Praying for Our Leaders

James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” 

As a devotion and time in the Word of God so important in our lives, so are our fervent prayers. 
Waking up this morning, my heart was entrapped yet again by the questions of God’s plans, His direction and how He is moving. As I opened up the Bible on my smart phone I was welcomed to the account of Saul and his first encounter with Samuel. The story, which can be found in 1 Samuel 7-9, opens up with Israel wanting to be just like the surrounding countries and not being satisfied with the leadership set up God had instituted which was having district judges who would keep the communities accountable to the righteousness of God. The people thought this assimilation would give them an advantage over the Philistines and ward them off from battle. 

Samuel was so frustrated thinking that this was a rejection of himself and God and his position which was given to him. God had to remind him that this was not about Samuel but about an attack on God and His people. He told Samuel that if this is what the people want then they need to understand that there are consequences to their actions. 

As Samuel was to go up and give sacrifice God reveals to him that a man was to come to him and it was this man who he was to anoint as king over Israel. So as Saul was looking for some donkeys of his father he comes in path of Samuel to as if he could talk to God and help him find the donkeys. Samuel anoints Saul as king yet Saul, even though he was tall and handsome and looked to have everything together, he tells Samuel that he is from the smallest tribe and does not have much to offer. 

The sad thing is Saul does not finish strong even though he started in humbled beginnings. As a result of greed, disobedience and trying to force God into his plans, he lost God’s blessings both for himself and future generations within his own line and heritage. 

As I sat to reflect on the leadership roles that we have, I have found yet another leader has fallen this weekend. In just the past four years I have seen many pastors and leaders being adversely effected being on the front line. Some of these pastors I have known well while others I have known of and enjoyed their teachings as they have been strongly blessed by God and have come from humble beginnings all of their own. Some have been leaders of a few while others have been leaders of thousands. Some have been caught in infidelity while others have been adversely affected by tragedies such as deaths in their families. 
My heart sinks as yet another pastor and leader falls and steps down from the post of leadership. So the questions start to flow as this happens just before a large movement and gathering for God is about to happen. What is God doing? What do you do now? But the real question is “Am I praying for God’s movement and His leadership?” Am I willing to sit back in silence and prayer asking for God to move in ways we cannot even imagine? 

So often we ask God to give us a leader. So often though when we get what we have asked for we forget to go to the next step. We put all of our trust in the humanity of the one at the post, but forget to pray for the one who has the bull’s eye on themselves and their families. We forget if we struggle in our marriage, our family and our health that our leaders, pastors and volunteers are twice as susceptible to these turmoils.  The enemy looks to take out the family whether it is our physical family or our spiritual family. If he takes out the leader he can scatter the flock. It is military strategy that has been practiced for centuries. If you undermine the father or mother or pastor you take down the family and those under that authority. 

So what do you do about it? According to James there are two steps. The first is at all ties we must make ourselves accountable to others so we may be able to confess our sins, great or small to another who can see God’s growth and refinement in our lives. Second we must always be praying for our leaders.  

So how hard are you praying? Do you pray for your pastors, the leaders of your community, the teachers who are interfacing with your children on a daily basis anf those parents who you just saw dedicating their child last Sunday (which you made an oath to hold the parents up in prayer and keep them accountable for the growth of their child). Yes we may have much going on in our lives, but without the fervent prayers and accountability we cannot finish strong. 

As James says, we are only human but if we are in prayer we through God are a force to be reckoned with. Keep in mind he didn’t just stop there. He states that being in prayer and accountable we are to spur on each other and not write of those who have fallen or are struggling in the faith. 

Who knows, you may just be one of the ones who is in need of being rescued.

CAL