45 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor

Christians should pray for their pastors on a regular basis. But do we know how to pray for our ministers? I offer this list of 45 items as a guide of biblically-informed prayers. Obviously, this list is suggestive, not exhaustive.  

1. Pray that your pastor continually abides in Jesus (John 15:5).
2. Pray that your pastor engages often in the duty and delight of private prayer (Mark 1:35; Matthew 6:6).
3. Pray that your pastor loves God above all other loves (Matthew 22:37) and that he loves people (Matthew 22:39).
4. Pray that your pastor loves his wife as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25) and that he raises his children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).
5. Pray that your pastor manages his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive (1 Timothy 3:4).
6. Pray that your pastor commands his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:19).
7. Pray that your pastor and his household would serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).
8. Pray that your pastor is delivered from worldliness (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17) and especially the love of money (Matthew 6:24; 1 Timothy 6:10).
9. Pray that your pastor pursues sanctification and abstains from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
10. Pray that your pastor exercises self-control over his tongue, his temper, and his appetite (1 Timothy 3:3; Galatians 5:22-23).
11. Pray that your pastor makes the best use of the time God has given him (Ephesians 5:16).
12. Pray that your pastor puts on the whole armor of God so that he might stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:10-20).
13. Pray that your pastor burns (gospel heat) and shines (gospel light) the truth of God (John 5:35).
14. Pray that your pastor studies the Law of the Lord, does it, and teaches it to God’s people (Ezra 7:10).
15. Pray that your pastor studies God’s Word so that he might handle it rightly (2 Timothy 2:15).
16. Pray that your pastor keeps a close watch on himself (life) and the teaching (doctrine) so that he might save both himself and his hearers (1 Timothy 4:16).
17. Pray that your pastor teaches what accords with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1).
18. Pray that your pastor speaks only what God says (1 Kings 22:14).
19. Pray that your pastor prioritizes prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).
20. Pray that your pastor preaches Christ and him crucified in the power of the Holy Spirit, not in the wisdom of men (1 Corinthians 2:2).
21. Pray that your pastor proclaims the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24).
22. Pray that your pastor proclaims the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
23. Pray that your pastor faithfully shepherds the sheep who have been purchased by the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28).
24. Pray that your pastor does not lead by domineering over the flock but by serving as a good example (1 Peter 5:3).
25. Pray that your pastor gives a good account of the souls entrusted to his care on Judgment Day (Hebrews 13:17).
26. Pray that your pastor speaks to please God, not men (1 Thessalonians 2:4; Galatians 1:10).
27. Pray that your pastor preaches the Word of God, in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with complete patience and teaching (2 Timothy 4:2).
28. Pray that your pastor effectively protects the sheep from wolves (false teachers) (Acts 20:29-30).
29. Pray that your pastor is able to refute those who contradict sound teaching (Titus 1:9).
30. Pray that your pastor does the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5).
31. Pray that your pastor is willing to endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they may obtain salvation (2 Timothy 2:10).
32. Pray that your pastor keeps his ministry faithful to God’s Word for the sake of the faith of God’s elect (Titus 1:1).
33. Pray that your pastor proclaims the truth that accords with godliness (both right doctrine and right living) (Titus 1:1).
34. Pray that your pastor shares both the gospel and his life with the congregation (1 Thessalonians 2:8).
35. Pray that your pastor is like a gentle mother nursing her children (1 Thessalonians 2:7) and like a faithful father exhorting his sons (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
36. Pray that your pastor practices hospitality (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8).
37. Pray that your pastor is strengthened by God’s grace (2 Timothy 2:1) to disciple faithful men who will disciple others (2 Timothy 2:2).
38. Pray that your pastor is prepared to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3).
39. Pray that your pastor avoids getting entangled in civilian pursuits (distractions) and keeps his focus on pleasing God (2 Timothy 2:4).
40. Pray that your pastor is a hardworking farmer who plants seeds and waters them (2 Timothy 2:6).
41. Pray that your pastor would gladly spend and be spent for souls (2 Corinthians 13:15).
42. Pray that your pastor’s planting and watering is blessed with God-given growth (1 Corinthians 3:7).   
43. Pray that your pastor ministers in light of eternity, seeking the things that are above (Colossians 3:1-2) and keeping in mind that all people will soon die and face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
44. Pray that your pastor aims to present everyone mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).
45. Pray that your pastor dies to himself so that he might bear fruit for God (John 12:24).

Jesus Loves Me

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

 

          The love of Christ is the believer’s greatest treasure. We read in our Bibles that God loved the world (John 3:16), but the Christian knows not only God’s love for the world in general but for him in particular. “Jesus loved me,” Paul says. Every Christian should be persuaded of Christ’s love for him in particular.

