PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR (4)
A father in the faith shared the story of how he had to intervene in a family crisis. The family was dear to them. The husband had been unfaithful. He slept with their housemaid. The wife works out of town most of the time. It was messy. However, they succeeded in preserving the family and restoring the union, or so they thought.
Some years later, he had a meeting in the city where the woman was working. The woman called that she could not make it to the meeting because of her office schedule. But she requested that he be hosted after the conference. He agreed to visit.
That evening, he went to her house with three other people. When she opened the door for “him,” she was dressed interestingly. She had to quickly excuse herself to dress properly. She admitted later that she wanted to seduce him to hit back at her husband, knowing how much her husband cherished the relationship with him. She nursed the bitterness for a while and was plotting her execution for that day.
A dear father once said, “There are people that, if they have their way, they will take my life.”
Pray for your pastor. There are unreasonable men. Truth be told, there are strange dimensions that only the grace and wisdom of God can preserve ministry gifts from.
Pray for your pastor’s wife, also. It is a calling on its own. A minister of the gospel in his sixties mentioned that a female member of their church approached him, saying, “Sir, I would love to host you to lunch one of these days.” He responded, “Do you mean mummy and me?” The woman smiled and said, “No! Three is a crowd”. What a hosting! Some people do not wish well for the pastor or his wife. Pray for them, please.
Apostle Paul asked the Thessalonian Church to pray for him:
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 KJV
[1] Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: [2] and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
You may not believe it, but there are unreasonable and wicked men. When an octogenarian father in the faith says that he still keeps a strong pattern of discipline and ensures he stays far from temptations. He added, “You may wonder what anyone will still desire in an old man like me?”. He smiled and said that the devil tries harder to make men fall close to the end of the race.
If you are a fan of the Mount Zion series Abbatoir, you will understand this prayer: There are “Evas” that want “Deles” to fall. May the Lord surround us with men like “Nicholas” and “Juwon.” May the Lord grant you understanding.
Even if you do not understand it, please pray for your pastor. The fall of any believer is terrible, but the fall of one ministry gift can wreak great havoc. Pray for your pastor and his wife.