Verse fourteen: So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand people died as a result. This kind of failure scares me to death. When I see on TV and read in the news about pastors who have given in to temptations that have ruined their lives and ministries, I get very scared. From my past I have a pretty good idea of what I’m capable of, and I need God to protect me from doing those things and becoming just a hollow faker in ministry. I have such a heavy burden for this church and for those who don’t know Jesus and I would hate for anything to derail what God wants to do and to ridicule His name and our church in our community. Satan is after leaders, and especially pastors, because if he can make them fall the results are like a spiritual nuclear bomb. He is actively seeking to derail me. In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.” That’s a powerful example of what Satan is trying to do to pastors of churches. (NEW SLIDE) We all make mistakes, commit sins, and God can easily redeem them. But when pastors are deceived into the major meltdown that giving in to temptation to serious sin causes, then everyone in the church suffers. Prayer, lots of prayer, can help me avoid giving in to those kinds of temptations. Remember what Ephesians 6:12 says – For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. (NEW SLIDE) Prayer is our weapon against the forces of Satan. Verse eighteen: Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. I don’t want to fall. I’ve set up some boundaries to help me not fall. Some examples: I won’t visit a woman at her home unless her husband or my wife is present. I won’t counsel a woman in my office unless another woman is present in the building. I have had a couple of cases where a woman did need some immediate counseling at my office and there was not another woman around, but I called Kim immediately afterward and apprised her of who it was and the general nature of the counseling with no specifics whatsoever. There are some other boundaries in my life, but the point is that I don’t want to fall. Please pray for my protection from the temptations of the devil.

B. (NEW SLIDE) Second, pray for my people, my family. If the devil can’t get me he will work on my family. Most of you know the burden I carry for my wife’s heart condition. I don’t consider that to be caused by a spiritual attack, but I do know that many of Kim’s symptoms can be made much more serious and difficult to deal with by spiritual attacks. (NEW SLIDE) Kim and David and Danny all need your prayers of protection. And I need your prayers so that I will be kept faithful to them. 1 Timothy 3:1-2 says, It is a true saying that if someone wants to be an elder, he desires an honorable responsibility. 2 For an elder must be a man whose life cannot be spoken against. He must be faithful to his wife. I want to be faithful to Kim. I want to be the best husband I possibly can for her. But I also know that I can be tempted to not be faithful to her, and that if I ever gave in to that temptation the results would be devastating to her and the boys and the church. Verses 4-5: He must manage his own family well, with children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? I can’t afford, and the church can’t afford, for me to be unfaithful to Kim, because the results for my boys’ faith would be incredibly damaging. God has blessed me with a couple of great kids. They love God and want to know Him more. They aren’t perfect, nobody is, but they’re trying to live their faith at school and in their daily lives. I love them so much, and I don’t want anything to happen to them. But Satan would like them to fall. He’d like Kim to fall. He’d like to drag them down in his attempt to get to me. I am striving with all I am to be a one-woman man and to be a godly example to my boys, and I am trying to help them become all God has for them to be. Please pray for their protection. Please pray for my people, my family.

C. (NEW SLIDE) Third, pray for my preaching. God has chosen that the preaching of His Word be a significant key to your growth. The New Testament is littered with examples of God using preaching to impact lives. Matthew 3:1 – In those days John the Baptist began preaching in the Judean wilderness. Matthew 4:17 – From then on, Jesus began to preach, “Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” 1 Corinthians 1:21 – Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe. Colossians 1:25 – God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his message in all its fullness to you Gentiles. 2 Timothy 4:1-2 – And so I solemnly urge you before God and before Christ Jesus – who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (NEW SLIDE) Preaching is a powerful tool God uses, and my preaching has the potential to do more good to you than any other person’s because we’re part of the same body. We have a mutual point of reference, with mutual caring and a mutual desire to see God’s purpose fulfilled in our church. So I need you to pray for my preaching. Paul gives some guidelines in Ephesians 6:19 – And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God’s secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too. I spend a lot of time in prayer every week that God will give me the right words, and that I will only say His words and be bold in doing it. I have such a healthy respect for God and His Word that for me to do otherwise would be a blatant abuse of the gift He has given me. God has gifted and called me to preach, as Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 1:4-5 – I can never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. 5 He has enriched your church with the gifts of eloquence and every kind of knowledge. Now I would be the last person to call myself eloquent, but I do know from what many of you have shared with me that the Holy Spirit speaks through me when I preach. That is such a humbling and overwhelming truth that I sometimes don’t quite know how to respond to Him. But pray that I will preach boldly and eloquently. Pray that I will preach clearly and that God will open doors to my preaching. Colossians 4:3-4 – Don’t forget to pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to preach about his secret plan – that Christ is also for you Gentiles. 4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. And in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul writes, Finally, dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. (NEW SLIDE) God uses preaching to speak to our hearts, and when you pray for my preaching, God will speak to your heart more than He is able to otherwise. What you get out of my sermons depends on how much you pray for me. When you pray for me and for my preaching, God will speak to your heart as well as mine. I can’t speak God’s words unless you pray for me and for my preaching. Please pray for my preaching.

