Managing God's People - Part 5
Everything you do for the flock without prayer may not last. Quality work in ministry is birthed in prayer.
Prayer is the heart of your pastoral work. Everything rises and falls on your altar of prayer.
You begin pastoral work with prayer, you sustain it by prayer and keep building on it by prayer.
Once we slack in the place of prayer our impact on the lives of the flock wanes and vanishes.
Every great Pastor is known for great praying. Jesus, Paul, Peter, Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch, John Wycliffe, EW Kenyon, Kenneth Hagin, Paul Yonggi Cho, Enoch Adeboye, David Oyedepo, Chris Oyakilome, Paul Enenche, Solomon Ubandoma, Mike Boniface, etc were/are all great Pastors with towering pastoral ministries.
You cannot separate pastoral work with ardent prayer. Human beings are difficult to lead. Only by strong praying is it made easy.
Galatians 4:19
[19]My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
When you notice things are going wrong with the flock, your solution is not complaining or to teach a long sermon about it. The answer is protracted prayer.
The Galatian Church had backslidden going after strange Pastors and doctrines. The way out was travail in prayer until a change was birthed.
Paul was a great teacher but he dealt with problems in his Local Churches by prayer before teaching.
The Corinthian Church was divided, immorality was rife, confusion and disorder was top gear, marital problems were normalized. See what he did in 1 Cor.1:3-9.
The Colossian Church was attacked by false teachers denigrating the deity of Christ. Paul's solution was prayer
Colossians 1:3
[3]We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
If we pray hard before teaching the flock, we'll record much more results in the life of the flock and the ministry. This is the right order.
Acts 6:4
[4]But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
There was a problem in the Jerusalem Church, the solution Peter proffered was to give more time to prayer not teaching the flock how to love one another.
They prioritized prayer. Prayer comes before the ministration of the word. If this is reversed problems will ensue in the Ministry.
In ministry, prayer is prioritized above the ministry of the word. In your private life, the word is prioritized above prayer.
This is not to say you can do one and leave the other. Not at all. You carry them all together for results.
See the outcome of their prayers for the people:
Acts 6:7
[7]And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Prayer is the main tool for solving ministry problems. Again, I'm in no way saying we should only pray. But prayer is what guarantees all other steps taken will be the right ones and it'll produce results.
Beloved, make it a duty to pray always for the flock. It's your commitment to them. It's your divine responsibility. Your work will be much easier if you prioritize prayer.
Kevin Ashwe
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