          Christ's love is a personal love. Paul says, “who loved me.” Paul knew in his heart that Christ had a personal and individual love for him. This does not refer to God’s general compassion for all his creatures, but this speaks of God’s redemptive love for his own. It refers to Christ's love for his Bride and all the individual members of it. Christians believe in God’s love for sinners in general, but this is a deeper assurance of God’s love in the heart. It comes with the full persuasion that Jesus loved me, even me!

          Christ's love is a sacrificial love. Paul goes on: “and gave himself for me.” Christ gave himself for sinners on the cross--do we know that he gave himself for this sinner? Am I able to say with confidence that Jesus Christ loved and gave himself up for Logan Patrick Almy? We may know this, and if we are Christians, it is our business to know this. The Spirit will testify with our spirit that we belong to Christ and that he has purchased us with his precious blood. We sing, “And can it be that I should gain an interest in my Savior’s blood?” And when we are sure that we have an interest in his blood, we will go on to sing, “Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

          Knowing Christ’s personal and sacrificial love for us is often misunderstood to be the warrant of faith, but we need to understand that it is rather the fruit of faith. For example, evangelists sometimes tell sinners, “God loves you. Christ died for you. Receive him into your life.” Such invitations make Christ’s love the warrant or grounds for faith. But the biblical presentation of the gospel differs from this. In the Bible we see God’s preachers telling sinners something like this: “God loves the world. God sent his Son to die for sinners and make full atonement. Whoever believes in Jesus shall be saved.” The warrant of faith in this presentation is God’s love for sinners in general and his promise to save those sinners who believe in Jesus. And it is only after the sinner believes in Jesus that he is persuaded that Christ died for him personally and sacrificially. This may seem like splitting theological hairs, but it makes a great difference in our experience of Christ’s love. In one approach, Christ’s personal love is a given, but in the other approach Christ’s love is the reward of having believed the gospel promise. There is a world of difference between these two and we ought to meditate on it.

          So what about you? Are you able to proclaim that Christ died for you? Are you able to say that he loved you with an everlasting love? Do you know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge? Are you able to say that he shed the blood of the everlasting covenant for your weak, ungodly, and sinful soul? Are you able to sing,

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus! Vast, unmeasured,

 boundless, free; rolling as a mighty ocean

in its fullness over me” ?

         

He Seemed To Be Joking

“So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city.’ But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.”  Genesis 19:14

 

          When Lot warned his sons-in-law about the coming destruction of wicked Sodom, they laughed because they did not think he was serious.  Since Lot seemed to be jesting, they did not act upon his exhortation to flee the city of destruction. 

We might speculate about why they thought Lot’s warning was a joke.  The text, of course, doesn’t tell us, but several possibilities emerge with a moment’s consideration.

          Lot’s sons-in-law may not have been serious men.  Some men are incapable of having a discussion unless sarcasm and ridicule are invited.  No topics—election or reprobation, heaven or hell, the reality of eternity, the certainty of a coming judgment day—make humor inappropriate in their eyes.  “Let the conversation be light,” they say.  “I like his preaching,” says another, “because he has such a good sense of humor.”  “No hellfire and brimstone.  Keep the people laughing.”  Did Lot’s sons-in-law laugh when the city went up in flames?

          Another possibility is that Lot’s sons-in-law may have been incredulous about the place of such fanciful subjects in friendly conversation.  Levity is a likely response to (perceived) fantasy.  Lot can’t be serious.  How could anyone be so foolish to believe that there is a righteous God in heaven who is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11) and will bring sure and certain judgment in his own time?  They may have doubted that God would judge Sodom seeing as there were other cities that were guilty of immorality that did not meet the same fate and considering that Sodom had enjoyed its sin for so long making it seem improbable that it would come to such ruin. 

          We cannot but think that Lot himself may not have been convincing in the way that he addressed his sons-in-law.  Was Lot persuaded in his heart that the report of the angels was true?  When he does leave the city, he lingers, which may indicate his indecision in the matter (Genesis 19:16).  Perhaps there was something about Lot’s tone that betrayed his lack of assurance.  Lot himself may have been known for telling jokes.  His sons-in-law simply may have thought that he was up to his usual antics. 

          Although we may speculate to no avail concerning why Lot’s sons-in-laws thought he was jesting, we can say with certainty that the reason that they did not flee the wicked city but perished in it along with the other sinners is because they did not think the coming judgment was to be taken seriously.  If sinners do not think that we are serious in our warnings about the coming judgment, then they will not respond in repentance and faith. 

