Praying is part and parcel of a church leader’s life. A church leader cannot go about his service unto the Lord without praying.
In the Holy Scriptures, we can readily find examples of those whom God had appointed as leaders who were praying right from the start of their ministry, throughout their service unto the Lord and His people, and even towards the end of their lives. They prayed in times of peace and in times of trouble. They prayed to show their dependence upon the Lord. They prayed to seek the Lord for help and for mercy as they served the Master and the people whom they had been given the charge to lead.
Let us look at some examples of men of God whose prayer lives are exemplary records for us to learn and to emulate.
Solomon
He was young when he was appointed king, but he very readily prayed and asked the Lord for wisdom at the beginning of his reign as the new king of Israel.
In 1 Kings 3:7, we read his prayer: “And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.”
How Solomon humbled himself before the Lord and asked Him for help as he began to rule Israel. Solomon prayed and asked the Lord for the great blessing of wisdom in order to enable him to rule the many people under his charge. He acknowledged his inadequacy and showed his dependence upon the Lord God Almighty.
God’s desire is for men to be on their knees in full subjection to Him. Leaders should not boast nor think of themselves as having the strength and the spiritual gifts to serve the Lord and His people. They need rather to humble themselves and recognize their weaknesses; to depend fully upon the Lord to help and to grant them the grace to overcome their weaknesses.
Remember that we ought not to lead by our own might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord
(cf. Zechariah 4:6).
In order to lead well and to make good decisions, leaders need to pray and wait upon the Lord for His guidance and the Spirit to empower and enable them.
Nehemiah
When Nehemiah was burdened with the need to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he “sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4) before he would embark on the project. And the Lord granted him success before the king and in gathering the people to devote themselves to rebuild the city of God.
Nehemiah prayed earnestly unto the Lord before he made the decision and acted upon it as the Lord directed him.
Leaders ought to show dependence upon the Lord through prayers before they ever make important decisions in doing the Lord’s work.
Jesus
Did not the Lord continue to pray all night before He decided on the twelve apostles?
In Luke 6:12-13, we read: “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles.”
Now, we note that leaders are also unceasing in their prayers. How often do we pray and how much time do we spend before the throne of grace as God’s appointed leaders for His work and His people?
Prayer was a consistent feature in the life of our Lord Jesus. We read in the gospels how the Lord would always pray early in the morning
(Mark 1:35 - “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed”) and all night (Luke 6:12; Mark 14:32-42), and taught the disciples to pray always.
(Luke 18:1 - “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”; Luke 21:36 - “Watch ye therefore, and pray always”).
Paul
Besides the Lord’s pattern of a deep, earnest, enduring and constant prayer life, another great example of one who preaches on praying always and practicing it himself is none other than the great Apostle Paul.
If our Master and the great Apostle prayed so much and so earnestly, then how much more do we ought to pray?We read in many of Paul’s epistles how he encouraged the readers of various churches to pray without ceasing.
To the brethren in Thessalonica, Ephesus and Colossae,
Paul exhorts: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17);
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”(Ephesians 6:18);
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving”
(Colossians 4:2).
And not only did he exhort the brethren to be praying always, his own prayer life, as their leader, was characterized by unceasing prayers for them. To the Romans, he wrote:
“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Romans 1:9).
To the Thessalonians, Paul encouraged them saying: “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father”
(1 Thessalonians 1:3).
And through night and day, the Apostle prayed unceasingly for young Timothy, his spiritual son, who certainly needed much prayer to help him in his pastoral duties (2 Timothy 1:3 - “I thank
God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day”).
Thomas Murphy in his book on Pastoral
Theology said:
“Not a day, then, should pass
Mr William of Wern, had this testimony:
“The old ministers were not much better preachers than we are, and in many respects they were inferior, but there was an unction about their ministry, and success attended upon it now but seldom witnesses.And what was the cause of the difference? They prayed more than we do.”
If we would prevail and have power with men, we must first prevail and have power with God.
It was on his knees that Jacob became a prince, and if we would become princes we must be oftener and more importunate upon our knees.
It is well noted that many great church leaders had deep lives of prayer.
Martin Luther and John Wesley prayed for hours each day. The great reformer, Martin Luther, said: “I generally pray two hours every day, except on very busy days. On those days, I pray three.”
John Hyde, a missionary to India, prayed so often that he became known as “praying Hyde”. It was said of Spurgeon that he never prayed more than five minutes at a time, but he never went more than five minutes without praying.
E. M. Bounds was devoted to praying three hours a day beginning at 4 a.m. in the morning, and his books are a wonderful example of the power of a praying man.
An effective leader must have a deep prayer life.
A Christian leader must discipline himself to continue to grow and to lead in prayer always.
The Christian leader should set the example of devotion and prayer in the church, in the home, and in his life day and night.
Do you measure up to these?
It is certainly the will of God that as leaders, our lives must be characterised with the discipline of prayer. As we pray, we show dependence upon the Spirit of God to help and to guide us in our leadership
(Zechariah 4:6 “...Not by might, nor by power, but by my
spirit, saith the LORD of hosts”).
We need to be praying constantly in earnestness and perseverance for the work, for the people and for ourselves that we may not fall but rather be effective in the work of God’s Kingdom.
Mark 14:38 - “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak”;
1 Peter 4:7 - “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer”).
As leaders in the ministry of the Lord, let us therefore examine our hearts before the Lord if our prayer life is sufficient and appropriate enough. May God help us, especially, as leaders to give ourselves unto the habit of continuing instant in prayer and supplication in the Spirit while making use of the word of God as our armor.
The fact is, the secret of all ministerial success lies in prevalence at the mercy-seat.
Charles Spurgeon