Praying for a Leader...
When you are privileged to pray for a leader, the hope is that you have enough relationship to be able to prayer effectively with information that they relay to you. What happens if you have a desire to really pray for the things that matter to your pastor/leader, but you can't get past the 'surface' prayer requests?
Well, for those of you that are personal or crisis intercessors, that will probably irritate you, or discourage you...or just plain drive you crazy! You're wired to want to pray effectively! And always 'praying in the dark' without any focus, is hard. So? What can you do?
Here's a couple of suggestions:
#1 The best place to start, is always just showing faithfulness, even with the surface prayer requests. Remember, if you can show them your faithful, their confidence in you will grow. It may grow slowly..but it will grow.
#2 Start with sharing a one or two things you 'get' when you pray for them. Don't overwhelm them, and DON'T send them negative stuff - that will work against you. They'll see you as a 'negative nelly' and will want to avoid you..and your emails! Make it a point of at least once or twice a month, to either send an encouraging word OR send something through that relates to the prayer requests - a scripture, a picture etc.
#3..Deliver it and leave! Remember, that when you DO send something through, or tell them - just give it and leave. Thank them for listening. Remind them that if it doesn't make sense, they are free to just delete it - it won't take anything away from you! You'll be amazed, how much of a blessing that is to a leader - to not feel pressured to 'recieve' a word!
#4 Don't bring up prayer stuff or their prayer requests every time you see them. That's like your doctor always bringing up your health issues, or your dentist always talking about your teeth . Prayer stuff is personal, and private. Honor that and you'll honor them...and that will be another way to make a leader feel safe with you!
#5 Last but not least.....ASK! Ask the pastor or leader if there is anything else that you could be praying for him/her and their family. Ask if there's any concerns or projects on their hearts that they'd like prayer for. You'd be amazed how many pastors and leaders will answer you!
Well, for those of you that are personal or crisis intercessors, that will probably irritate you, or discourage you...or just plain drive you crazy! You're wired to want to pray effectively! And always 'praying in the dark' without any focus, is hard. So? What can you do?
Here's a couple of suggestions:
#1 The best place to start, is always just showing faithfulness, even with the surface prayer requests. Remember, if you can show them your faithful, their confidence in you will grow. It may grow slowly..but it will grow.
#2 Start with sharing a one or two things you 'get' when you pray for them. Don't overwhelm them, and DON'T send them negative stuff - that will work against you. They'll see you as a 'negative nelly' and will want to avoid you..and your emails! Make it a point of at least once or twice a month, to either send an encouraging word OR send something through that relates to the prayer requests - a scripture, a picture etc.
#3..Deliver it and leave! Remember, that when you DO send something through, or tell them - just give it and leave. Thank them for listening. Remind them that if it doesn't make sense, they are free to just delete it - it won't take anything away from you! You'll be amazed, how much of a blessing that is to a leader - to not feel pressured to 'recieve' a word!
#4 Don't bring up prayer stuff or their prayer requests every time you see them. That's like your doctor always bringing up your health issues, or your dentist always talking about your teeth . Prayer stuff is personal, and private. Honor that and you'll honor them...and that will be another way to make a leader feel safe with you!
#5 Last but not least.....ASK! Ask the pastor or leader if there is anything else that you could be praying for him/her and their family. Ask if there's any concerns or projects on their hearts that they'd like prayer for. You'd be amazed how many pastors and leaders will answer you!
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