a good pastor will be a man of prayer

 

I don't know the man in the picture above.  I would like to believe he is a pastor.  I know that praying in an empty sanctuary was a common experience when I was a pastor.  While prayer was an every day occurrence, prayer in the auditorium was usually the result of great heaviness of heart over something particularly troubling. 

The biggest enemy to the pastor's prayer life is his own lack of discipline. Today, pastors can be easily caught up in the same busyness that infects everyone in society.  And, if they don't do battle every day for the best use of their time, they will succumb to saying short little prayers and convince themselves they are okay. Without fervent prayer the pastor will over time become spiritually impotent and weak as a church mouse.

If the primary time a pastor prays well is at meal times, bedtime, and on Sundays, he is doomed to failure.  He cannot stay filled with the Spirit, be guided by the Spirit, and taught by the Spirit without fervent prayer being a common experience in life. 

Time spent in fervent prayer is an absolutely essential part of a good pastor’s daily life.  He must become disciplined and refuse to allow any person or thing to come between him and fervent prayer with God.

A good pastor will be spending much time praising God in prayer.

"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." E.M. Bounds

The preaching and praising will never really begin, or have any effect, without the foundation of fervent prayer.  Preaching in the Spirit, praising in the Spirit, and singing in the Spirit must be preceded by praying in the Spirit!!!  

The real sermon is made in the closet. The man -- God's man -- is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. The burdened and tearful agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest messages were got when alone with God. Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor. - E.M. Bounds

Great quotes such as these inspire us and drive us to our knees in repentance and confession of sin.  If E.M. Bounds could figure these things out, why can't we?  Our lives are only as time-driven and complicated as we have allowed them to become. 

Want to become a good pastor?  A good pastor will be a man of prayer.

Comments

[Samuel]

Timeless advice.