The Importance of Praying for Your Pastor
Prayer moves the plan of God forward.
II Corinthians 1:8-11
8 - For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9 - But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
10 - Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
11 - Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
(AMP) While you also cooperate by your prayers for us [helping and laboring together with us]. Thus [the lips of] many persons [turned toward God will eventually] give thanks on our behalf for the grace (the blessing of deliverance) granted us at the request of the many who have prayed.
Paul is saying, “While we were in Asia, such a distance from you, we did not think that we were going to make it out of that situation but God delivered us. The reason God was able to move in the way He did was because you were laboring with us in your prayer life.”
He is saying, “Your prayers worked a deliverance in my behalf.” We know that Paul would have prayed himself in that kind of situation, but he said, “When your prayers came and assisted, there was a work that was done that my prayers alone were not able to accomplish.”
If your pastor said we are going to replace the carpet in the church but we are going to have to remove all these pews first. He would not be able to do this on his own. He would need the assistance of the people. It is the same in the Spirit - there are some things one man cannot accomplish alone.
Paul was saying, “There are some things I need help accomplishing and your prayers came as a co-laborer with me - you were helping me to accomplish some things. T God will send fellow helpers and co laborers for ministers.
Paul could not accomplish this on his own. He needed the prayers of the people to accomplish this.
I Corinthians 16:9 says that there are many adversaries at the door. There will be opposition and hindrances that are going to try to come. Paul said, “I tried to come to you but satan hindered me First Thessalonians 2:18. Satan will try to hinder but he can’t stop you. To be hindered is not to be stopped.
There are things that God has called your pastor to do. Your pastor has been given the vision for the local church but God never intended that he carry it out by himself because the vision God gives is too big for one man. It requires the faith and prayer life of others to accomplish this vision.
I have to wonder if Paul would have been delivered if those people would not have prayed for him. We have to wonder what would have happened to Paul if those who were in covenant with him had not taken up the prayer assignments and prayed along with him - would deliverance had come? The Bible doesn’t mention that, because they did bring their prayers and he was delivered.
The Devil is After Certain Ones
Acts 12:1
Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
The devil hates all of God’s people but he is after certain ones. He is fighting to hinder all of God’s people but there are certain ones that are strategic hits. And he knows that if he hits this certain one it will effect a whole bunch and hurt the Body of Christ in a greater way. This is the strategy of the enemy, he is after specific ones. Well, it would stand to reason that he is after your pastor and his family, primarily because satan takes one shot at him and it effects everyone who is under his authority. We should not wait for God to prompt us to pray for our pastor, we should already have our assignment. He is our leader, he is out in front. Where he goes we follow. So, you must know you’ve got to support your pastor, your local church and the vision with your prayer life.
Verse 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
We can see that satan was strategic here. Jesus had 12 disciples but there were three that had a place in the inner circle with Jesus, Peter, James and John. Those are the ones he took aside and put something different in them. They were the ones on the Mt. of Transfiguration. This is why the enemy was strategically after James, he was after one of those in that inner circle that was close to Jesus.
Verse 2 says, “He killed the brother of John with a sword.” So, they lost one of those inner three through this persecution that came against the church.
Verse 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Verse 4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers (4 squads of soldiers 4 soldiers each) to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Verse 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
We see a different element here with the imprisonment of Peter in which we don’t see with the imprisonment of James. When Peter was taken captive the church began praying. However, we don’t see this when James was taken into captivity. It’s like the light went on when they lost James. They realized, “We can’t be losing our leaders,” and they started praying.
Listen, we need to pray before we lose things, instead of after we lose things. Too many times people start paying attention after things are taken from them - after the devil has been able to strike against leadership or strike in the church. It has never been God’s intention that we come after the devil cleaning his messes up. Because we are the head and not the tail.
Just like a dog: his head goes first and his tail last. We are the head - we are in front of everything, we are not behind things. God has made us the head and not the tail. We are not to be behind cleaning up after the devil. We are in front of what he intends to do and we detour it or abort it. Because we are out in front we are able to stop some things from happening. We are not the devil’s demolition crew cleaning up his messes.
