Helping Pastors Pray

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Pastors can only fulfill their calling as shepherd leaders with the vitalizing power of prayer, and must pray for themselves first. A healthy, prayer-full pastor is an effective pastor. My newest book is to help pastors in this vital discipline of prayer.

Amen Indeed fuels growth by providing more than 100 prayers for pastors to pray for their own mental, physical, spiritual, and relational growth. Each is sourced from Scripture and rings with the “Amen” that Jesus promised to add (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Order your copy today!

“There is one assured way for our prayers to be answered: It is to pray the will of God.

“There is one assured way to pray the will of God: It is to pray Scripture.

“As ministers of the Gospel we would be wise then to primarily pray Scripture, for ‘the word of our God stands forever’ (Isaiah 40:8).” —Dick Brogden, Founder of the Live Dead Movement

“When it comes to prayer, we need some help. And in Amen Indeed, help is at hand. Whatever is keeping us from prayer, Craig Owens can help us push through to a more consistent and more consistently joyful and fruitful life of prayer.” —T.M. Moore, Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe

Check out more Amen Indeed videos here.

6 Quotes From Others In “The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth”

John Maxwell is a master at sharing the best quotes from other authors in his books, and The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth is no exception. If you haven’t already, you can check out my full book review here. These are some quotes that John shared. My Patreon supporters have access to all of the quotes I highlighted in this book.  

“People are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” —James Allen  

“What great accomplishments we’d have in the world if everybody had done what they intended to do.” —Frank Clark 

“By the time you’re seventeen years old, you’ve heard ‘No, you can’t,’ an average of 150,000 times. You’ve heard ‘Yes, you can,’ about 5,000 times. That’s thirty nos for every yes. That makes for a powerful belief of ‘I can’t.’” —John Assaraf and Murray Smith

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” —Peter Drucker 

“A bad habit never goes away by itself. It’s always an undo-it-yourself project.” —Abigail Van Buren 

“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, and Bach all settled down, day after day, to the job at hand. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.” —Ernest Newman 

Here are some quotes from John Maxwell that I previously shared from this book.

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Don’t Cross The Line

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

We all know what it is when something crosses the line from acceptable to unacceptable, from appropriate to inappropriate, from funny to offensive, from healthy to unhealthy. Maybe it’s a joke that goes a little too far, or a hobby than turns into an overly-expensive escape from healthy relationships, or healthy dieting and exercise that becomes an obsession. 

No one started off saying, “I’m going to be offensive, or withdrawn from family and friends, or consumed by my diet and workout routine,” and yet somewhere it did cross the line. 

God wants us to be in a healthy place in Him (see Luke 2:52 and 3 John 2) so He has given us instructions on how to not cross the line into an unhealthy place. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Last week we learned that our “Say so” was vital to the peace of God we can know because it keeps us mindful of God’s blessings. We are going to use this to build a strong protection against crossing the line from care to worry. 

Let’s return to a key passage in Philippians 4:4-7. Notice especially the “Do not be anxious about anything” phrase in verse 6. The root word for anxious simply means to care for something. In fact, the KJV says, “Be careful for nothing,” so you can hear the word “care” in there. 

Paul uses this same Greek word in a positive sense earlier in this same letter when he praises Timothy for his concern for the saints (2:19-22). And Paul told the Corinthians he had a deep concern for them (2 Corinthians 11:28) and that he desired for them to also care for fellow saints (1 Corinthians 12:25). Both of these instances use the same Greek word. 

The problem is when care crosses the line to become worry. We can see a great example in Luke 10:38-42, especially the phrase “you are worried,” which is the same Greek word. Martha started out caring for the needs of Jesus, but then she crossed the line to being worried that she was providing enough hospitality. 

Care can cross the line into worry in the simplest of areas: 

  • Caring about my physical needs, can become worrying about having enough (Matthew 6:25, 27-29, 31). 
  • Wanting to answer well those who question my faith in Jesus is noble, but planning what words I am going to say crosses the line (Matthew 10:19). 
  • Enjoying my possessions and wanting to care for them is good stewardship, but desiring more than I have been given crosses the line (Luke 8:14). 

The crucial discipline to protect us from crossing the line from concern to worry and anxiety is to keep the right focal point. Passages like Matthew 6:32; Luke 11:3, 11-13; and Psalm 68:19 all remind us that our Heavenly Father sees us, knows our needs, and is more than ready to supply what we need. 

We protect this boundary line between care and worry with two things: Our “Say so” and our prayers: We express gratitude for what we have, then we add to that prayer for what we need. I like to paraphrase Philippians 4:6 this way: Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. 

In her book Jesus Always, Sarah Young uses this same verse when she writes as though Jesus were speaking to us—

     “I am God, and you are not. … Remembering you are not God helps you live in freedom. You don’t take responsibility for matters that are beyond your control—which includes most matters. If you let go of everything that is not your responsibility, you are freed from carrying unnecessary burdens.”

