A PLEA TO PRAY FOR PASTORS
Excerpted (withminimum editing) from Gardiner Spring, The Power of the Pulpit [BOT, 1986], 222–6
Such is the importance of the Christian ministry, that we are constrained tosolicit for it one particular favour. It is a request in which we feel a verydeep personal concern. Pray for us! “Pray for us” (1 Thes 5:25), says Paul;“pray for us” is the hearty response from every Christian pulpit in the land,and in the wide world. If the prayers of good men were solicited by such a manas Paul; and if, with his giant intellect, his eminent spirituality, and hisintimate communion with God and things unseen, this holy man needed thisencouragement and impulse in his work, who will not say: “Brethren, pray forus, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified” (2 Thes3:1)!
It is a delightful thought to a young man entering upon the ministry ofreconciliation that, unworthy as he is, the prayers of thousands of God’speople are continually going up, on his behalf, to his Father and their Father,to his God and their God. He seems to hear the church of Godsaying to him, We cannot go to this sacred work, but we will follow you withour prayers! He seems to hear many a Christian parent say to him, We have noson to send to this hallowed vocation; but go you to it, andyou shall not lack an interest in our prayers! Not a few of the churches ofthis land have enjoyed the high privilege of sending forth into the spiritualharvest a considerable number of beloved youths from their own more immediatefamilies. And it has been the usage of such churches, to an extent that isungratefully remembered, to assemble for the more special service of commendingtheir young brethren to the care and faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God.How fitting, in every way, is such a service! How full of encouragement to theheart that trembles under a view of the responsibilities of the sacred office!How delightful this spiritual impetus to a mind almost ready to sink under itsown conscious infirmities! And how unspeakably precious the thought to all wholabour in this great work, whether in youthful or riper years, that they arethus habitually remembered in the prayers of the churches! Let the thought sinkdeep into the heart of every church, that their minister will be very much sucha minister as their prayers may make him. If nothing short of Omnipotent gracecan make a Christian, nothing less than this can make a faithful and successfulminister of the Gospel!
We entreat the churches to regard with a more deliberate and devout mind thegreat work itself to which their ministries are devoted. To explain thedoctrines and enforce the duties of genuine Christianity; to defend the truthagainst all the subtlety and versatility of error; to sustain within their ownminds that sense of God’s presence, and of those moral sanctions, which arerevealed in His Word. And to experience that deep and tender impression of thethings that are unseen and eternal, that are necessary to give earnestness to theirpreaching, as well as that consistent life and deportment that are necessary togive power to their preaching; to do this in a way that shall adapt itself todifferent times, places, occasions and characters, and without beingdisheartened by difficulties, appalled by enemies, and weary of the yoke whichthey have taken upon themselves, is no ordinary work! If a people are lookingfor rich discourses from their minister, their prayers must supply him with thematter; if they seek for faithful discourses, their prayers must urge him, by afull and uncompromising manifestation of the truth, to commend himself to everyman’s conscience in the sight of God (see 2 Corinthians 4:2); if for powerfuland successful discourses, their prayers must make him a blessing to the soulsof men. Would they have him come to them in the fullness of the blessings ofthe Gospel of peace, with a heaving heart, a kindled eye, and a glowing tongue,and with discourses bathed in tears and elaborate with prayer? If so, theirprayers must urge him to pray, and their tears inspire his thrilling heart withthe strong yearnings of Christian affection. It is in their own closets thatthe people of God most effectually charge upon the soul of their belovedministers, to take heed to the ministry they have received from the Lord Jesus(see Acts 20:24).
And who and what are ministers themselves? Frail men, fallible, sinning men,exposed to every snare, to temptation in every form; and, from the very post ofobservation they occupy, the fairer mark for the fiery darts of the foe. Theyare no mean victims the great Adversary is seeking, when he would wound andcripple Christ’s ministers. One such victim is worth more to the kingdom ofdarkness than a score of common men; and for this very account theirtemptations are probably more subtle and severe than those encountered byordinary Christians. If this subtle Deceiver fails to destroy them, he artfullyaims at neutralising their influence by quenching the fervour of their piety,lulling them into negligence, and doing all in his power to render their workirksome. How perilous the condition of that minister then, whose heart is notencouraged, whose hands are not strengthened, and who is not upheld by theprayers of his people! It is not in his own closet and on his own knees alone,that he finds security and comfort, and ennobling, humbling, and purifyingthoughts and joys; but it is when they also seek them in his behalf, that hebecomes a better and happier man, and a more useful minister of the everlastingGospel!
