A Feeble Pastor’s Prayer
January 8, 2024
My Father in Heaven,
O Lord, what sorrow and fear filled my heart yesterday. How my soul felt bludgeoned under the crushing blows of Satan’s accusations, taunts, and criticisms! I feel myself to be greatly insufficient for the work of ministry to which I am called. My best efforts are so far short of the mark that I am most easily deceived into crippling insecurity and paralyzing fear of failure.
Yet this is my hope and the path by which you shall enable me to persevere—that the strength of every ministry and minister is entirely in you, O great Spirit of God! It is all true! I am feeble, foolish, and full of faults. I am weak and impotent to truly affect the souls of men. I lack knowledge and stand in tremendous need of continued growth. Yet this I call to mind and therefore find hope to stand: None of these deficiencies in me create any deficiency in you!
The power of gospel ministry resides not in man but in God! Not in the learnedness of the preacher but in the power of the Spirit! Not in the eloquence of the delivery but in the Word of God which he delivers! Not in the love of the pastor for his flock but in the love of Christ for his beloved Church, whom he has chosen unto himself before all worlds and ransomed in time through his own precious blood.
Therefore, flinch not, my soul, from the holy service to which you have been called! Flee not from the field of battle! Do not desert your post due to the impotence of your own power. In the face of all your fears do this: Fix your eyes upon the Champion of your salvation and Captain of your soul! Look to the one who has loved not his life, even unto death, in obedience to God, and who has caused the grave itself to quit the field for dread. Take up, now, O weak and feeble soul, the helmet of salvation upon thy head. Clasp ‘round you the breastplate of righteousness which has been irrevocably bequeathed to you in Christ. Keep in hand the two-edged Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of truth. Cling always to the shield of faith by which the Almighty shall enable you to extinguish every fiery dart of the evil one. And upon thy feet, let the shoes of salvation ever lead you onward in the forward march of the gospel until kingdom come.
For you, O LORD, are forever worthy and able, though I myself am neither.
Amen.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.Psalm 73:25-28