Pastoring a church is like joining the Peace Corps: It's not just a job, it's an adventure. The natives can be restless and shooting fiery darts at them, the air conditioning unit keeps breaking and the plumbing backs up, sometimes clans are at war with each other, there's a jungle of paperwork to navigate, and meeting after meeting after meeting to attend. And they've got to do it all without offending anyone, somehow squeezing in time to prepare a couple of sermons and Bible studies every week, visit people in the hospital, and still spend time with their wives and children. But they do it because they love our Lord, and wouldn't do anything else.
Our pastors need our prayer and encouragement. But what does praying for our pastors have to do with revival?
Praying for our pastors is one of the most important keys to revival. Most of the time, when churches experience revival, it is because the pastor has experienced revival in his own life and then leads his church to begin repenting, praying, and returning to a right relationship with God. Usually, revival begins with the pastor.
Additionally, when churches experience revival, the pastor's job is made exponentially easier. He is no longer discouraged by preaching to hearts of stone, but exhilarated by preaching to those who seek to worship God in spirit and in truth and who hunger and thirst for righteousness. His congregation witnesses to the lost, reaches out to those in need, beats down his office door wanting to know how they can serve. They allow him to ditch his extraneous busy work in favor of studying God's word and spending time in prayer. Revival makes pastoring a joy.
So pray for your pastor. Get everybody else in your church praying for your pastor. And, hey, throw in the minister of music, youth, education, etc., too. You might just find that the more the sheep pray for the shepherd, the better the flock becomes.
And that's not a baa-aaa-aaa-d thing. :0)
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