Remember: 

  • Your Father knows what you need  
  • He provides your daily bread—the best bread!  
  • He wants to carry your cares so you don’t cross the line to worry (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:7) 

To keep from crossing the line from peace and contentment to worry and anxiety: Use gratitude for what you have, and prayer for what you need. 

Have you missed any of the other messages in this series on gratitude? You can check them all out here. 

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Links & Quotes

One of the best pieces of leadership advice I’ve ever received: Slow down to touch people. Leaders have full agendas everyday, but they cannot miss opportunities to connect with the people they lead.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of, for to have been thought about, born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.” —George MacDonald 

“Trials come to prove and improve us.” —Augustine 

An interesting overview of the Jewish names and activities of the disciples of Jesus. 

“We participate in the culture of our times because we are creatures of our times. We can’t escape the artifacts, institutions, and conventions of our day; however, we are at the same time citizens of a heavenly realm, and we serve a higher Authority than our unsaved neighbors, follow a different moral code, and seek a different City than they do (Hebrews 12:22-24). Thus, all we do in this world, all the ways we make and use culture—even down to how we take our meals (1 Corinthians 10:31)—should declare to those we engage with us that our cultural norms and use lie beyond their sight in a world where beauty, goodness, truth, righteousness, peace, and joy are the order of the day.” —T.M. Moore 

“You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have.” —Oswald Chambers 

Ernie Johnson, a hall of fame sportscaster, announced his retirement. Breakpoint shared a blog post about this entitled, “Only this could silence Charles Barkley.” Here’s what is so noteworthy about Johnson and his career.

“God is preparing His heroes; and when the opportunity comes, He can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from.” —A.B. Simpson 

“By universal evolutionism I mean the belief that the very formula of universal process is from imperfect to perfect, from small beginnings to great endings, from the rudimentary to the elaborate, the belief which makes people find it natural to think that morality springs from savage taboos, adult sentiment from infantile sexual maladjustments, thought from instinct, mind from matter, organic from inorganic, cosmos from chaos. This is perhaps the deepest habit of mind in the contemporary world. It seems to me immensely unplausible, because it makes the general course of nature so very unlike those parts of nature we can observe.” —C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory 

Is There A Place For Resigning?

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Greg and I had been talking about resiliency vs. resignation, but then Greg asked if there is a place for resigning. The short answer is yes, but check out the proper way for leaders to help facilitate this in a healthy way. 

Check out the full conversation from The Craig and Greg Show called Resilience Over Resignation. 

And you may also be interested in these blog posts: 

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Questions To Ask When You’re Attacked

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Peter wrote to Christians—

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (1 Peter 4:14-16) 

I noticed the word “if” three times in those three verses, which means those calling themselves Christians need to check why the insults have come their way. 

(1) Is it because I have acted like everyone else? IF it is because I have acted in a way unbecoming a citizen of heaven, then I need to apologize and repent. 

(2) Is it because I stand for Jesus? “IF you are insulted because of the name of Christ,” I need to both forgive the one insulting me and be thankful that I am “blessed, for the Spirit of God rests on you.” 

(3) Is it because I have acted un-Christlike? IF I am suffering because I have not acted in a manner fitting the name of CHRISTian, I must accept the attack as God’s judgment, acknowledging my sin and repenting of it. 

(4) Is it because I have acted Christlike? IF the suffering is because my attitude and actions are Christlike, then I must “praise God that [I] bear that name,” and use the attack as an opportunity to tell others about Jesus. 

In no setting is it permissible for Christians to retaliate against the ones insulting them or attacking them. Earlier in this letter, Peter tells us that Jesus gave us “an example, that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21): “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (v. 23). 

Charles Spurgeon said—

“In Peter’s day, the Christians were called, not only to what might he metaphorically termed, ‘the fiery trial’ [1 Peter 4:12], but they had literally to suffer thus for Christ’s sake. Nero had multitudes of Christians brought to his gardens, and tied to stakes, that he might light up his midnight revelries by the burning of these godly men and women smeared with pitch. They had to bear even that fiery trial for the name of Christ. Many periods of martyrdom have passed since then, in which the saints of God have willingly died rather than deny their Lord. We have fallen upon comparatively silken times; a jest, a slander, a calumnious observation—these are the only weapons with which our enemies can smite most of us.” 

We must allow the Holy Spirit to show us if the fault lies in us. If it does, then we must repent. If the fault is not in us, then we must rejoice. This requires supernatural empowerment from God—the same supernatural power that Jesus used when He chose not to retaliate against His attackers. If we trust Him, we can respond in the same supernatural way. 

Check out more thoughts about this supernatural response of Jesus in Let Your Silence Do the Talking. And you may also be interested in the post Persecution From Religious Leaders. 

If you are a church leader, I also invite you to read my book When Sheep Bite. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