That he might be able to give himself continually to prayer and the ministry of the word
“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4)
Continually – "with great frequency or regularity; all the time, almost without interruption or ending." (Encarta Dictionary) This does not mean your pastor and spiritual leaders will be in their rooms praying and reading the Bible all day long, although these two things make up a big part of what God has given them to do. However, they also have the responsibility of the ministry of the word to others. In order to be prepared to minister to others, their own hearts and minds must be saturated with the word of God and built up through communion with Him. This is not always easy. There are so many demands on a pastor’s time during the day. There are the demands of every day life, demands of family, demands of any work he may have to do, and demands of interruptions from other people.
Each interruption a pastor gets can be an opportunity for him to minister to other people, but some interruptions may be unnecessary. Pray that your pastor will have time to spend alone, uninterrupted with his God, to prepare himself so that he can minister to everyone that he meets. He needs this time to develop a close relationship to his Lord and to gain spiritual strength and wisdom for every situation. Here are some thoughts from Matthew Henry’s Commentary, “What is the great business of gospel ministers--to give themselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word; they must still be either fitting and furnishing themselves for those services, or employing themselves in them; either publicly or privately; in the stated times, or out of them… Nor must we only minister the word to them, but we must pray for them, that it may be effectual; for God's grace can do all without our preaching, but our preaching can do nothing without God's grace.”
So pray for your pastor. He has one of the most important and yet one of the most solemn and fearful and demanding tasks to fulfill. He needs all the time he can get with his Savior and all the strength and wisdom and grace God has to give.
Turn Again to the Lord