PRAYING FOR A PASTOR

Our church is currently without a senior pastor. It's my very great privilege to be serving on the committee that is working hard to find God's man for this job. The Elders commissioned our committee with only two criteria: (1) seek God's presence in our midst every time we meet and (2) be diligent to discern the Holy Spirit's leading. We have found that commissioning to be a very humbling but awesome responsibility and one we are striving to be obedient to.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was praying about some of the things our committee was working on at the time, my thinking drifted to considering the qualities I want in a pastor. I wrote across the top of my tablet, "What I want my pastor to be" and started listing specifications. I'd filled about a fourth of the page with biographical, educational, and spiritual qualifications I thought were essential when I sensed the Spirit telling me to stop. I sat quietly listening to the Lord for a few minutes and what I felt He was saying to me was, "If it's not in my Word, it's only your opinion."

I want NOTHING of my "opinion" to intrude upon the work of our committee, so I quickly asked the Lord's forgiveness and asked Him to show me from His Word a description of the man HE wants our church to have. I am convinced (as is our entire committee) that God already has anointed and appointed the man He will bring to shepherd our flock. I asked Him to describe the man to me.

For me personally, what followed was a sweet, SWEET time with the Lord. Scriptures (or phrases from scriptures) just began popping into my mind. I could hardly write fast enough. I wish I could tell you I knew the reference for every verse from memory. I did not. You would have laughed to see the process. There were Bible translations and concordances spread all over the floor of my study before the Lord and I were finished with the list. It was the most fun I've had in a long time, girlfriends!

You have probably noticed a picture on my right side bar identical to the one at the top of this post. I began yesterday and plan to continue daily (or at least as often as I can find time) posting one of the scriptural qualifications I listed that day. [In case you missed yesterday's, the first thing on my list is asking God to give us a pastor who loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. Mark 12:30.] If you're one of my fellow church members, would you join me in petitioning God for these qualities in the man He has chosen for us?

If you're part of another church and you currently have a pastor, why don't you pray that God will call these truths to life in the man serving your congregation. If they are already evident in your pastor, thank God and ask Him to bless your pastor's ministry.

Oh, Lord, we lay our requests before You,

and wait in expectation.

Psalm 5:3