D. (NEW SLIDE) Fourth, pray for my perception, my wisdom, the ability to make right decisions in all situations. 1 Peter 5:2 says, Care for the flock of God entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly – not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. I am eager to serve God and I do serve willingly, but I need God’s wisdom in order to do it God’s way. His wisdom in timely moments has helped me through many difficult situations. I haven’t always done it right – we all know that! – but I’ve tried to listen for God’s wisdom and to follow it in making decisions. That’s why I need your prayers so much! Colossians 1:9-10 says, So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, and we ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better. That’s what I so desperately need each and every day of my life! I need you to ask God and keep asking God to fill me with spiritual wisdom as I know Him better and better. That’s why I pray as much as I do, and why I need to pray more – to know Him, to become like Him, to speak His words, to share His truth in just the right way. (NEW SLIDE) I need your prayers that my perception, my wisdom, my ability to make right decisions in all situations, will be at one with God’s view of reality. There’s a powerful example in 1 Kings 12:3-8 of someone who didn’t have God’s view of reality. The leaders of Israel sent for Jeroboam, and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. 4 “Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects.” 5 Rehoboam replied, “Give me three days to think this over. Then come back for my answer.” So the people went away. 6 Then King Rehoboam went to discuss the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?” 7 The older counselors replied, “If you are willing to serve the people today and give then a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.” 8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisors. The result: disaster, as the country split and Jeroboam led the northern kingdom into such perpetual evil that it was eventually destroyed. The southern kingdom eventually fell too. I don’t want that to happen in my own life or in our church. Please pray for my perception, my wisdom, the ability to make right decisions in all situations.

E. (NEW SLIDE) Fifth, pray for my passion. Depression, discouragement and emotional exhaustion are very serious problems. In fact, depression is the number one pastoral problem in the country, and there are times when I struggle with it. I can really identify with what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 – (NEW SLIDE) Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along. 29 Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? God has given me an overwhelming love for you, so I become incredibly attached to you, and when something falls apart in your life I feel responsible. I feel like I have failed you. I feel like I haven’t been able to impart something into your life that you needed to keep from falling apart. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4, That is why I wrote as I did in my last letter, so that when I do come, I will not be made sad by the very ones who ought to give me the greatest joy. Surely you know that my happiness depends on your happiness. 4 How painful it was to write that letter! Heartbroken, I cried over it. I didn’t want to hurt you, but I wanted you to know how very much I love you. That’s how I feel about all of you. I hurt when you hurt, and I get depressed when I see your pain and feel helpless to do anything about it, or when I feel like I’ve failed you. I feel like I haven’t preached or taught as I should have, otherwise you wouldn’t have suffered so. I know that we all have choices to make, but I often feel devastated that my preaching and teaching and my prayers weren’t able to help you make the right choices. I feel tremendous pressure when I preach, because I feel like if I blow it, there will be terrible consequences, and I’m so passionate about you and about our church I become depressed. And when I’m depressed, I lose my passion. I can relate with Paul’s emotions in 1 Thessalonians 3:5-8 – That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the Tempter had gotten the best of you and that all our work had been useless. 6 Now Timothy has just returned, bringing the good news that your faith and love are as strong as ever. He reports that you remember our visit with joy and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you. 7 So we have been greatly comforted, dear brothers and sisters, in all of our own crushing troubles and suffering, because you have remained strong in your faith. 8 It gives us new life, knowing you remain strong in the Lord. I get really pumped up when I hear about how God is working in your life, and that helps build and sustain the passion for ministry God has placed within me. I consider it an honor and a privilege of bearing both the burden and the passion, and I wouldn’t do anything else because God has called me and placed me here with you. But I need your help. I pray for all of you every week, wrestling over the struggles you are going through, and I gladly bear the burden of prayer for you and of sharing your burdens with you. But I need your prayer in return. Please pray for my passion.

