What opportunities is a pastor missing by not praying a pastoral prayer of intercession every Sunday?
When a pastor does not lead a prayer of intercession, he misses the opportunity…
- To teach. When the church gathers, a pastor has the opportunity to teach his people how to pray, what to pray for, and why. How? By leading them in prayer.
- To mourn with the church. When the church gathers, a pastor has the opportunity to comfort and mourn with them by lifting up in prayer those who struggle and suffer. This both encourages the hurting and leads the insensitive toward “mourning with those who mourn.” It also gently draws those who are grieving to the attention of the whole church.
- To model what godly neediness and dependence look like. Should God’s creatures approach him with requests presumptuously? Expectantly? Casually? Boldly? Reverently? Just as the Psalms model approaching God in the many stations of a believer’s life, so a pastor has the opportunity to model a godly heart disposition for his church. What needs make a Christian cry out? What ambitions drive a Christian to plead with the Almighty?
- He’s missing an opportunity to model kingdom-mindedness. When the church gathers, a pastor has the opportunity to model kingdom-mindedness for his people by praying for other local churches, missionaries the church supports, authorities in his own country and around the world, the spread of the gospel in other countries, and more. If a pastor doesn’t lead his people in lifting up these kinds of requests to God, who will?
