The lists that I use in my daily intercession include the
names of the global leaders of my denomination. For many years, these were often just names to me and I did
not personally know the people who occupied these positions. However, in the later years of our
ministry in the denomination, these people were also those we had served with
during the course of our ministry or they were personal friends, whom we had
opportunities to spend time with socially as we met with other leaders from
various parts of the world in conferences.
I
believe it is important to pray for those who are in denominational
leadership. They often have
difficult decisions to make that can determine the destiny of people whose
lives are impacted by those decisions.
What a huge responsibility that is. Also, there is no guarantee that they will make the right
decisions, even though the intention of their hearts may be pure and they are
seeking divine wisdom for the choices they make. They are still human and can make mistakes. That is why they need our support
rather than our criticism. Praying
for them helps us to keep a balanced perspective. We do not expect them to be infallible, but we know that
even if they err, God is still sovereign and can bring good out of the
resulting situation. It may even
turn out to be more beneficial for the individuals concerned than if another
decision had been made.
Another
reason that we need to pray for our spiritual leaders is that they become the targets
of spiritual warfare. They clearly fulfill a mandate geared
toward the building of God’s kingdom.
We do not talk a lot about spiritual warfare these days. I will post a blog about it a little
later, because it is also part of my daily intercession. At this time, I am
bringing it up as another reason to remember in prayer those who occupy positions
of authority in our ecclesiastical structures.
Personally,
I choose to pray daily for the top three or four people who are responsible
globally for our denomination.
I remember each one by name and pray for them in a daily rotation. In addition, I pray for the national
leadership of our denomination, and well as for regional and local
leaders. Having served in
denominational leadership myself, I know how grateful I felt for the prayer support
we received, so I am glad to do my part to encourage those who bear the burden
of leadership today.
