A Pivotal Prayer Partnership, Part 2
In last month’s article, I suggested that there is a vital partnership in ministry between pastors and the people they lead and serve that is largely unrecognized and, therefore, under-utilized in churches today. I believe it’s one of those areas of weakness in the church today that could be, and ought to be, an area of strength. The pastor-people partnership is mult-faceted, but the angle I’m focused on in these articles is the pivotal partnership of mutual intercessory prayer.
If you’re a church member, what do you want and expect of your pastor in terms of his prayer life? You want him to be a man of prayer and not just a man who prays, right? Do you want him to pray bold prayers or bandaid prayers? Bold prayers are like, “Lord, this is your church. Take me, take us, and lead us wherever you want to take us.” Bandaid prayers are like, “Lord, heal the sick and infirmed; meet the needs of the poor and the lonely; comfort the bereaved, and bless our dear church, O Lord, in these challenging times.” What kind of prayers do you want your pastor to pray – bold prayers or bandaid prayers – prayers that address the real problems we face as the people of God, or prayers that simply dress the wound?
I will say this: Bandaid prayers are safe prayers, soothing prayers, but they’re superficial prayers at best. Bold prayers are dangerous prayers, daring prayers, prayers that stir up the depths like a hurricane and change the landscape of our lives. Bandaid prayers invoke God’s sympathies and pity, but bold prayers invoke God’s sovereignty and power. Bandaid prayers cover our superficial wounds. Bold prayers are surgical cuts of precision that uncover the underlying condition. What kind of prayers do you want your pastor to pray for you?
On the side of pastoral intercessory prayer, we find any number of examples in the writings of Paul to the various churches. As I read them, they fall into the bold category of pastoral prayers. One of them is found in Ephesians 1:15-23:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
There’s so much Paul teaches me about pastoral prayers in this passage. I’ll just point out a few:
- He teaches me about gratitude in pastoral prayers. This is something that is consistent in Paul’s recorded intercessory prayers. He’s grateful for the people he’s praying for, grateful for who they are in Christ and how God is working in them and through them. He’s grateful for the relationship they share because of the Lord Jesus. Right off the bat he tells Ephesian believers, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (v. 16). This is a huge revelation for me – Paul was a great pastor because he was a grateful pastor. In my conversations with a lot of pastors, gratitude is often missing. Resentment, bitterness, complaining, and grumbling against their people is what I hear from many struggling pastors. And pastoral love? Where you find pastoral gratitude, you’ll find pastoral love and vice versa.
- He teaches me about persistence in pastoral prayers. “I keep asking”, he says, in verse 17. What he’s praying for on their behalf wasn’t a prayer in passing. His prayers were ongoing. Jesus taught us that we should persist in our prayers (Luke 18). Pastoral prayers in passing, lacking a persistent, unrelenting nature, might be a sign that a pastor is little invested in the spiritual growth and well-being of his people.
- He teaches me about specificity in pastoral prayers. Paul doesn’t offer his pastoral prayers in generalities. His prayers are purposeful with specificity…He specifically asks that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him Christ) better ( v. 17b). What could be more important to a Christ-follower and to his church than that individually and collectively they progressively know Christ better. Not more about him only, but, more importantly, know him better relationally. How? Through “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” That is, getting to know Jesus through the teaching and preaching of God’s Word with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Along with this, he specifically asks (vv.18-19) that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” The eyes of a believer’s heart are opened to see the invisible realities of the Kingdom of God when the Holy Spirit enlightens – shines a light on – what the Lord wants us to see. Things like Kingdom hope, riches of grace, and God’s incomparable great power that is at our disposal, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead!
Oh, so much there! But in my book, that’s no bandaid prayer. That’s a bold pastoral prayer, and when that kind of prayer is coupled with the bold prayers of his people, I would say that this is a partnership that will most surely stir the heart of God. The next article will examine that side of this pivotal partnership in prayer.