Nothing gives a people so much interest in their minister, and interest of thebest kind, as to pray for him. They will love him more, respect him more,attend more cheerfully and gain more profit from his ministry, the more they commendhim to God in their prayers. They feel a deeper interest in his work the morethey pray for him; and their children feel a deeper interest both in him and inhis preaching, when they regularly listen to supplications that affectionatelycommend him to the throne of the heavenly grace.
The results of a preached Gospel are associated with the most interestingrealities in the universe. Nay, they form no small part in affecting therealities themselves. There are no such bright and radiant exhibitions of theever-blessed and adorable Godhead, as are made where a preached Gospel has freecourse and is glorified. That wondrous exhibition of the Divine nature, thatprogressive development which is in itself so desirable, and in itsconsequences so endeared to every holy mind, never shines forth with suchimpressive distinctness and subduing lustre, as when the hearers of His truthand grace, proclaimed from lips of clay, indicate that appearing of His greatglory. Had the people of God on the earth minds as pure as the angelicintellect around the throne, with what deep concern, solicitude and prayer,would they watch the progress and follow the labours of the humble and faithfulambassadors of the cross, as they proclaim this glorious Gospel, and as the effectsof their preaching reveal new and lasting exhibitions of the manifested Deity!The effects of their preaching upon the souls of men are nothing less than thesavour of life unto life in them that are saved, and in them that perish ofdeath unto death (2 Cor 2:15–16). The same light and motives that are the meansof fitting some for heaven, when abused and perverted, only fit others forhell.
O it is at a fearful expense that ministers are ever allowed to enter thepulpit without being preceded, accompanied, and followed by the earnest prayersof the churches. It is no marvel that the pulpit is so powerless, and ministersso often disheartened when there are so few to hold up their hands. Theconsequence of neglecting this duty is seen and felt in the spiritualdeclension of the churches, and it will be seen and felt in the everlastingperdition of men; while the consequence of regarding it would be theingathering of multitudes into the kingdom of God, and new glories to the Lambthat was slain!
On his behalf therefore, and on the behalf of his beloved and respectedbrethren in the ministry, the writer would crave an interest in the prayers ofall who love the Saviour and the souls of men. We are the dispensers of God’struth and at best fall far below our mighty theme. The duties of our callingreturn upon us with every returning week and day. They often come upon us withmany and conflicting demands. They sometimes put a demand upon all ourthoughts, and at the very time when we have lost the power of thinking; andsometimes they call for all the ardour and strength of our affections, just atthe time we are the least susceptible of them. There is also associated withthese demands that pressing solicitude, and corroding anxiety, which exhaustsour vigour, prostrates our courage, and drinks up our spirits. And then, inaddition to all this, there are so many disappointments in our work, that weneed the sympathy of prayer.
Our spirit is sometimes stirred within us, and we go forth to our peopleflushed with the hope of rescuing them from everlasting burnings; and in somehapless hour of self-sufficiency, we vainly imagine the work and triumph areour own. We are instant in season, and out of season (2 Tim 4:2); we make abusiness of preparing for the conflict, sometimes polishing our arrows andsometimes leaving them rough and barbed. We put on our armour, and enter thefield with the determination to lay out all our strength, and with theconfident assurance that we must do execution. But what a lesson ofself-abasement! We cannot convert a single soul. “We have piped unto [them],and [they] have not danced; we have mourned unto [them], and [they] have notlamented” (Mt 11:17). We urge the Divine commands, and they trample upon Hisauthority; we urge His threatenings, and they despise His justice; we speak ofHis promises, they heed not His faithfulness; of His Son, and they tread Himunder their feet; of His patience and long-suffering, but their impenitence andobduracy are proof against them all. We reason and expostulate with them, untilthe obstacles to their conversion seem to us to rise higher by every effort tosurmount them; until, finally, we sink in despondency, and cry out, “Whatmighty power can break these adamantine hearts? What omnipotent grasp canrescue these perishing men from everlasting burnings?” O you blood-boughtchurches, your ministers need your prayers, for the exceeding greatness of thatpower which God worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead (Eph1:19–20).
