LEADERS ARE PRAYERFULSometimes our prayers are pale and weak compared to those of
Paul or Epapharas. ‘Epaphras...is always wrestling in prayer
for you,’ wrote Paul in Colossians 4:12. And to the same group:
‘I want you to know how much I am struggling for you’
(Colossians 2:1). The Greek word used for ‘struggle’ here is the
root for our words ‘agony’ and ‘agonize.’ It is used to describe a
person struggling at work until utterly weary (Colossians 1:29), or
competing in the arena for an athletic price (I Corinthians 9:25).
It describes a soldier battling for his life (I Timothy 6:12), or a
man struggling to deliver his friends from danger (John 18:36).
True prayer is a strenuous spiritual exercise that demands
the utmost mental discipline and concentration.^3If the Lord Jesus lived in an atmosphere of prayer, and if the Apostle Paul
constantly “...struggled in prayer” – how much more do I need that
discipline in my life and leadership!
One of the most influential writers on prayer was E.M. Bounds. I first
discovered his books when I was in Seminary. This is one of the many
things he said about the role of prayer in the life of a leader:
Great praying is the sign and seal of God’s great leaders.
A leader must be preeminently a man of prayer. No earnestness, no
diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack. His heart must
graduate in the school of prayer...No learning can make up for
the failure to pray.^4It is only through a life of personal and corporate prayer that a leader
will be able to stay in touch with God and man. Without either of those
relationships, authentic spiritual leadership cannot take place. John Piper
observed:
I think there will be no successful spiritual leadership without
extended seasons of prayer and meditation on the Scriptures.
Spiritual leaders ought to rise early in order to meet God before
they meet anybody else...If you want to be a great leader of people
you have to get away from people to be with God.^5Dr. Wesley Duewel draws the same parallel between prayer and
leadership effectiveness: