HOW CAN I PRAY FOR MY PASTOR?

As a pastor, I am thankful for men and worsen who pray for me. Our men meet in my office before each of our services for that specific reason. And I know that many of you pray for me regularly. Perhaps you sometimes have difficulty in knowing how to pray and what to pray for. I do! Let me offer these suggestions.

Pray for me, I am only a man. Unless God is pleased to guide me, I will surely err. Unless the Lord upholds me, I am sure to fall. And unless God the Holy Spirit speaks through me, my sermons will be but sounding brass and a tinkling symbol.

Pray for yourself. Ask God to give you ears to hear, a mind to understand, and a heart to receive his Word. Ask the Lord to give your pastor a message for you. Ask him to speak powerfully to your own heart.

Pray for the manifest presence and power of Christ in our services. We desperately need him! Earnestly pray that the Lord will reveal himself in our midst through the preaching of the gospel.

Pray for your brothers and sisters. We all come to the house of worship with many needs. At different times we need comfort, encouragement, rebuke, strength, and instruction. Our trials, troubles, and experiences are many and varied. Ask the Lord to meet the needs of his children. Only a word from God will suffice. The mere words of a man will not do.

Pray for sinners. We have in our midst perishing sinners. Men, woman, and children whose souls are sentenced to eternal death. They are here at almost every service, your children, your relatives, and your friends. God alone can save them. He alone can give them life and faith. He alone can reveal Christ in their hearts. Won't you pray for his saving grace in their behalf! Will you allow them to perish without an earnest cry to God for their souls? "As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."

And pray for the glory of Christ. This we desire above all else. We want Christ our Lord to be exalted and magnified in our prayers, our songs of praise, our offerings, and our preaching. "Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified."

In great measure, the success of my preaching, and the success of our ministry as a church, depends upon your success in prayer. Thank you for giving me an interest in your prayers. I trust that these suggestions will help you to pray more effectually.

"Will you pray with all your power,

While we try to preach the Word?”