Thoughts for Life: #108 Spiritual Dependency

C. Peter Wagner shares with
us about spiritual dependency:

"It is a big mistake for the
pastor to become spiritually
dependent on the intercessors.

When this happens, the intercessor becomes a substitute for the pastor's own personal touch with the Lord.

Judson Cornwall mentions this in his excellent book, The Secret of Personal Prayer.

He says that as he traveled across America,

"I often found pastors dependent completely upon the
prayers of a few old-timers, known a 'intercessors.'

The pastors themselves had virtually no private prayer
ministry.

This may well explain the staleness, the decline in
morality, and the great insecurity that seems to
characterize much of America's clergy."

If you as a pastor feel you might be falling into the trap of cutting back on your personal prayer life, I suggest you do something about it.

I spent a good bit of chapters 4 and 5 stressing the need for us as leaders to develop quality prayer lives of our own, precisely so we could avoid spiritual dependency.

If it has been some time since you read them, I suggest you review those chapters.

{Some of Jean's posts from chapters 4 & 5:   #40 Do Pastors Pray Enough? ;  #41 Pastors Need to Pray More ; #47 Mediocre Prayer Habits?}

Also read good books such as Judson Cornwall's The Secret of Personal Prayer (Creation House), Dick Eastman's The Hour That Changes the World (Baker), Wesley Duewel's Mighty Prevailing Prayer (Zondervan), B. J. Willite's Why Pray? (Creation House), Donald Bloesch's The Struggle of Prayer (Harper & Row), Larry Lea's Could You Not tarry One Hour? (Creation House) or Bill Hybels' Too Busy Not to Pray (InterVarsity).

It is one thing to wake up some morning and say, 'Lord, I'm wiped out. Please let the intercessors carry the day.'

It is quite another to make a habit of doing this. No number or quality of intercessors can substitute for the pastor or other leader being an authentic man or woman of God."

#108, Spiritual Dependency,

in the series taken from C. Peter

Wagner’s book, PRAYER SHIELD,

How to intercede for pastors,

Christian leaders and others

on the spiritual frontlines.

(pgs. 191-192) by Regal Books

NEW UPDATED VERSION:

Retail: ~~$14.99~~ Save 20% ($3.00)

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Prayer Shield, rev. and updated ed.: How to Intercede for Pastors and Christian Leaders

C. Peter Wagner

CHOSEN / 2014 / TRADE PAPERBACK

Let’s pray:

Father, help me
understand what
my responsibility
is.

Cause me to see
when I'm slacking off on my own praying.

What I do makes a large difference on my ability to be effective for the kingdom's work here in my area.

Thank You for urging me to be careful to pray. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Today’s Bible verse: Zech. 4:66 "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the LORD of hosts."

Today’s quote: : E. M. Bounds – “It is necessary to iterate and reiterate that prayer, as a mere habit, as a performance gone through by routine or in a professional way, is a dead and rotten thing.”

Some thoughts today: Don't blame your circumstances when things don't go your way. Allow Christ to help you work as to the Lord.

-Recognize the worth in your service, whatever it may be.

What we should do every day when we wake up...
(shared by Danica Sinclair Dunphey from sermon
notes of Ephesians, by Richard Sinclair on
http://www.cfconline.org/)

"Wake up and remind yourself that there is a God in heaven. And that you live to serve Him.

Wake up and remind yourself that Christ died to save you from your sins and reconcile you to God so that you can live every moment of every day in a way that pleases Him and brings glory to Him."

9th- Saturday’s post: Behind the Song: In the Garden

Diana Leagh Matthews

10th- Sunday's post: Doubt vs. Faith

Jean Oathout

10th- evening's post: To Him Be the Glory

Heather Ricks

12th- Tuesday's post: #109 Emotional Dependency

C. Peter Wagner

A popular post: Undaunted
Radiance Oswald Chambers
“The experiences of life, terrible
or monotonous, are impotent
to touch the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“Nay, in all these things, we are
more than conquerors through
Him that loved us.” Rom. 8:37

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