If you have ever received an email from me, you will have noticed at the bottom is a quote from Scottish pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne. Writing to another pastor M’Cheyne told him, “what a man is on his knees before God, that he is and no more.”
This is not just true for the average Christian, but especially true for the pastor. Despite a very public form of ministry, all that ultimately matters is how the pastor stands before God. The pastor may be loved and adored for his preaching. He may be wealthy by the books he has written. But how is the condition of his heart before God? This ever-important question led M’Cheyne to write to a pastor:
“Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.”
Thus, it is not only important for pastors to pray for their people, it is also of vital importance for the pastor to pray for himself.
Men occupying positions of spiritual leadership must expect to be the recipients of violent attack in various forms. In 2 Cor 11:23-29, the apostle Paul autobiographically cites the unique trials he faced as a minister of the Gospel: [I have ministered] with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
On the evening of His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus gave the following exhortation to His slumbering disciples: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Mark 14:38). In an chapter of the book Reforming Pastoral Ministry, Art Azurdia says, “The implication inherent in His words is clear: To divorce themselves from the means of grace (in this case, vigilant prayer), either by outright disregard or passive neglect, would render these disciples more susceptible to the temptation of spiritual compromise, a fact borne out by their experience a short time later (cf. Mark 14:50).”
Azurdia goes on to show that ministers of the Gospel are vulnerable to trials and temptations distinct to his calling:
- jealousy (‘why are his gifts more esteemed than mine?’);
- bitterness (‘why does the congregation criticize everything I do?’);
- fear (‘will they leave the church if I teach particular redemption?’);
- depression (‘will this church ever grow?’);
- grief (‘why have there been so few conversions?’);
- frustration (‘why does the board appear to distrust my motivations?’);
- doubt (‘why has God caused such suffering in the life of this family?’);
- anxiety (‘how will we ever afford to send our children to college?’);
- sexual indiscretion (‘why does it seem that my wife is not as responsive to me as other women in the church?’);
- despondency (‘why doesn't the congregation love Jesus with greater fervor?’);
- desperation (‘have I rightly discerned my call to ministry?’).
Given the unique nature of the pastor’s ministry, and the unique opportunities to fall to temptation, it is imperative that pastors work hard at carving out time to pray.
From experience, I can say the amount of my own prayerfulness affects my ability to pastor, especially preach. Because of this, when it is time to be in the Word and on my knees, I don’t answer the phone and often turn the computer off. I try to remove any and all distractions that may interrupt that time. I know this isn’t real popular among many pastors and congregations – the pastor is often seen as aloof or hard to find when needed. The truth is, much of the pastors time can be eaten up with non-essential things (the amount of telemarketing calls that come to the church is unbelievable!). But Edward Payson is surely right when he says, “It is in the closet that the battle is lost or won.”
E. M. Bounds says, "We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men."
This is not just true for the average Christian, but especially true for the pastor. Despite a very public form of ministry, all that ultimately matters is how the pastor stands before God. The pastor may be loved and adored for his preaching. He may be wealthy by the books he has written. But how is the condition of his heart before God? This ever-important question led M’Cheyne to write to a pastor:
“Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.”
Thus, it is not only important for pastors to pray for their people, it is also of vital importance for the pastor to pray for himself.
Men occupying positions of spiritual leadership must expect to be the recipients of violent attack in various forms. In 2 Cor 11:23-29, the apostle Paul autobiographically cites the unique trials he faced as a minister of the Gospel: [I have ministered] with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
On the evening of His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus gave the following exhortation to His slumbering disciples: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Mark 14:38). In an chapter of the book Reforming Pastoral Ministry, Art Azurdia says, “The implication inherent in His words is clear: To divorce themselves from the means of grace (in this case, vigilant prayer), either by outright disregard or passive neglect, would render these disciples more susceptible to the temptation of spiritual compromise, a fact borne out by their experience a short time later (cf. Mark 14:50).”Azurdia goes on to show that ministers of the Gospel are vulnerable to trials and temptations distinct to his calling:
- jealousy (‘why are his gifts more esteemed than mine?’);
- bitterness (‘why does the congregation criticize everything I do?’);
- fear (‘will they leave the church if I teach particular redemption?’);
- depression (‘will this church ever grow?’);
- grief (‘why have there been so few conversions?’);
- frustration (‘why does the board appear to distrust my motivations?’);
- doubt (‘why has God caused such suffering in the life of this family?’);
- anxiety (‘how will we ever afford to send our children to college?’);
- sexual indiscretion (‘why does it seem that my wife is not as responsive to me as other women in the church?’);
- despondency (‘why doesn't the congregation love Jesus with greater fervor?’);
- desperation (‘have I rightly discerned my call to ministry?’).
Given the unique nature of the pastor’s ministry, and the unique opportunities to fall to temptation, it is imperative that pastors work hard at carving out time to pray.
From experience, I can say the amount of my own prayerfulness affects my ability to pastor, especially preach. Because of this, when it is time to be in the Word and on my knees, I don’t answer the phone and often turn the computer off. I try to remove any and all distractions that may interrupt that time. I know this isn’t real popular among many pastors and congregations – the pastor is often seen as aloof or hard to find when needed. The truth is, much of the pastors time can be eaten up with non-essential things (the amount of telemarketing calls that come to the church is unbelievable!). But Edward Payson is surely right when he says, “It is in the closet that the battle is lost or won.”
E. M. Bounds says, "We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men."
The pastor must be a man of prayer. More than anything else, he must be in prayer for the state of his soul before God.
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