The Care of Souls: Pastoral Prayer
Yo, yo, and hello to all of my readers! How is everyone doing today? I hope and pray all is well.
Yesterday I read the second chapter in Like a Shepherd Lead Us. It is intitled The Care of Souls: Pastoral Prayer. It is written by Mark Love (Bible Professor at ACU and director of their Ministry Events). Elders are often called upon to mediate to alot of concerns for people. Be it spiritual concerns or personal concerns. The elder is called upon to share a word of wisdom and to pray for the person(s) involved. In the first section of the chapter we see Paul and Pastoral Care. Here we see Paul's (as should ours should be as well) goal is for each Christian is "... Christ formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). Paul's pastoral care is seen in Galatians 4:17-19, "They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you might make much of them. It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you ...". When Paul says "make much of" he seems to be refering to those who smother us with so much concern that we are crippled. There is no room to grow when people are too over-protective like that. Paul's Galatian opponites (those who "exclude you" in the text above) are opperating a pastoral care that is of the flesh. Contrast that with Paul's which is of the Spirit. His goal in pastoral care is for "Christ to be formed in you" as is stated above. This is Paul's goal wheather or not he is present with them or absent. This is his concern for the Philipian church as well. He says God "will fully satisfy every need of yours according to the riches of Christ Jesus" (Philip. 4:19). In these letters Paul leaves room for the Holy Spirit's healing ministry to work in there lives and we must do that too.
In the next section we see Transparent Presence and Pastoral Care. Here Love says, "Elder's need to be present for people in a way that doesn't focus on the elder himself. Put another way, effective pastoral ministry occurs when the elder is 'transparently present'. A transparent presence enables those who experience our care to see through us to God, the true source of our soul's healing". That means we need to point the way for people to see God and help them see they need to trust God for their healing and not in the one who is helping them. This is where prayer comes in. As Love says, "Prayer is the bedrock of all caregiving offered in the name of Jesus". Prayer is where we must start and where we must end. All things that we do in the name of Jesus should be bathed in prayer. We must be "intentional" as we prepare to pray. "Intentional preparation for prayer also allows deeper discernment to emerge for both the elder and the person for whom prayer is being offered. Discernment, in turn, yields richer prayer". This leads us to the next section of the chapter, Setting the Stage: The Pre-Prayer Interview. Here Love talks about something he and the elders of the church in Oregon where Love was a minister started to do. It is called the pre-prayer interview. All of this is pretty self-explanatory. It has seven steps (I guess I shouldn't list them in fear of copy write issues). The next section is Prayers For Specific Concerns. Here they talk about James 5:13-16 as the basis for what we are to be about. The next section talks about Prayer of Complaint. Here we look at the Psalms as the basis for this. And lastly the conclusion. Please, buy this book. It is really good. I think every church leader (ministry leaders, ministry staffers, elders, deacons, members, everyone concerned about leadership) should read this book. Contact me and I'll fill you in on how to order it on the internet.
As most of you, I'm you HUGE sports fan. I've been listening to ESPN on the radio regularly for some time now. In the NFL I see co-MVPs and cp-Rookies of the Year this year. I think LT (there's no way on earth I could spell his name, but most of the time on TV and on the radio he's just refered to as LT) of the San Diago Chargers and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints should be Co-MVPs this year. And Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears and Vince Young of the Tennesse Titans should be Co-Rookies of the Year this year. Both LT and Brees are on pass to set (or have already set) new records this year on offense. And Hester and Young are having great seasons in their first years in the NFL.
Well, I guess that's it for today. Thank you all for reading today. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack
ps. Please pray for the AIM students today (both those on the mission field already and those who are still in Lubbock preparing for the mission field). And please pray for my friends Elijah and Kristan (preparing for Auckland, New Zealand) and my friends Rob and Denyce (Moscow, Russia). Thank you all! God bless!
Yesterday I read the second chapter in Like a Shepherd Lead Us. It is intitled The Care of Souls: Pastoral Prayer. It is written by Mark Love (Bible Professor at ACU and director of their Ministry Events). Elders are often called upon to mediate to alot of concerns for people. Be it spiritual concerns or personal concerns. The elder is called upon to share a word of wisdom and to pray for the person(s) involved. In the first section of the chapter we see Paul and Pastoral Care. Here we see Paul's (as should ours should be as well) goal is for each Christian is "... Christ formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). Paul's pastoral care is seen in Galatians 4:17-19, "They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you might make much of them. It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you ...". When Paul says "make much of" he seems to be refering to those who smother us with so much concern that we are crippled. There is no room to grow when people are too over-protective like that. Paul's Galatian opponites (those who "exclude you" in the text above) are opperating a pastoral care that is of the flesh. Contrast that with Paul's which is of the Spirit. His goal in pastoral care is for "Christ to be formed in you" as is stated above. This is Paul's goal wheather or not he is present with them or absent. This is his concern for the Philipian church as well. He says God "will fully satisfy every need of yours according to the riches of Christ Jesus" (Philip. 4:19). In these letters Paul leaves room for the Holy Spirit's healing ministry to work in there lives and we must do that too.
In the next section we see Transparent Presence and Pastoral Care. Here Love says, "Elder's need to be present for people in a way that doesn't focus on the elder himself. Put another way, effective pastoral ministry occurs when the elder is 'transparently present'. A transparent presence enables those who experience our care to see through us to God, the true source of our soul's healing". That means we need to point the way for people to see God and help them see they need to trust God for their healing and not in the one who is helping them. This is where prayer comes in. As Love says, "Prayer is the bedrock of all caregiving offered in the name of Jesus". Prayer is where we must start and where we must end. All things that we do in the name of Jesus should be bathed in prayer. We must be "intentional" as we prepare to pray. "Intentional preparation for prayer also allows deeper discernment to emerge for both the elder and the person for whom prayer is being offered. Discernment, in turn, yields richer prayer". This leads us to the next section of the chapter, Setting the Stage: The Pre-Prayer Interview. Here Love talks about something he and the elders of the church in Oregon where Love was a minister started to do. It is called the pre-prayer interview. All of this is pretty self-explanatory. It has seven steps (I guess I shouldn't list them in fear of copy write issues). The next section is Prayers For Specific Concerns. Here they talk about James 5:13-16 as the basis for what we are to be about. The next section talks about Prayer of Complaint. Here we look at the Psalms as the basis for this. And lastly the conclusion. Please, buy this book. It is really good. I think every church leader (ministry leaders, ministry staffers, elders, deacons, members, everyone concerned about leadership) should read this book. Contact me and I'll fill you in on how to order it on the internet.
As most of you, I'm you HUGE sports fan. I've been listening to ESPN on the radio regularly for some time now. In the NFL I see co-MVPs and cp-Rookies of the Year this year. I think LT (there's no way on earth I could spell his name, but most of the time on TV and on the radio he's just refered to as LT) of the San Diago Chargers and Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints should be Co-MVPs this year. And Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears and Vince Young of the Tennesse Titans should be Co-Rookies of the Year this year. Both LT and Brees are on pass to set (or have already set) new records this year on offense. And Hester and Young are having great seasons in their first years in the NFL.
Well, I guess that's it for today. Thank you all for reading today. God bless you all in Jesus' name!
Zack
ps. Please pray for the AIM students today (both those on the mission field already and those who are still in Lubbock preparing for the mission field). And please pray for my friends Elijah and Kristan (preparing for Auckland, New Zealand) and my friends Rob and Denyce (Moscow, Russia). Thank you all! God bless!
posted by Zack | 7:08 AM
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