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Essay / The Leader and His Prayer - 1846
The Leader and His PrayerWhat a difficult first sentence to find in “The Leader and His Prayer”! Sanders writes: “In no way should the leader be more ahead of his followers than in the area of prayer. » If I could choose one area of my Christian life where I feel my personal weakness, it is that of prayer. I love reading, visiting, and preaching, but each of them is concrete enough to provide immediate feedback. I can feel a quick sense of accomplishment, whether or not I have accomplished what the Lord desires. Even though I agree intellectually that I can do nothing without the power of Christ, and even though I recognize that His power is released through prayer in faith, I pray very inconsistently, especially about of the ministry itself. I pray under the pressure of no other option. When all the best advice from leadership books and seminary classes hasn't worked, then I pour out my heart in prayer, see good results, but quickly forget how they were given. When conflicts arise in the Church and my best counseling skills provide no relief, I pray and God answers. Perhaps there would have been less conflict in the first place if I had devoted myself to prayer. Ideas for Improving My Prayer Life First, I need to start praying more about the messages I bring to church. Since I'm used to preaching series, I don't really think about what I'm going to preach next Sunday. I need to begin searching more into God's heart on how these truths should be applied to our church in such a short time. I must appeal to him for the clarity, conviction and power of transmission that will enable his message to impact the lives of his people. I have to pray about each point to make sure I word it the way He wants. I have to pray for the upcoming worship services and for those the Lord will have to be there. Many times I preach a message, then realize that someone who really needed it wasn't even there to hear it. I have to pray for those of our members who need to be there and also for the prospects we have contacted throughout the week..