120 leaders gathered on a Thursday night at 10:30 to be equipped on leadership principles that will not only develop them into better leaders, but will empower them to shape a nation. Prayer works. This is the leadership lesson I taught them and wanted to pass along to you. It comes from my training as an Equip Leadership Trainer and out of the manual by Dr. John Maxwell with some personalization on my part.
Praying Effectively in Pivotal Moments
“Now Jesus was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” (Luke 18:1)
Pivotal prayers come at pivotal moments. They produce pivotal decisions and result in pivotal consequences.
Most people around the world pray. They do so because they want God’s help in tough times. Sadly, most never consider how to pray what is on the heart of God, especially in those moments.
Leaders understand the pivotal role of prayer and pray strategically during key times. They don’t panic and simply react in fear. They seek and find God in those moments, and settle issues in prayer that lead to significant breakthroughs in their life and leadership.
It is easy to miss opportunities to pray a pivotal prayer.
How Do Leaders Seize Pivotal Moments in Prayer?
The Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). However, there are times when what we pray and how we pray are more critical because of when we pray.
The moment introduces an opportunity for significant change. Leaders recognize and seize such moments.
3 Observations on How Leaders Pray…
1. Effective leaders learn to THINK like God thinks and pray those thoughts.
Jesus demonstrated this in a pivotal moment. John 12 describes how Jesus faced the final hours of His earthly life. The reality of a painful, brutal cross loomed before Him. He was in anguish. The Scriptures tell us His emotions were so intense that He sweat “great drops of blood.”
So how did Jesus pray? Recognizing the pivotal moment, He prayed, “Now My heart is troubled, and what shall I say,‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!” (John 12:27-28)
Did you notice Jesus contemplated what kind of prayer to pray?
He could have prayed a survival prayer: “Father get Me out of this mess!” That would have been natural. It might have been what we would have prayed.
Instead, Jesus aligned His prayer with His Father’s ultimate purposes. The result: the redemption of the world.
Key moment. Key prayer. Key decision. Key results.
2. Effective leaders pray from RELATIONSHIP, not just routine.
Pivotal prayers move past clichés and unthinking phrases to meaningful exchanges with God. It means we pray from our hearts, not just our heads. We aren’t concerned with image, but substance. It’s the kind of prayer experience we say we want, but seldom practice.
How often are our prayer lives reduced to meaningless, routine, monologues? Or to time constraints, or image-seeking when we pray publicly? If many of us were to get honest, we’d admit our prayer life borders on superstition.We go through the motions, speaking a few worn out phrases to make sure God is on our side before we head into our day.
3. Effective leaders learn pivotal prayer as they MATURE spiritually.
We learn to pray this way over time. Pivotal praying increases as we mature spiritually. Leaders often become caught up in fulfilling their agenda.
Mature leaders trade their agenda for God’s agenda…every-time.
They move from simply praying what they want, to praying with God’s larger vision in mind.
The ladder of prayer- My twin brother was sick for 14+ years with a blood disease. This is an example of the progression of my prayers:
First I prayed for healing.
Second I prayed for a miracle.
Third I prayed that God would be glorified through the life and/or death of my twin.
Johnny passed away June 3rd 2013. Today, I purposely pray for those with blood diseases and see tremendous results. This glorifies the Father.
Learning to pray this way isn’t a cop out. It doesn’t mean we stop trusting God to do miracles, and leave it to fate. It means we trust Him and His purposes regardless of our understanding.
What are your observations of How Leaders Pray? Please feel free to add on in the comment box below.
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