We must have the mentality that we are in front of things not behind things. But at this point in the local church they were behind things instead of in front. Because they were behind they lost a leader that they never should have lost. It was not time for James to go home. His life was not lived out - his assignment was not done. So we see a very crucial leader to them was lost, not to mention the gift to the church that was lost because of this man’s death. It was when they noticed the loss they started praying. Because they started praying Peter was saved - he was delivered.
If we will pray and be led by the Spirit we will never, again, lose anything. Because the Greater One is on the inside of us it is possible that we never miss it again. If we will stay prayed up, keen in the spirit, it is possible that we not lose things. Even so, if the local church will continue to bring their supply, we’ll make every turn we need to make, and make all the progress we need to make with the help of the Spirit and move forward into the plan of God.
Verse 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
They prayed until the answer showed up. How long do we pray? We pray until things manifest. By faith we believe we have it in the Spirit realm but we don’t take our faith off of a situation until the answer has manifested in this realm.
We see now how the supply that we bring effects our leadership.
How to Pray for Your Pastor:
Faith without works is dead, James 2:17. This simply means - the faith that is in you will dictate your actions, which are your works of faith. It is then you will receive that for which your faith is reaching when you put works to it. We could say it this way. Faith without expression is dead faith.
When we express something we are saying something or acting something and that is how faith comes out. Faith is dead until it’s expressed. Many will say, “My heart is full of praise.” Well, if you don’t express that praise then it’s dead praise. James says, “Faith without works is dead.” It doesn’t say faith is not present. Faith can be present and still be dead. A body in a coffin is present but it’s still dead - it’s not getting any movement. You can have a heart full of faith but if you don’t express it, it’s dead faith. If you don’t get it out and spend it, it’s dead faith. Even so, you might have faith to pray but if you don’t pray it’s dead.
Some say, “I have a heart full of praise for God.” Well, if you don’t get it out, it’s dead praise. You must get it out of your mouth, it has to be moving. Too many times we think because it’s in our heart that’s enough - you might love your pastor in your heart but if you don’t do something for him that love is dead.
We want to express it the right way.
There was a woman who began to attend a local church and her life was being so blessed that she was overwhelmed. One Sunday after service she met the pastor in the hallway, she was so grateful and full of gratitude she said, “Pastor, I just, ah, ah, I just, I I I, just want you to know, you’re just it.” She wasn’t very elaborate but it was expression of her appreciation. Listen, you want to pray for your pastor lifting him up before God and you want to be able to say more than, “Thank you God, he’s just it. You want to have some knowledge of the Word of how to pray right.
It’s not enough to say I love my pastor, lets put some works and direction with that and get some Word going and lets have some fruit baring with that love we have towards our pastor, local church and vision God has given us.
Ephesians 6:18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
This scripture is telling us to pray for all saints. We do this by praying in the Spirit or in other tongues. This is the primary way we pray for other believers. Let’s look at verse 19.
Verse 19 “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I - may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,”.
Paul was teaching them how to pray for him. So we could say, “And for ministers, those in the fivefold ministry, that utterance may be given unto them…” It’s the utterances that come from God that make the difference, not those that come from man’s study or latest doctrine but those that come from God that go into a man’s life and changes it.
We need to pray, “Father that you would give my Pastor utterance.” When a pastor stands before his congregation there can be 100 different needs but when your pastor is preaching the utterance of the Holy Ghost, he’ll preach one sermon and answer 100 questions for people who are there. Why? When utterances come out, people hear their answer. Not only do we need a sermon to be utterances but also we need the gifts of the Spirit operating for they are utterances as well.
Someone could be sitting in a worship service whose marriage is not doing well and the pastor speaks by the word of knowledge to that individual concerning the restoration of that marriage and gives that individual instruction - that’s an utterance - it’s an answer that can save that marriage.