There is no doubt that some sinners are foolish people who seem incapable of talking about eternity for even a single moment.  But if we shall spend eternity in either heaven or hell, the subject deserves more than a moment’s reflection.

  Others are unwilling to take such solemn subjects as anything more than the punch line of a bad joke.  Everything is trivial to them.  Laughter is commonplace among the sons of men; trembling is a rare virtue even among the sons of God.

Many are the occasions when preachers do not warn with the earnestness becoming the man of God who is convinced that God will do as he has said.  Sodom is wicked, and its destruction is not asleep.  Yet the preacher does not seem to believe what he preaches.  David Hume was once asked why he listened to the preaching of George Whitefield even though Hume did not believe.  Hume responded, “He does.”   

When we believe in the reality of the coming judgment (for the destruction of Sodom is an example of what shall happen to all the ungodly, 2 Peter 2:6), sinners will know that our warnings are not jokes but passionate pleas for them to flee the city of destruction and come to Christ in whom there is deliverance and life.  But do we seem to them to be joking?   

 

         

When the Sermon is 'Over Your Head'

“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”

2 Timothy 2:7

Sometimes pastors are told not to preach sermons that are ‘over the heads’ of the people.  This advice is only partially true.  Certainly pastors should seek to preach plainly to their people (Colossians 4:4) and speak to them according to their varying spiritual conditions (1 Thessalonians 5:14).  And it is certainly the case that pastors should not make their sermons so academic and intellectual that the average Christian in the congregation cannot understand (1 Corinthians 2:1, 4).  And it is without question that pastors must give milk to those who are babes in Christ and give solid food to the mature (1 Corinthians 3:1-2).  The problem is that congregations are mixed assemblies.  Both believers and unbelievers are present, as well as both spiritual infants and adults.  So if pastors always address the lowest common denominator, they will spiritually starve those who are growing in their faith and moving on to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1).  In point of fact, if pastors seek to ensure that they never preach a sermon ‘over the head’ of anyone, then their sermons will become very shallow indeed!  Since unbelievers are present in the congregation, should we preach only evangelistic sermons?  Surely not!  We should also expose the problem that acting on this principle would pose for preaching expositionally through books of the Bible.  God has diversified his revelation so that we encounter both milk and meat in his Word.  What shall preachers do when they come to texts that contain subjects and themes that are ‘above the heads’ of the spiritual infants in the congregation?  Should they ignore those themes and not preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27)?  Of course not!  So we can see how foolish this advice can be if it is taken to mean that preachers should never preach a sermon that might be over the heads of some of those present in the congregation.  What I am concerned about in this post, however, is how Christians should respond to sermons when they conclude that the sermon is ‘over their head.’  For I am convinced that many Christians will inevitably come to that conclusion in the context of a healthy preaching ministry, and I am equally convinced that Christians often respond to this reality in unhealthy ways.  So here are some pointers. 

First of all, if you are listening to a sermon and come to the conclusion that it is ‘over your head,’ please do not get discouraged.  The pastor must preach to all levels of spiritual maturity, and if you are a new Christian or have only been a Christian for a short period of time, then it only stands to reason that some of the subjects he addresses will be new to your understanding and may seem ‘over your head.’  This does not necessarily mean that you are sinning in some way.  Spiritual infancy is a natural stage of a Christian’s development.  A baby is doing nothing wrong when it does not understand a mother’s instructions.  Of course, encountering a sermon that is over your head could mean that you are sinning.  It would mean that you are sinning if you do not understand it because you have been forsaking the assembly or not reading your Bible on a regular basis.  It should come as no surprise to you that you do not understand the preaching of the Bible if you only read the Bible on Sundays.  The Bible is God’s Word and our food.  We need to read it prayerfully and carefully every day in order to profit from the preaching of it.  When it comes to the preaching God’s Word, the pastor has a responsibility to make it as clear as he possibly can, and God will hold him accountable for that.  But we must not forget that the listener has a responsibility.  The listener must be preparing for the message by reading the Word, praying for understanding, and keeping free from all distraction during the delivery of the sermon.  Understanding what we are to believe about God and what duty he requires of us does not happen automatically and effortlessly.  We must keep our minds and hearts engaged in order to benefit from the sermon. 

