Considering the great battles the Church is facing these days, we must pray especially for pastors to become the leaders God has called them to be.
Why do pastors need so much prayer?
Because they usually think of themselves as simply shepherds who feed and care for God’s flock. They’ve been taught that their only job is to help the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, tend the sheep.
But the fact is, our Great Shepherd has many functions. He has many names. One of those names is the Lord of Hosts, the commander of heaven’s army. Jesus can change in a heartbeat from a shepherd to a commander who is leading His troops out in battle to enforce Satan’s defeat and take territory for the kingdom of God.
Pastors are called to do the same thing. They are divinely ordained and responsible not only to feed God’s people but to mobilize them to pray. If they will do that, they won’t just have a sheepfold of sweet, precious sheep. When necessary, those sheep will become the army of God. They’ll march forward in prayer against the onslaughts of Satan. They’ll rise up in the authority God has given them and push back the enemy’s advances.
Many believers already know how to do that. They understand the authority of the name of Jesus and the power of His blood. They’ve even used that authority in their own lives and families. They’ve used it in their “pup tents,” so to speak.
But it’s time for all of us to reach out further — to use our authority in our neighborhoods when we see things that aren’t right, to use it in praying for our city and state government. It’s time for us to do what the Lord told Israel to do in Isaiah 54:2 –3:
Enlarge the place of your tent, and … stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.
For that to happen, the pastors must rally the troops. They must have the courage to follow the Good Shepherd when He stands up as the commander of Heaven’s army. When the enemy threatens, they must rise up and marshal their congregations to march out in battle behind the Lord of Hosts.
Scripture Reading: Judges 5:13 – 23
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”