My Dear Shepherds,

Unbeknownst to me, Clarence and Josie prayed for me when I started preparing for the ministry. They were an elderly brother and sister from the country church where I grew up, gentle believers as quiet as church mice. One January, when my wife and I weren’t sure how we’d pay for the next semester, we were stunned to receive a check for $100 from those dear people, along with a note—more precious than the money—saying that they often prayed for me.

Now, all these years later, I know that countless prayers have buoyed up and propelled my ministry. I’m sure that we pastors are prayed for more than anyone else in our churches. We shouldn’t take that gift for granted. This Thanksgiving season is a good time to thank God for that great gift. When Paul told the Corinthians how God had delivered him from “deadly peril,” he said,

On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Cor. 1:10b–11)

There are saints in almost every congregation whom God prompts to pray for us. Pastor Steve Mathewson told me,

Several years ago, I woke up about 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning with a terrible earache. My first thought was, how am I going to preach this morning? I took a pain reliever, but the pain continued. Then suddenly it stopped. I went back to sleep and woke up without any pain. After one of the worship services, a woman approached me and said, “I have kind of a strange question. Did anything happen last night? I woke up about 2:00 a.m. and felt compelled to pray for you.” I was stunned and told her about my earache that went away, and how I was grateful that she responded to the prompting of God’s Spirit to pray for me.

Paul asked for prayer in almost every letter he wrote. Sometimes it was for deliverance from crushing pressure, other times it was for his preaching and for “an open door for our message.” Perhaps we need to be more public and specific about our requests.

After several years of preaching I became more purposeful about prayer support. I began to recruit people each year for Aaron’s Army, asking them to pray three or four times a week for me as a preacher and for the upcoming sermon. I’d update them occasionally about special challenges I was facing. They provided the lift and effectiveness I’d missed before.

Pastor Dave Spooner told me about a painful season when he left pastoring, broken and divinely stripped of self-reliance. He said, “I would not have returned to ministry if people were not praying for me. I knew they were because we prayed together and because they told me so. They were prompted by the Lord to provide for our needs, encourage us, and come by our home.”

When we do ask for our congregation’s prayers and God answers, we need to tell them so we can give thanks together. They will be blessed to know that they have a share in our ministry and “for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

Pastor Casey Dwyer told me that his people prayed for him and his wife to have a baby—without asking them. His wife is due in January! Casey said, “When that prayer was answered it was a cause for great rejoicing!”

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.