DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PRAYING FOR OUR CHURCH LEADERS
"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church." (Acts 12:5)
It was a perilous time for Christians during this time. Herod was king and in order to please the Jewish leaders, he harassed the believers and particularly the leaders. He had ordered the death of the apostle James who was the one of the leaders of the growing church. The next person in his sight was the mouthpiece of the church, Peter. It was Peter who more often than not was the spokesman for the rest of the Christian leaders, so he had a target on his back.
Peter was arrested and put in prison. But the Believers prayed and God miraculously delivered Peter from prison. An interesting sidenote is that when Peter tried to get into the prayer meeting, the Believers did not actually believe that their prayers were answered. When Peter knocked on the door of the house where they were praying, the girl who answered the door, Rhoda, ran and told the other disciples that Peter was at the door. They could not believe it and said she was hallucinating. They thought it was an angel at the door instead of Peter. Fortunately, they finally let him in and he explained how he had been delivered from prison by the Lord.
The thing that prompts my heart is the need to pray for our church leaders. They face situations, problems, and dilemmas that most of us do not know about. As a former pastor, I can vouch for the struggles and burdens that pastors have that the rest of the church does not know about or understand.
I must confess that I do not pray as much as I should for our church leaders. We may not know the burdens that our spiritual leaders – including our pastor, our worship leader, and elders – are experiencing. They may not be able to share all the problems that face them as leaders of the local congregation. But we can pray for them anyway. Go knows their needs and He can strengthen them as they serve Christ and His church.
Love, Dad
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