Secondly, if you conclude that the sermon is ‘over your head,’ do not give up.  Many Christians have never been rebuked for their intellectual laziness.  For some reason it is easy for us to recognize physical laziness, but we easily overlook intellectual and spiritual laziness.  Sometimes we simply need to confess that we lack the mental discipline to attend to the Word.  Again, I am not detracting from the fact that God made every person different and that he made some people smarter than others.  But God calls every Christian to use the mind that he has given him to understand his truth.  God blesses us when we think through what he has revealed.  “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (2 Timothy 2:7).  We may not understand everything all at once, but we ought not to get discouraged by that.  And in our feelings of defeat, we ought not to give up pursuing the truth to the best of our ability with the help of the Holy Spirit.  When Christians do not understand a sermon, they can get frustrated or anxious or apathetic.  But this is not the response that we should have as disciples of Christ.  We should write down our questions and confusions and seek clarity.  We might ask the pastor for other passages of Scripture that might help us or other Christian books that we might read or other sermons we might hear.  The key is not to give up.  Even in a sermon that is tremendously deep, most pastors will include something in the sermon for every level of listener.  So listen diligently for something that you do understand and cling to that.  Do not worry that you may not understand everything; give thanks that you understand something.  Over time your spiritual wisdom and understanding will grow.

Thirdly, if the sermon is over your head, do not assume that the pastor is doing something wrong.  He may in fact be doing something wrong.  He has a responsibility before God to preach plainly and clearly and according to the different levels of the people.  He may be trying to be too academic.  He may be speaking in terms that only seminarians would understand.  He may be making intellectual assumptions of the people that are not true.  All of this requires prayer and care on the part of the preacher.  After all, he wants to be understood.  At the same time, it only stands to reason that at least some of his sermons, or some parts of his sermons, will be ‘over the heads’ of unbelievers and even spiritually immature believers.        

Fourthly, when you come to the conclusion that the sermon is over your head, seek out mature believers to help you understand the things of God more accurately.  Preachers are more than willing to answer questions about what they have preached or taught.  Other more mature Christians may be able to explain what was confusing to you.  The value of living in community is that we can assist each other in deepening our understanding of God’s truth.  “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).    

Spiritual growth begins when we recognize our poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3).  This means that we must begin by acknowledging how much we do not know about God and his will for our lives.  When we come to God’s Word humbly confessing that we are ignorant of his truth, he will bless us with a deeper understanding throughout time.  We should not delude ourselves that it will happen overnight.  Nor should we give up and consign ourselves to failure, falsely thinking that we shall never move from milk to meat.  We should be patient as we develop and allow the Holy Spirit to continue his work in us by and with his Word in our hearts.

Holding Back God's Word

“Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word.”  Jeremiah 26:2

Preachers may sin against the Lord by not declaring the whole counsel of God.  It is not that the preacher announces heresy but that the preacher simply does not proclaim all that God has commanded him to speak.  God directly revealed to Jeremiah all that he wanted him to speak to his people.  God reveals today to his preachers what he wants them to proclaim by the Spirit through the written Word.  Preachers are always under orders to proclaim only what God has said and all of what God has said.  We do not have the freedom of holding back a word.  Christians should learn from this that we must not only examine what a preacher says but also what he fails to say.  Many Christians are seduced by popular preachers because they do not hear any obvious heresy in what is preached, but this is only a part of our responsibility as discerning listeners.  We must also give thought to what might be missing.  What is the preacher holding back?  The most deceptive form of false teaching is distortion by subtraction, not addition.  Rather than preaching something false, the false teacher removes something true.  He holds back a word.  He may hold back a word of judgment.  He may speak, “Peace, Peace,” where there is no peace.  He may hold back a word of repentance.  He may heal the wound of God’s people lightly without calling for reformation of heart and life.  He may hold back a word of salvation.  He may preach the law but not the gospel.  He may strip sinners of self-righteousness and not provide the robe of Christ’s righteousness.  He may hold back a word of application.  Some preaching is all doctrine and no application.  He may speak in the lofty ideas of theoretical abstraction and yet not bring home the truth to people in front of him.  And yet he may hold back a word of doctrine.  In his zeal to be relevant he may not ground his exhortations in the instruction of the Word.  How preachers need to be on guard against the sin of selective preaching!  How Christians need to be on guard against the sin of selective listening!  When you listen to the preaching of the Word, are you selective in what you receive?  Do you take heed only to the doctrine and not to application?  Or do your thoughts wander during the preaching of sound doctrine only to come back again when the doctrines are applied to life?  Do you love to hear the booming thunderclaps of the law but not the trumpet blasts of the gospel?  Or have you only ears for good news while plugging your ears to the oracles of judgment?  May this never be!  Let us love to listen to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!  May we not diminish the glory of Jesus or the completeness of God’s perfect revelation by holding back one word of his precious truth!