26/04/2022
This is not just a simple reminder, this is a WARNING!
Pray for your pastor, and never forget his family too.
Every day is a battle for each of us, and may you never forget those on the front line -- your pastor and his family.
Can't you see?
Here and there, the people whom you used to look up to are now falling like those giant trees you never thought would tumble.
Sadly, many who witness this fail to realize, seeing others fall gives us not the chance to feel better than them, nor the right to condemn, but the responsibility to pray for them and help them stand up.
The battle is hard for us, but it is even harder than we've ever imagined for those on the front line. May we not be adding burdens to them by casting criticisms rather than kneeling down for them in prayer.
We, as the body of the church, are a team, not an audience to please; we are therefore expected to engage ourselves in the battle - prayer is the realm of our warfare.
But here's a problem many of us fail to see: we're used to being taken care of, being protected, being fed, being ministered upon, and being prayed for. We are too focused on ourselves that we forget,
our ministers are our ministry too.
We always expect our pastor to pray for us, and nothing's wrong with that. What's wrong is when you're too focused on your needs that you forget your pastor needs your prayers too.
You expect him to always check on you that you forget he also needs someone to check on him too.
You demand so much of his time you forget he needs time for his family too.
You always seek to hear encouragement from him you forget that encouragers need encouragement too.
How blind we all have been to fail to see! Many of them who are fallen might have been kept if only everyone would realize, that our ministers are our ministry too.
Oh, if only we haven't been too busy criticizing them!
Oh, if only we have been sensitive to their needs, their struggles, and their pains too!
Oh, if only we have guarded them and their family in prayers!
Oh, if only we have thought of them too!
Oh, why wait until all you can say is an "if only" when you can commit yourself to battle with them in prayer from now on?!
Please do not leave them alone in this battle.
Your prayers, not your criticisms, are what they need.
Please be patient with them. In their times of weakness, may you consider how they exercised grace towards you too.
Please love them; they have given too much love to reap pain in return.
The ministry is not about us. Not about what we're gaining from it. Never about what it can do for us.
The church is not an entertainment podium; it is a fighting arena where saints and the devil combat.
This is crucial for you more than you ever realize: their downfall is your defeat, and their success is your victory too.
So please, pray for your pastor and his family too.
"Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth." - Deuteronomy 12:19
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places... Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." - Ephesians 6:12-18
SOURCE:
https://rachelligraphyblog.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/if-your-pastor-has-one-plea/