F. (NEW SLIDE) Sixth, pray for perseverance and endurance physically. The emotional and mental and spiritual stress of being a pastor take a toll on my body. I tend to have the misguided sense that everything depends on me. So I push myself too hard physically, thinking that I can still do the things I did when I was twenty or thirty. My exercise is limited by arthritis, but I try to do what I can. And I know that I can keep going physically when you pray for my perseverance and endurance. Paul tells us how much prayer can impact us physically in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 – I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. 10 And he did deliver us from mortal danger. And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us. 11 He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us. As a result, many will give thanks to God because so many prayers for our safety have been answered. (NEW SLIDE) God bestowed on Paul and his companions favor physically through the prayers of many. I need your prayers to sustain me physically, to deliver me from physical temptations, to help me keep going even when I am sleep-deprived and stressed out. Prayers for physical conditions work! Acts 12:5-7 tells part of a dramatic story of God’s physical help through prayer. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. 6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, chained between two soldiers, with others standing guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood beside Peter. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. God works powerfully physically when people pray for physical needs, and I need your prayers in that area of my life. Please pray for my perseverance and endurance physically.

G. (NEW SLIDE) Last, but not least, pray for my priorities. They get so easily out of whack. The apostles in the early church had to set priorities. There had been many rumblings and grumblings about the food distribution program for widows. Acts 6:2-4 – So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. “We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said. 3 “Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. 4 Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.” I need to keep prayer as the highest priority in my life. If I don’t, then my relationship with God will slide and I won’t be able to keep on track with what God wants me to say and do. (NEW SLIDE) Prayer has to be the highest priority in my life. If I don’t pray, my life will fall apart. I will fall prey to temptation, and I won’t have God’s best interests at heart in all I say and do. (NEW SLIDE) Pray that I do the most important things first; primarily, my time with God. Pray that I keep my family up there right behind my relationship with God in my priorities. Then most of the rest of my time working on doing what only I can do in our church – preaching and being the leader, the guy where the buck stops. Someone very knowledgeable in leadership says that, while there are small tasks you need to do and times of exceptions to the rule, most of your time should be spent doing what only you can do. I want to be used of God powerfully, to help our church become what He has in mind, and if that’s going to happen I’ve got to keep my priorities in line. Please pray for my priorities.

H. Thank you for listening to my pleas for prayer. I need your prayers so much I can’t even begin to express it. But have you realized that when you pray for me, it’s going to bless you? God will bless you when you pray for me, because godly leadership is always a blessing. He will bless our church as I walk with Him and lead by His standards. You will help keep me from sin when you pray for me, and that will bless our church. And we will have the blessing of closer relationship with each other as you pray for me and I pray for you. Please pray for me. How? Two ways. (NEW SLIDE) Pray for me in your private life. Pray for me periodically during the worship service. I believe that God’s Spirit will be freed to pour out on our services if we have two or three people praying on a rotating basis for me during our worship service. Maybe someone could take charge and get volunteers and develop a rotating schedule so that each person would pray during the service only every six weeks or so. If somebody wanted to set that up, I’d appreciate it greatly. I don’t want to fail God. I don’t want to fail my family. I don’t want to fail you. So please pray for me.

III. Conclusion

A. (NEW SLIDE) If you’re willing to pray for me every week for at least fifteen minutes, using the guidelines I’ve given this morning, please circle the “P” on your communication card and sign your name right below it. I will continue to pray for you regardless, but I would appreciate it if you would make this commitment to pray for your pastor. Thanks for bearing with me this morning. I need you!

B. Let’s pray together.