Your pastor & the people on staff at your church carry a heavy burden. Not only are they under constant attack from the enemy, who would love nothing more than to take them down, but they also carry the burdens of their own family & life, plus those of every person in the church.
The things that happen in your life, truly impact the thought life & prayer life of the people on staff at your church.
Your pastor loves you & prays for you on a regular basis
Our prayers for our church's staff matter. It matters to God that we would care enough to lift up the shepherds He has ordained for us, but it also matters to God because it's an outward sign of our submission to His order. God established the order of the church. Leaders & congregations both have special, ordained roles in God’s plan & when we pray for our leaders we are communicating to God that we believe His ways are right.
Many things happen to a pastor in the course of a week that can mentally, emotionally, physically & spiritually tear him/her down. Unfortunately, this often comes directly from the people that our pastoral staff is serving. Unless our leadership is asking us to do something against God's commands, we need to lay aside our personal preferences to follow our leaders with joy. We should make their job easier by the way we view their leadership & honor them by our words & actions.
We need to remember as a people of God that our preferences aren't God's or our pastor's primary concern. Decisions & vision must be given through leadership that is for the betterment of the whole church & often those don't line up with our desires. This is not the time to complain to your pastor or anyone else, or even to leave the church. This is the time to humble yourself before God in prayer for your church staff & ask God to protect them & line your heart up with their decisions.
Here are some ideas of where to begin praying for your pastor:
Ø Pray for Protection from the enemy ~ If Satan is able to destroy a shepherd of a congregation, then he has a way in to scatter the people of that congregation. Roots of bitterness, wounds & confusion can quickly take hold of a people whose leader falls prey. Your pastor needs divine protection because he or she is on Satan’s radar constantly.
Father, I pray for my pastor’s complete protection from the devil that roams around like a roaring lion trying to destroy him/her. I pray that my pastor would be alert & watchful for any area of his/her life that is open to attack. Give him/her supernatural protection. {1 Peter 5:8}
Ø Pray for Spiritual Encouragement for your pastor ~ Ministry is brutal & pastors are in the middle of stressful situations constantly because they are the ones who help others through life's issues. Because of this, it is common for pastors to be discouraged especially when they don't get encouragement from the people they work so hard to serve & shepherd.
Lord, encourage my pastor through Your Spirit. Let me be a source of encouragement to him/her & let others come alongside him/her to lift him/her up in spirit. Let my pastor see his/her work as eternal & not temporal. Let him/her be refreshed through knowing that Your grace is sufficient for him/her. {Romans 1:11-12, 2 Corinthians 12:9}
Ø Pray for your pastor to have a healthy body ~ The stress of ministry can take a dreadful toll on a pastor's body. Long days & nights of ministry, high-stress situations & constant discouragement can wear down the physicality of a body. Pastors need both spiritual & physical strength. They are, like everyone else, made up of body, mind & spirit.
Father, please give my pastor supernatural strength but also wisdom to know how & when to rest so that he/she can stay physically healthy. Sustain him/her by your strength. Keep him/her from any sickness of the body & any instability of the mind. {Isaiah 40:31}
Ø Pray for a strong marriage & family ~ You would be surprised how easily a marriage or family can fall apart when someone is involved in full-time ministry. Satan wants to damage & disrupt all families, but the ones of those involved in full-time ministry are especially crucial to the unity of the church as a whole.
Lord, I pray that my pastor & his/her spouse will have a strong union in You. That You will highlight areas of their life that need to be addressed & communicated about & that You will give them time together to enjoy each other. Let my pastor’s family have fun together & keep any seed of bitterness from taking root. Let them love the church deeply enough to want to stay healthy together & let their bonds be strong. {1 Timothy 3: 2-6, Ephesians 6:4}
Ø Pray for wisdom to lead the church ~ Your pastor is not just responsible for leading his/her congregation because it's his/her job, he/she is actually responsible for answering to God for the decisions made & the words spoken to you under his/her leadership.
God, I pray that my pastor will make godly decisions & that You will guide him/her to have a shepherd's heart. I pray that he/she will yield to You & always speak the truth boldly with love. I pray that he/she will have the courage needed to speak Your truth & Your ways over difficult & sensitive subjects. I also pray that You will illuminate scripture in his/her heart so that he/she has revelation directly from you. {2 Timothy 4:2, Acts 20:28}