Loving Father, I thank You for our Church leaders that You have appointed
I pray that they would love Jesus with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that their ministry would never steal from them their first love, Jesus Christ. I pray that they would love and serve their wives and family with glad hearts, and that their family would have love for the ministry instead of resenting it for “stealing” their husband and daddy away.
I pray for a passion, for conviction and dedication to their calling and to Jesus Christ. I pray that they will walk in confidence while kneeling in humility as gentle shepherds who care for their sheep. I pray for encouragement in their faith and ministry, and against those who attack, slander, harm, or speak evil against them. I pray that their teaching and preaching will be accurate, true, bold, convicting, encouraging, anointed, and Christ-centred. I pray that God will guard them from burnout and depression. I pray that they will never fall prey to envy, jealousy, insecurity, or comparison. I pray for their holiness and purity, and against lust, affairs, love of money, and pride.
I pray for rest spiritually and physically, and that they know that it is not their ministry they are leading, but God’s. I pray that they will finish better than they started. I pray that they will take time to have fun, do things they enjoy, spend time with their wives and play with the kids, and get away often to find peace and solitude. I pray for God to raise up people around them to assist them, serve them, honour them, encourage them, pray for them, admonish them, and protect them.
I pray that ministry, teaching, preaching, and leading will never become a chore for them, but that it would always be a joy and blessing to serve the Lord and His people with kindness and gladness, and that they would enjoy every aspect of leading, whether easy or hard, for the glory of God.
Amen.