One Sunday morning while my pastor was preaching, right in the middle of her sermon she said, “And that person in here who was in room 216 over at hotel such and such, you were sleeping with someone you’re not married to you better get it straight.” That was an utterance that came out right in the middle of the service. When you have utterances it keeps a place clean. The gifts of the Spirit will keep a local church clean. When you don’t have much moving of the gifts of the Spirit in a church, you are going to have all kinds of hidden things in this corner and that corner. You will have all kinds of issues that need to be addressed because it take utterances to dig out some things.
We want God’s utterances because they will answer things for us. They are a way of escape for many. They will keep your church CLEAN! His utterances will bring a supply to us that we couldn’t get any other way.
My spiritual father (Dr. Ed Dufresne) was ministering at a church when he received an utterance that there were three couples wife swapping. He had two other ministers there with him. There were about 1200 people in attendance. Dr. Dufresne had never ministered in this church before. When he was waiting to be introduced is when he got the Word from the Lord about these three couples. He said to the Lord, “That’s none of my business, I’m a guest speaker. I don’t get involved in family business.” God said, “I just made it your business.” Usually when it’s Dad’s first time in a church he will visit with the people for a bit and tell them what great things God is doing but not this time. Right after he was introduced, he said, “There are three couples in here wife swapping. He then called them out. God said they needed to publicly repent because they were doing it openly.
God doesn’t always publicly call people out to repent, the reason they would be called forward to repent is because they refuse to do it privately. Calling them out publicly is God using a last ditch effort to reach them. It’s not to embarrass them, it’s to rescue them. This is an exception, not the rule. You have to do it the way the Spirit says.
Well, no one came. This is where we hit the next part of the verse, “That I may open my mouth boldly as I ought” there is a way you ought to represent the utterances of God. Don’t be apologetic or soften the way the Spirit is speaking. You must communicate the spirit (tone) in which it is said.
Because no one came forward the Spirit told Dr. Dufresne that there was a couple in each section of the church and for him to pull them out. He assigned the other two ministers to help him. They each took a section. With each utterance the Spirit will give you direction. The Spirit led the ministers right to the couples. Two of the couples repented. The couple that was in Dr. Dufresne’s section, would not come forward, so he went to the couple and called them out. They argued with him and said, “You missed it this time preacher, we’re not the ones.” Dad had to open his mouth boldly, and get more bold in his utterance than they were in their denial. People’s denial can be very bold. They finally came up and repented.
Listen, not all utterances are friendly, otherwise they wouldn’t need to be tied to boldness. If your pastor were to get up and say, “Four families are getting a new home this year.” It takes absolutely no boldness to deliver that utterance because they would be ready to hear that, it would be welcome. But you can’t grow people up with those kind of utterances. Sometimes you have to point certain things out that need changing with utterances . You can’t grow or be perfected unless some correction and rebuke is delivered.
Listen, we need to be as glad to get corrected as we are to get exhorted.
You can’t grow up being told that you are doing everything right. It’s not what you are doing right that is hurting you. It’s what you are doing wrong that is hurting you. It is a help to us to see where we are doing something wrong, we can then make the adjustment so we no longer have to be wrong. Many times it takes the utterances of God to show us those things. So, when you come into church, you need to be believing God for utterances to come forth because it’s then you know your life is going to get adjusted.
When you buy a car you must take it in for maintenance or it will break down without those adjustments. It’s one thing to buy it and another thing to maintain it. Look at creation: it only took God six days to create it but He has been maintaining it for 1000s of years, Hebrews 1:3.
There is a lot of maintenance to your spiritual life. When you come to church and Bible study that is the tune-up place. Well, it takes the utterances of God to tune-up some situations in your life. So, it’s for your benefit and your family’s benefit, and for the benefit of the local church that there be utterances of God coming forth. It is right and appropriate for you to pray every day, “Father I pray that you give my pastor utterance in the Name of Jesus and that You give him boldness to say what you tell him to say.” Boldness kicks in when the utterance is opposed.
