Praying For Leaders...

I don't pray for my leaders enough. A couple of sources have brought this to light. First is D.A. Carson's book 'A Call to Spiritual Reformation', which gets very high marks on my recommendometer. The book gleans principles from Paul's prayers recorded in Scripture, and the last chapter expounds on Paul's requests that his readers pray for him and his work of gospel proclamation. Carson talks about the kinds of pressures and challenges ministry leaders face, and the need of prayer in support of said leaders. Here' a snippet (this particular pericope dealing with the problem of the church's abuse of good leaders)-

"It is an enormous tragedy when there are too few faithful, anointed, visionary leaders; it is a terrible indictment on the church when those the Lord sends are treated like dirt. These things happen, and frequently. Perhaps they would not happen so often if more of us prayed that God would make the ministry of his most faithful and spiritually minded leaders widely acceptable among the saints."

The other thing that got me thinking is Matt Chandler's video blog, which you can see here- http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/. Matt's a pastor down in Texas, and is right now battling cancer. In week 5's update he recalls another pastor asking him if he had ever tangibly felt the prayers of the church, and Matt claims that he couldn't really answer a definitive yes to this question until he was afflicted with cancer. Now I want to be clear in saying that Matt is in no way complaining about this, just the opposite he is expressing his thankfulness to those who have shown their remarkable support. However, it got me thinking that it is a tragic thing that it would take a situation like this to force us to prayer in support of our pastors. They do not have easy 'jobs' by any stretch; it is a lonely, difficult, sacrificial, and in all ways taxing work that they do. I know that I am thankful for their effort, and moreso am thankful that I know leaders who genuinely love the Lord and their work in the face of all its challenges. As such I should be quicker to lift them up in prayer. So to men like Vaughn, Dan, Lex, Dave, Brian, Art, and Randy, thank you for your faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I apologize for my lack of prayer for you. My prayer right now is that you 'know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God'.