to spend time together before the craziness of another week begins. Grandparents get to
enjoy their grandchildren, brothers and sisters visit over mom's good home cooking.
There is merriment and laughter as good times are remembered and memories made to
look back upon. Do you remember what was served at those meals? I certainly hope that
it wasn't "Roasted Pastor!"
My dad used to warn people about partaking of this. You certainly can't ask the Lord's
blessing on it! It is very easy to criticize isn't it. Easy to judge someone when you really
don't know what it's like to walk in their shoes. The majority of us do not know what our
Pastors go through on a weekly basis. The discouragement they face, the heartbreaks
that they have to deal with, the comfort, rebuke and exhortation that they must mete out.
They bear the burdens of the church. This is a daunting task to which they have been
called, but they have not been called to do it alone.
We read in Exodus 17 about a task Moses was called of God to perform. The enemy.
Amalek had come to fight the Children of Israel in Rephidim. Moses, Aaron and Hur
went to the top of the hill to watch the battle unfold. Vs 11, "And it came to pass, when
Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed."
Have you ever done arm curls, or tried to hold your arms up over your head for any
length of time? It is not very long before your muscles are screaming out in agony at
you, and they begin to get very heavy and shaky. Before you know it, they are hanging
limp at your sides. Vs. 12, "But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone,
and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands,
the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady
until the going down of the sun."
Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses and held up his hands for him, and they were not
only witnesses that day to a mighty victory, but active participants in the battle themselves!
How are you doing with holding up your Pastor's hands in the battle of the Lord? Or are
you the one who knocks the rock out from under him with your backbiting and criticisms?
Please to not misunderstand, we are not glorifying man here today, instead we are exalting
and magnifying the One Who works through a dedicated and surrendered heart. However
this man is not in the battle by himself! How can we hold up our Pastors hands, and those
of the other leaders in our churches?
1. Pray for him. Ephesians 1:15 & 16 "Wherefore I also after I heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you in my prayers."
2. Do not tear him down. Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed
out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers."
3. Don't complain when asked to help. Philippians 2:14 & 15 "Do all things without
murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among
whom ye shine as lights in the world."
4. Show him respect for his place of service. 1 Thessalonians 5:12 & 13 "And we
beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you
in the Lord, and admonish you: And to esteem them very highly in love for their
work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves."
5. Help him bear the burdens. "Galatians 6:2 "Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ."
We might have an epidemic of fainting Pastors and leaders this week if their
congregations began praying for them; building them up instead of tearing them down;
offering to help; if they respected them instead of ridiculing and gossiping about them;
and if they helped them carry their heavy demanding loads instead of adding to them.
I encourage you this week to spend time in prayer for your Pastor's and leaders! When
we do things God's way He has promised to bless. I challenge you to become an Aaron
or Hur for your Pastor and the other leaders in your church, then stand back and watch
the mighty victories unfold before you!
The Pastors Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE8MFHF6B5Y
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