I encourage you to pray for your pastor today in a focused, intentional way. Here’s why:

1. Your pastor will answer to God for the way he shepherds the souls of God’s people. Hebrews 13:17 (“. . . they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account”) reflects the responsibility we pastors carry. It’s heavy.

2. Many of us take our pastors for granted. Regrettably, much of our Christianity becomes routine, including our commitment to intercede for those who lead us. Concentrated prayer is one way to say to your pastor, “I love you and am grateful for you.”

3. We pastors, too, fall into the routine of ministry. The longer we do it, the easier it is to do it out of habit. We need believers praying that our walk with God will be daily refreshed and ignited. In fact, your pastor may need that prayer today. 

4. Many pastors are lonely. Sometimes it’s hard to develop friendships within the church. Some of us are also so introverted that we wrongly seclude ourselves. In either case, we need your prayer support.

5. The issues your pastor faces today are complex. Had you told me when I started ministry almost 40 years ago that we’d face the cultural changes and values we’re now facing, I probably would have laughed. Now, I weep . . . and pray for wisdom.

6. The enemy is striking pastors’ families. You may know a pastor who has fallen morally or whose marriage is in shambles. In other cases, faithful pastors and their spouses are deeply grieving over a wayward child, and they’re bearing that burden alone. Pray for your pastor’s entire family today, beginning with his marriage.

7. Your pastor must proclaim the Word this coming weekend, and “stuff” often gets in the way of preparation. None of us wants to get the Word wrong. We want to be careful in our exegesis and sermon preparation, but life happens. Ministry demands grab our attention, and we often struggle giving adequate time to study. Pray for your pastor to be disciplined this week and pray that church members will give him the needed time to study.

Would you pray for your pastor right now? If you are a pastor, would you pray for another pastor in your area? Would you invite your members to this post so they can pray for you, too? My personal prayer is that all of us would stand in God’s pulpit with His blessing upon us this weekend. The cost is too great if we do our work powerlessly.  

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Chuck Lawless is professor of evangelism and missions at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. This article was first published on ChuckLawless.com. Used by permission.)