The Holy Spirit punches like Mike Tyson
How often do you pray for the leaders in your church? I don't mean prayer for guidance on leading the church in the direction of God's will, prayer for speaking God's word in such a way that people get saved, or strength in ministry. I mean prayer for them, personally, as a brother or sister.
Recently I started reading the book, "The Holiness of God" by RC Sproul, and it didn't take long before God started to speak to me through this book. In chapter 2, Sproul breaks down Isaiah chapter 6...It is amazing! It is in this section that the Holy Spirit crippled me with compassion for the leaders in my church. When they are called to leadership they are given the weighty burden of caring for many people. Don't hear me wrong when I call it a burden. I don't mean that it's something they begrudgingly do but something that they do out of joy and love for the ones entrusted to them. Caring for many people takes a lot of time and energy. It can quickly turn into a job that is taken seriously and they will put aside their own care, to care for others. When that happens, burn out happens, relationships suffer, families suffer, and when that happens the church suffers.
As a part of the church family and one body of Christ we need to also care for our elders, pastors and leaders. I have sought the counsel of my Pastor, but I have never counseled my Pastor. I have sought out prayer from the leaders, but I rarely pray for them for more than just Church business.
I think that it is easy to sit back, listen to them preach a sermon and look at them as holy, that they have this whole God thing figured out. What we fail to do is see them as human, brothers and sisters that struggle with the same things we do, need prayer for the same things we do or need the same care from us that we need from them.
As I meditated on this the Holy Spirit was telling me, loud and clear to call my pastor. I kept putting it off because I was at work. I kept telling Him "I will, I will just let me finish this first, I'll call him later when I have time." It's a good thing that I was working alone because anybody watching would have thought I was crazy (you know that guy on the street corner, with the crazy eyes, arguing with an unseen adversary), but what they wouldn't have seen was what was going on inside of my heart. I was being selfish with my time, setting my own needs ahead of theirs. Needless to say I lost... Dang God is powerful... I don't know why I fight against Him, He's like Mike Tyson in a street fight and I never make it past the first round.
The Holy Spirit was crippling me. I cried uncle and grabbed my phone and gave my Pastor a call. I told him the story of what had just transpired and as he laughed with me I asked him how I could pray for him personally. He started naming off plenty of things but they were all church business.
I called B.S.! I told him that I already pray for him as far as church business goes but I wanted to know how I can pray for him personally, as a brother, as a father, as a husband, as a friend, not as my Pastor.
I could tell that this was something that isn't regularly asked of him. It doesn't take much to get my Pastor to tear up. It's not because he is a weak girly man, it's because he is passionate about Jesus and the church. The guy can bench press a horse for Christ sake! I could tell he was getting a little chocked up as he started naming ways that I could pray for him, his wife and his family. It didn't come easy at first. For a leader it's difficult to go from being the caregiver to being the one cared for. When I was content that I had gotten to his heart and gotten legitimate prayer requests, I prayed for him over the phone. It was immediate, it was heartfelt, it was spirit led.
It is something I will regularly do now.
I tell you this story hoping that you will do the same. Our leaders aren't holy. Our leaders are human. They struggle with sin, they live in the same fallen world that we do, they need Jesus just as much as we do. Reach out to your church leaders, care for them and watch what God does with that. God didn't send His only son to die the death that we deserved and give us new life so that we can stay the victim. He sent Jesus to redeem us back to Himself as one body of Christ. Let's start acting like it.
"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."
1 Corinthians 12:26 ESV
Jason