We have a concert of prayer for the heathen, another for Sabbath Schools, andyet another for the blessing of God upon the distribution of religious tracts.Why should we overlook the great means of God’s own appointment for thesalvation of men? May there not be something in the form of a concert of prayerfor the ministers of the Gospel? If nothing better can be suggested, why maythere not be a general understanding among Christian men, and Christianfamilies, to set apart the morning of every Lord’s Day, for this great andspecial object? This was the practice in the family of my venerable father, andit has long been my own as well. And it is a most precious privilege. The timeis a very fitting one; and such a service would not fail to exert a delightfulinfluence on the privileges of the sanctuary. “Before they call I will answer;and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isa 65:24). Should God bepleased to give to the churches the spirit of prayer for their ministers, itwould be with the purpose of answering it. “He will regard the prayer of thedestitute, and not despise their prayer” (Ps 102:17; cf. Neh 1:5–6). It iswritten, that “the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion,and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flamingfire by night” (Isa 4:5); nor will the altar be profaned, nor the incense lessfragrant, if those words of hope are more often upon the lips of those whooffer it, “Clothe Thy priests with salvation: that Thy saints may shout aloudfor joy!” (cf. Ps 132:16). Nor is this all! Let the ministers of the Gospelhave an habitual remembrance at the domestic altar every day.“It is no small thing,” says a modern writer of our own city, “for anycongregation to have daily cries for God’s blessing ascending from a hundredfiresides. What a spring of refreshment to a pastor! The family devotions ofpraying Kidderminster, no doubt, made RichardBaxter a better minister, and a happier man; and it is possible we are reapingthe fruits of them in his books, The Saints Everlasting Rest and DyingThoughts” [see Thoughts on Family Worship, by J. W. Alexander.No family should lack this most valuable, seasonable, and beautiful volume].
Ye then, who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest(Isa 62:6–7). When the churches cease to pray for ministers, ministers will nolonger be a blessing to the churches. Brethren, pray for us, thatwe may be kept from sin; that we may walk circumspectly, not as fools, but aswise, redeeming the time (Eph 5:15–16); that our hearts may be more devoted toGod, and our lives a more impressive exemplification of the Gospel we preach;that we may be more completely girded for our work and our conflicts, and puton the whole armour of God; that we may be more faithful and wise to win souls,and that we may keep under our body, and bring it into subjection, lest afterhaving preached to others, we ourselves be castaway (1 Cor 9:27). When we turnour thoughts toward barren ordinances and a fruitless ministry, our hearts sinkwithin us, and we would fain throw ourselves at the feet of the churches andimplore a remembrance in their prayers. If you ever enter into the “secretplace” of the Most High, and get near the heart of Him whom your souls love,plead earnestly that His own power may attend the stated ministrations of HisGospel. If you ever lie on Jesus’ bosom, please remember us! Openyour desires; tell your Immanuel of His costly sacrifice and wonderful love;tell Him of His power and our weakness; speak to Him of the unutterable glory,and the interminable anguish beyond the grave. With tears of solicitude urgeyou suit, and tell Him that He has committed the treasure of the gloriousGospel to earthen vessels, in order that the excellency of the power may be allof God!
[Editor’s note: A concerned brother recommended the printing of thisarticle as a remedy to the sad neglect in local churches. I cannot agree moreto having it printed, for I can surely identify with the struggles and burdensof the ministry that Mr. Spring brings out so graphically and poignantly. Oh,may the Lord move us to pray not only for your pastor, but for all ministers ofthe Gospel, who labour faithfully in the Word, especially those known unto us.Brethren, pray for us!
—J.J.Lim
