5 Reasons to Pray for Your Pastor or Teacher Today

All over the world today on this Sunday, pastors and teachers will preach or teach a message. As they do, they fulfill their duty to make full proof of their ministry. Some are paid by the church to serve in a vocational role; others volunteer and teach as a function of their volunteered service. Regardless if you are listening today to one who is paid or one who is a volunteer, please pray for that person. The preacher/teacher’s role places him in a difficult situation. If he could sign off on this blog, he would. He would say, “Amen” to the request.

Why is it necessary?

5 Reasons to Pray for Your Pastor or Teacher Today

1. Your pastor or teacher must give an account before God as to how he preached or taught today. He must account for how he handled the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:1-2; James 3:1; Job 42:7). The moment of preaching and teaching brings with it additional terror for those who do the preaching. Where the congregant gets to listen and strives to apply the message to his or her life, the preacher/teacher makes himself vulnerable for further judgement. Each one is required to read a text, explain the text, and apply the text as a faithful minister of the Gospel (1 Timothy 4:13).
2. Your pastor or teacher must strive to apply it to his own life first. As he prepares the material, real spiritual battle takes place. None of us want to get up and preach/teach without a careful examination. Yet, we all know that sin hides, motives blind, and circumstances pressure us. As fellow sufferers and sinners, we face all the same temptations as congregants. However, we have the additional burden of seeking to be consistent (1 Timothy 4:12, 15-16).
3. Your pastor or teacher lives under the burden of the task. The salvation and sanctification of the world flows through the preaching/teaching process. Therefore, as the pastor/teacher prepares and then delivers the message/lesson, he speaks with both the human and spiritual burden of soul care (Luke 24:46-47; Romans 10:14-17). Therefore, the pastor/teacher needs prayer to be courageous, wise, and effective.
4. Your pastor or teacher understands the times. The Bible warns of an impending and ever-encroaching time where people will not want to hear sound doctrine. People will gather false teachers because of the evil in their own hearts. In this way, the preacher/teacher works while there is still time. He feels the pressure and urgency of the age (2 Timothy 3:1-7; 4:3-5).
5. Your pastor or teacher functions under the burden of their own responsibility for sanctification. The pastor/teacher convinces, rebukes, exhorts, encourages, and instructs. These things must be done with all longsuffering, patience, endurance, and in love. We seek to help people become complete in Christ as we also seek to live complete in Christ (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

Are there more reasons to pray? Absolutely.

Ask your own pastor or teacher how you can pray for him. He would be grateful.

For all of us, let’s pray for those under whom we sit today asking God to help them spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and intellectually. May God help them serve His children well today.

And for all of them, I say, “Thank you.”

 

Please note: I used male pronouns through out the blog today; however, I realize that many godly ladies will stand and teach other ladies all over the world today. For them, we pray too. We ask God’s best on them too as we have detailed above.