I don't know Justin Childers, but I am grateful for this little article on the greatest gift you can give to your pastor. (The link to the original post is below.)

Pray for Those who Preach

In most of Paul’s letters, he included a record of exactly what he prayed for the churches or individuals he was writing to. His prayers are rich with insights into the character of God and Paul’s own love for the churches. However, Paul did not just pray for his readers. He often asked them to pray specifically for him. For example, at the end of Ephesians, he asks the church to pray that he would be given boldness that he might preach the gospel (Eph. 6:19-20). In Colossians, Paul requests prayer for his ability to make the gospel clear when he preaches it (Col. 4:3-4).

Prayer is essential to the fruitfulness of preaching. God has ordained that prayer be one of the means by which He accomplishes His purposes through preaching. Once, Charles Spurgeon (The Prince of Preachers) was asked about his obvious success in preaching. He simply replied, “My people pray for me.” What a profound insight from a man who knew that he was not alone behind that pulpit. He was confident that God was with him because his congregation was laboring in prayer for him and with him.

Christians, how often do you pray for your pastors who preach the Word of God to you? How devoted in prayer are you for the work of preaching? The health of the church is dependent on a man of God standing with an open Bible and declaring the glory of Christ’s person and work. The success of the sermon depends upon the sovereign work of God to open our hearts to hear and apply His Word. Thus, we must plead with God for His blessing on the preacher and on the message he preaches.

Here are a few suggestions of what to pray for those who preach:
1. During the week, pray for God to reveal the burden of the text to him.
2. During the week, pray that God would grip the preacher’s heart with His glory revealed in the text.
3. On Sunday morning, pray that God would free him from distractions.
4. On Sunday morning, pray that he would proclaim the truth boldly and clearly.
5. On Sunday morning, pray for God to powerfully speak through him.
6. On Sunday morning, pray that Christ would be treasured by all gathered.

Think of the effect on your own heart of praying for those who preach. When we plead with God to do these things, we will wake on Sunday with an anticipation of what He is going to say to us as we hear His Word. All glory for successful preaching should ultimately go to Jesus Christ, who purchased all good things on the cross. However, pray in such a way that your pastor will be able to say, “My people pray for me” when he senses the help of God to proclaim the gospel.

A concluding word to parents: What an impact it would make on your children to hear their father and mother regularly praying by name for their pastors.

A month or two ago, we spent time during the Sunday School hour talking about the interplay between the public means of grace and our private devotional life. Some of those thoughts came from a conversation with a friend of mine, Lee Irons.

Lee recently taught a six week Sunday School class on prayer at his church. I don't have any doubt these lectures will be full of encouragement and grace. The links are below for anyone who wants to listen along with me. (FYI for those on dial-up, each lecture is about 50MB.)

Here is his course description:

We all fall short in the area of private prayer, and many of us feel guilty that we don’t pray as much as we ought. The aim of this class is twofold: (1) to develop a theological framework for understanding how prayer functions as a means of grace, and (2) to learn practical ways for deepening our relationship with Christ through prayer. We will also examine how private prayer relates to the preaching of the word and the administration of the sacraments in the context of public worship.

Lecture 1 (Feb. 3) Introduction
Lecture 2 (Feb. 10) Prayer and the Trinity
Lecture 3 (Feb. 17) Prayer and Faith
Lecture 4 (Feb. 24) How to Pray
Lecture 5 (Mar. 2) Receiving Answers to Prayer
Lecture 6 (Mar. 9) Prayer and Public Worship

You can also download the PDF of his lecture notes (18 pp.).

Here is a quote from Geerhardus Vos from his sermon "The More Excellent Ministry" on 2 Cor 3:18.

"In a broad sense the Old Testament was the economy of the conviction of sin. The law revealed the moral helplessness of man, placed him under curse, worked death. There was, of course, gospel under and in the Old Covenant, but it was for its expression largely dependent on the silent symbolic language of altar and sacrifice and lustration. Under it the glory which speaks of righteousness was in hiding.

In the New Covenant all this has been changed. The veil has been rent, and through it an unobstructed view is obtained of the glory of God on the face of Jesus Christ. And with this vision comes the assurance of atonement, satisfaction, access to God, peace of conscience, liberty, eternal life. For Paul the commission to proclaim these things constitutes no small part of the excellence of his task."