So how do we deal with our pastor being human?

A funny thought I had this morning while meditating on this is that even though Jesus WAS perfect, there were a TON of people who viewed him in less than a perfect light… Even killing him for what they believed to be a huge fault in His life — delusional blasphemy!

Yet, it was not Jesus who’s perspective was jaded but those who looked at him assuming what they thought they knew. Even His disciples questioned Him when they thought He was nuts a few times… “Jesus we can’t feed these 5000 men, we have no food…”, “We’re about to die in this storm and Jesus is just sleeping in the bottom of the boat…!”, You get the picture. It wasn’t that He was wrong, they just misperceived what was happening because they viewed life through the lenses of their previous experiences.

So, when addressing the subject of how we deal with not understanding our leader, sometimes the cliché response is “Pray for him…”. But that could mean something totally different to every person.

In Tony Sutherland’s book, Covered (on intercession for leaders) he addresses how often a prayer meeting for the pastor becomes a griping/gossip session between other members of the church (and then with God) as they complain & ask that God will change their leader… – DANGER! I’m not going to get into the subject of witchcraft and “Jezebel” in the church, but many times you are bordering on it in these scenarios.

Praying effectively for a leader begins with a TRUE heart of love… not one of judgment you’ve convinced yourself is love, but in a genuine 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love (read it again now to refresh your memory- https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13 ).

From this posture of love you can go to God and know that He hears you. Pray that the pastor will receive wisdom and insight. Pray that God will continue to bless him and prosper him and increase his knowledge & vision. Pray that he will be able to discern the attacks of the enemy and then bind those attacks yourself with the authority that you have as a believer!

Complaining to people who can’t change anything produces its own fruit in your life and in your church. Instead check your pride, intellectualism and judgment at the door and privately go to God, ask Him to peel back the layers of your own heart by honestly asking if you have misperceived and then pray in love for your leader. Don’t make it about you getting what you want from a leader but rather God getting what He wants – Then everyone wins!

Closing thought: If you haven’t even genuinely prayed for your pastor, then you have no foundation for an opinion… You haven’t done your part and have no basis for judging his…

So, what do you say? Agree? Disagree? Why?