Utterances reveal where we are being exposed. There was a woman who was in a wedding, she was the maid of honor, so she would be the last one to walk down before the bride. Just before it was time for the procession she thought she would use the restroom as to not be distracted by needing to go while in the wedding. While she was in the ladies room the others in the wedding came banging on the door yelling it was time. She hurriedly pulled herself together, ran out of the ladies room to the sanctuary door. The others were already walking down the isle. She then began to walk. As she got to the front row someone reached up and pulled her dress out of her pantyhose.
When the Holy Ghost sees you walking exposed and you come to church on Sunday and the Pastor gets up and starts straightening out stuff, you better be thankful for those utterances that came to straighten you out, so they don’t leave you exposed to defeat, lack, sickness and disease. I wonder why the person on the back row who saw this didn‘t reach up and pull her dress out of her pantyhose. Was there not anyone in the first rows she passed who would cover up her exposed parts?
This is one of the first things that we need to be praying for our pastor and that is that God would give him utterance and this is something we should pray every day. See, your pastor is not only doing God’s business in the pulpit, he is conducting business all week long. He needs utterance for the staff, business men and in conducting a business deal, especially whenever you are building a building. You need utterance from the Holy Ghost to know how to work with the city and contractors. When it comes to God’s people you can’t accomplish God’s plan without God’s utterances.
Yes, Paul would have believed God for the utterances to come. We know that he would pray for God to give him utterance. But we see that he is saying, “If I have utterance or not doesn’t just depend on me, it depends on whether you pray for utterance or not.
It’s not enough for the Pastor to come with the right utterance but the people have to come with the right heart - the right kind of spirit to desire the utterance of God. Those that desire the utterances ought to be requesting those utterances. It’s not enough to just show up at church. Just being their does not assure victory. Your Bible, notebook and plethora of highlighters does not mean you’re prepared. You have to have your heart prepared. It’s not just about attending, it’s about receiving what God has. If you’re going to receive what God has, then you need to hear what God is saying and that only comes about by utterances.
If you want greater utterances in a service it’s up to the people to pray for those. To say, “Father, we’re hungry for your utterances - for what you have to say, for what my family needs to hear, what I need to hear, what other family’s here, who are going through horrible situations, need to hear.
Primarily the utterances are going to come through the pastor not the door greeter. Now God can use someone along the way in the parking lot, foyer etc…, that will bless you but primarily the anointing is on the pastor more than anyone who stands in that building.
After you pray for your pastor to have utterances you then pray for him to have boldness for the utterance to come forth. The anointing meets boldness. The anointing will never surpass the measure of boldness that someone operates in. If you need a healing or miracle you want your pastor to be bold about it in praying for you. You don’t want to have a critical situation arise and have your pastor seemingly not know what to do. You want your pastor to know what to say to have the right utterance for your situation.
Matthew 21:12-13
12 - And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 - And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
14 - And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Utterances will remove things that need to be removed. They won’t leave things that shouldn’t be, there. Utterances will uproot things that need to be uprooted.
The utterance removed the wrong thing, so the Spirit could then do what He wanted to do, and that was to move with healing power. We need to see that we will have a stronger move of the Spirit when our pastor preaches the utterances of God. But it’s not just up to him to have utterances, it’s up to the congregation to believe for them. On the way to church express your faith, say to your kids, “Kids we’re going to hear our answer today, our pastor has our utterance for us. We’ve needed answers and today we are going to get them. He will say what we need to hear today.”
Word of the Lord Have Free Course
II Thessalonians 3:1
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
Pray for us: This is not about a person’s ministry having free course but about the Word having free course. We also want it to have free course in the hearts of the people because if there are things in people’s heart that is stopping the inflow of the Word, they are not going to receive what they need.
A female pastor had a Spirit filled grandmother who, during Azusa Street Revival, would go to service about an hour before it started. There were no chairs so she brought a rocking chair and would start worshipping God and praying for the service.
