Pastor Prayer No. 10: To understand the order of spiritual growth and healing

***That pastors would have daily time to first know God, to find healing before engaging in service

Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Please pray with me:

Heavenly Father,
We get ahead of ourselves. We read Your Word, we get excited and run out to do something. You are a God of order. You have ordered the universe. Thank You and praise be to Your Name. We see the order all around us. It's hard to miss! You order the days, the seasons. You order our very heart beat. Thank You.

It is so easy to take all these things for granted as they are ever with us. Yet, if You took such care to order Your creation, we can know that You also order our spiritual lives and growth. Praise be to Your Name! Hallelujah! You clearly tell us that the spiritual is more important than the physical.

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Yet, we get the order wrong. We get saved, and we get excited, and we go forth. We do not first seek You for the healing of our spirits and the re-ordering of our minds and hearts. We hope to "get it along the way." Do You roll Your eyes as You see our exuberance? Do You sigh as You realize that we have gone forth without getting equipped first? Thank You for Your mercy!

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

What glorious thing You do to us. Thank You! How can we not run out and want to tell people. Yet, we have not re-ordered our thinking or our ways. With such a transformation as You bring on us, we have so much to learn and understand. WOW! The people You called in the Bible: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, King David, Samuel, the disciples, the Apostle Paul... they first spent time getting to know You and Your work in them before they went out. It seems we need some of this in our lives (even daily), as well as in our churches.

You tell us:

Isaiah 53:5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

So if I'm not healed, am I simply saying, "Jesus, I'm not healed. You didn't do enough." Surely, it cannot be. Perhaps healing is missed because we "go forth" before we are spiritually healed and have had time to know ourselves differently. Perhaps we have not taken the time to understand this "new creature" that You have made us to be.

Father, our churches get tied up in numbers. David did that too (2 Samuel 24). We seem to have this need to count things and it is a natural way to gauge what may seem like growth, profit or loss. Surely some of this is needed just to manage our books for government and society. Forgive us when these numbers become our way of gauging our success.

Father, healing is in knowing You. Thank You! You ask for time with You and that in knowing You we can find healing. This is hard! How to do it! When we pray, our words get in our way! Give Pastor _________ ways to talk to our congregation about this. Teach him to help us, motivate us, encourage us to spend time with You and to find "grace to help in time of need!" Help Lord!

Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

It seems that we skip this step. Give Pastor _______ understanding. Give him time before Your throne of grace— that he may experience true healing of his spiritual being that he may preach from a complete understanding of what You have done for him. May this experience be so incredible that it ignites his spirit and his preaching to motivate him before our congregation at _________.

Father, help him to convey to us that healing isn't in the numbers and it isn't in our service—it isn't in our "doing." Help him to see and preach that we have a tendency to prove Your will for us by "doing" rather than by "being" ...with You. Show him the order of the spiritual growth that he may preach it. Open our hearts to want it! You have paid for our healing. Thank You! Direct us to find the path to obtain it.

Help us to desire a testimony that none can challenge. Help us to understand that if we jump right into service, that we have denied and limited Your full testimony in our lives. Forgive us...show us a better way. Show our pastors across this nation and ignite their sermons that we may see true revival in this nation.

Hallalujah and Amen!

In Jesus’ Name.

***These prayers are my own and the content does not reflect the philosophy or policies of any organization. They are offered in good faith that others may find them helpful in their prayer life and that the Church of Jesus Christ may be found faithful in the day of His coming.