I was a pastor for twenty years, all of which were served in the same church. Having ministered in this capacity I understand both the importance, and challenge, of bringing the Word of God to His people on a regular basis. Most pastors have to preach at least once a week, usually on a Sunday morning. If they serve in a large church they may have to preach multiple services on Sunday morning. Some pastors also preach a Sunday night service, teach a mid-week Bible study, and perhaps a Sunday school class as well. Regardless of a pastor’s schedule the work involved in preparing to preach or teach can be quite exacting; it requires time, study, struggle, and prayer as the minister grapples with the biblical text and how best to present it. If the pastor is bi-vocational limited time may make his or her process even more intense. However, this process should not be bypassed. After all, we are handling God’s Word, which is inspired (2 Tim. 3:16) and we should want to correctly handle it (2 Tim. 2:15). A lot hinges on its declaration; as people listen they are deciding between: life or death, heaven or hell, victory or defeat. These are important issues. It doesn’t matter if you are preaching through a biblical book, doing a series on a particular topic, or preparing a single sermon, much preparation is required. Many church members have no idea how difficult the preparation process is, preachers make it look so easy when they speak. Of course, the preacher has been struggling with the text for hours, days, weeks, or months prior to speaking.

I remember when I was pastoring there were a few things that I would typically pray regarding the sermons I prepared. First, I asked that my sermon would be true. That may seem like an odd request to some, after all the Bible is true. What I meant was that I did not want to misrepresent the text. I am sure most of us have heard a sermon or two in which a Scripture was lifted out of context, this frequently results in an interpretation not intended by the author. This is unfortunate when it happens. Second, I asked that the sermon would be powerful. This was in essence a prayer for the Holy Spirit to take what I had prepared and cause it to have an impact. Paul had this experience (1 Cor. 2: 4; 1 Thess. 1:5); other preachers in the first century did as well (1 Pet. 1:12). Third, at times I prayed and told the Lord that He knew who was going to be in the service that I would be preaching at. I asked Him to take my preparation and presentation of the message and use it to speak to the needs of those who would be gathered there. One other request I would make was for the Lord to edit my message as I was delivering it. I gave Him permission (not that He needed it) to cut out part of what I had prepared to say, give particular emphasis to part of the sermon, or cause me to say things that I had not planned to say when I prepared the sermon. 

I am not holding these prayer points out as a pattern that others should follow. I think they are good points, but everyone will have their own way of praying for their sermons. Below I have assembled a few biblical texts that might be good prayer points for preachers to consider. We all want our preaching and teaching ministries to be effective; we want them to be both informative and inspiring; prayer is a major part of making that happen.

In Jeremiah 1:9 the Lord said that He had put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth. The Lord took the initiative in this text but I think it is legitimate for us to ask the Lord to put His words in our mouths. I know Jeremiah was a prophet and most of us are pastors or teachers. In the Bible prophets frequently spoke a “now word” from God under the inspiration of the Lord without studying. Pastors and teachers, on the other hand, typically declare God’s Word from the scriptures after careful study. But shouldn’t pastors and teachers also be inspired speakers? I am not suggesting that our words are on a par with Scripture but rather that we should be faithfully and powerfully speaking for the Lord. The apostle Peter expresses a similar thought in his first letter. He says that anyone who speaks should speak as one declaring the very words of God (1 Pet. 4:11). I think we can ask the Lord to put His words, His message, in our mouths, after all, this is what the people need to hear. And, don’t we truly want to speak for God?

Another prayer point we can glean from the New Testament concerns boldness; the early believers prayed for boldness. We see them do this in Acts 4 with regard to the evangelistic mission of the church. The early Christians prayed for boldness so that they would keep on speaking about Jesus after Peter and John had been told not to speak anymore in His name (Acts 4:18, 21, 29). T he apostle Paul asked the believers in Ephesus to pray a similar thing for him. He asked them to pray that he would be fearless in his preaching of the gospel (Eph. 6:19-20), which is also in reference to the evangelistic mission of the church. In fact, he made this request twice in the space of two verses. 

Even though the two passages I cited in the previous paragraph concern evangelism I think that we need to pray for fearlessness with regard to all of our preaching and teaching. In the course of expounding the Word of God we are dealing with subjects that can be challenging, things like sin, hell, and money. We need to be fearless and not hold back anything that will be helpful to our hearers (Acts 20:20). In our day, some people (even in the church) do not want to hear “the hard sayings of Scripture,” they do not want to hear about sin or biblical truth that contradicts the values of the larger culture. When ministers preach the Bible they are going against the flow. Some churchgoers only want to hear what they like (2 Tim. 4:3-4). However, we cannot afford to tell people only what they want to hear, we have to tell them what they need to hear (and the two are not always the same). Like Paul, we have been given a sacred trust (1 Cor. 4:1-2; 9:17; 1 Thess. 2:4). Following his example we are to declare the Word of God in all its fullness (Col. 1:25), stated differently, we are to declare “the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27 NIV). A bold and fearless presentation of the Word of God is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:8; 4:31). Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit in order to carry out His ministry (Luke 3:21-22; 4:14, 18-19), we too need the anointing of the Spirit for ours. The good news is that it is available! We are co-laborers with the Lord. We cannot adequately carry out our ministries without His help; this certainly includes our preaching and teaching. Paul wrote that it is God who makes us competent ministers of the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3:6). That principle extends to all that we are called to today.

If you are a preacher or teacher I encourage you to pray scriptural principles regarding your pulpit ministry. You can use some of the principles or scriptures that I have included in this article, or you can make you own as the Lord highlights scriptures to you. The church needs you to be at your best. It needs your ministry and your gifts (Eph. 4:11-13) so that it stays on course and it not led away by various errant doctrines (Eph. 4:14). The ministry that you supply helps provide safety for the people of God and nurtures their growth. Pray for your own preaching and teaching, and as Paul did, ask others to pray for you too (Eph. 6:19-20).

John P. Lathrop is a graduate of Zion Bible Institute and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is an ordained minister with the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies. He has written articles and book reviews for a number of publications including: the Pneuma Review, the Africanus Journal of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Christian Trends Magazine, in India, and  Berita Mujizat and Jurnal Jaffray, both in Indonesia. He is also the author of four books.