See, people who know how to cooperate with the power, know how to get it flowing before the people show up. And then when the people show up, they just step into it. Prayer plays a role in that as well. “Father I pray the Word would have free course.” This needs to be prayed before you get to church.
“I pray the hearts of the people will be conditioned and ready to receive and that the atmosphere will be conducive.”
One Grandmamma on that hardwood floor would start tapping her foot on the floor. She would get a beat going and another grandmother would sing, “J…e…s…u…s.” People would come in for the meeting and already the power of God was moving and being touched. The power of God must be touched before He will move. Just His presence alone is not enough. He must be touched - we must tap into Him and He will then move on behalf of the people.
The congregation does not have to wait on the pastor to prepare the atmosphere. It’s not enough for the pastor to get there and make things happen. People can initiate the move of God and should. This is a great way to assist your pastor.
At Thanksgiving dinner the cook or cooks have to have preparation time for the meal. Because it’s a family gathering many who are invited to eat have their part in the preparation. However, there will be some guest who just walk in and sit in a chair with no thought of preparation. As family members it’s up to us to do the preparing.
When I was growing up, we all had different duties preparing meals. Some think their job is to just sit in the chair. We must take time in the presence of God to see what He would do in a worship service and then release our faith by praying it out. Paul was asking all those he was writing to, to pray for them that God‘s plan would come to pass in these meetings. “Father we are hungry for your word to have free course.”
The enemy keeps people busy to occupy them from the Word because it’s the Word that makes the difference.
Pray that the Word be glorified, lifted up, recognized as the highest authority and received as such. It is the Word of God that should take center stage, not a minister, singer or musician. Some will steal center stage thinking that that is their moment to shine, this will hinder the move of the Spirit and many will leave the same way they came.
Verse 2 “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.” People will come in and try to cause havoc and cause all kinds of problems, but the Holy Ghost causes those things to be exposed and then we just skim them off the top. You will deal with situations but will catch them before they start doing their damage. Talking about those who pastor by the Holy Ghost.
Someone can walk into your church and the Spirit will alert the pastor that he is not safe. This protects the family. The devil will also send people to your church. It’s up to us to keep our pastor protected with our prayers. It’s up to us to bring our prayers to his call and to the vision and his pastoral office.
So, we pray for our pastor according to the Word: That utterance from the Spirit may be given, boldness to speak them in the same tone given, the Word have free course in the hearts of the people, and that the Word would be glorified manifested and demonstrated in their lives and for them (your pastors) and the church to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.
Example:“Father we thank you for your Word. We thank you for what you have for us. We thank you that your care and help is so far reaching. We look to your Word and see the instruction on how to pray for our local church, pastor and church family. Father we lift up Your Word before You: You said in Your Word that our pastor would be given utterance, so we pray that utterance, in every service, come - utterance through the preaching and teaching but also utterance through the gifts of the Spirit and utterances throughout the week conducting office business.
And we pray for boldness to come forth in Jesus Name that He would say everything that You have told him to say in Jesus Name, that he wouldn’t back down but be bold to say it.
Father, we pray that the Word of the Lord have free course in our meetings. For it’s the Word that makes a difference, it’s the Word that changes lives. We pray for the Word to have free course in the hearts of the people.
We pray for the Word to be glorified, not men or doctrines but the Word be glorified. And we pray that our pastor and our church be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men in Jesus Name, so that the Word is not hindered, so it can go forth in power and ability in Jesus Name.”
When your pastor is anguishing for people, your prayers assist him in pushing them out of and into where God has called them.
You must keep your mouth off the man of God. Treat your pastor like radioactive material. Not causal.
Some things get stuck in the birth canal and need help pushing them through or cutting them out. Enlarge your birth canal and release that which needs to be birthed.
If you only pray for something once - you’ll make very little progress. Time should be dedicated for specific things weekly. However, when someone feels led by the Spirit to go out of the normal flow - it could be that God needs an extra supply that day to stop evil or push things through outside of the normal business of prayer. The Lord will choose someone in the prayer meeting to flow with things outside of the business of prayer that He needs prayed right then.
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