BobHunt
30th October 2005, 10:50 AM (10:50)
The Lord Jesus was not just a minister/pastor, He was salvation. He was the actual Message. He was the Word. And, if He saw the value of going apart in a solitary place to meditate and pray, who am I as a pastor, to try to make my ministry effective and powerful without following in His footsteps in my own prayer life? He is the One who gave us an example in the scriptures and taught us to pray. Prayer was a very important part of His life.
Wouldnt it be of value also, to pray the prayer in the Old Testament before we open our mouths to minister...you know...the one that says "Let the words of my mouth be acceptable...." If the words that come out of our mouth are annointed by prayer, they are less likely to hurt, cut, or maim anyone, in fact, they are so much more to heal and comfort those who need it. If prayer hasnt radically changed you, then you havent really prayed.
Remember DL Moody? He was going through a dry spell in his ministry. He was in the midst of a revival campaign and there were hardly no results. A couple of ladies promised one another that they would interceed for the services. They began some earnest praying, yes, maybe long prayers. And DL Moody soon began to see some results.
In the scripture, where the Lord chided the Pharisees for their long prayers, I feel as if He was chiding them more for their own selfish motives for praying, and for their thoughts that the longer the prayer the more likely someone would recognize them to be Holy and Spritiual. They were patting themselves on the back and saying, "I am a good person, because I spend hours in prayer." To me, this is not the same motives that we have when we as Pastors pray. We are not thinking about how good it will make us look, we are asking God for His annointing and power over our words Sunday Morning.
There have been tikes in my brief time of pastoring, when I had so many sermon outlines, so many subjects, books and books of illustrations that I could have used for that mornings message. But I could not preach a message unless I knew that this was the one God wanted for that day. How else I would ask, would I find out His will unless my knees were on the floor as I was asking Him?
I think there have been too many times that we have depended ONLY on our own charisma, or own oritorial abilities, our own knowledge of a given subject, and yes, sometimes even in the wonder of powerpoint, and have failed to pray enough to invite the Spirit of God to be present in our services. When we are weak, we pray and then God takes our prayers and answers them and shows Himself strong.
I would not want to face a single person who is a fellow sojourner, facing the severe battles of life and not know the right words to say to them, words that might make a eternal difference to them that moment.
There have been some pastors who failed to seek Gods help and have sadly failed. They have tried to put others in bondage to the form of spiritual discipline that they have placed upon themselves. In so doing, they have made others stumble and have made them feel as if they will never be any good to the Lord. The biggest thing we must do, is to get our eyes off of these people, realize we dont follow them or measure ourselves by them; that we are God followers!
Wouldnt it be of value also, to pray the prayer in the Old Testament before we open our mouths to minister...you know...the one that says "Let the words of my mouth be acceptable...." If the words that come out of our mouth are annointed by prayer, they are less likely to hurt, cut, or maim anyone, in fact, they are so much more to heal and comfort those who need it. If prayer hasnt radically changed you, then you havent really prayed.
Remember DL Moody? He was going through a dry spell in his ministry. He was in the midst of a revival campaign and there were hardly no results. A couple of ladies promised one another that they would interceed for the services. They began some earnest praying, yes, maybe long prayers. And DL Moody soon began to see some results.
In the scripture, where the Lord chided the Pharisees for their long prayers, I feel as if He was chiding them more for their own selfish motives for praying, and for their thoughts that the longer the prayer the more likely someone would recognize them to be Holy and Spritiual. They were patting themselves on the back and saying, "I am a good person, because I spend hours in prayer." To me, this is not the same motives that we have when we as Pastors pray. We are not thinking about how good it will make us look, we are asking God for His annointing and power over our words Sunday Morning.
There have been tikes in my brief time of pastoring, when I had so many sermon outlines, so many subjects, books and books of illustrations that I could have used for that mornings message. But I could not preach a message unless I knew that this was the one God wanted for that day. How else I would ask, would I find out His will unless my knees were on the floor as I was asking Him?
I think there have been too many times that we have depended ONLY on our own charisma, or own oritorial abilities, our own knowledge of a given subject, and yes, sometimes even in the wonder of powerpoint, and have failed to pray enough to invite the Spirit of God to be present in our services. When we are weak, we pray and then God takes our prayers and answers them and shows Himself strong.
I would not want to face a single person who is a fellow sojourner, facing the severe battles of life and not know the right words to say to them, words that might make a eternal difference to them that moment.
There have been some pastors who failed to seek Gods help and have sadly failed. They have tried to put others in bondage to the form of spiritual discipline that they have placed upon themselves. In so doing, they have made others stumble and have made them feel as if they will never be any good to the Lord. The biggest thing we must do, is to get our eyes off of these people, realize we dont follow them or measure ourselves by them; that we are God followers!