Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

You see your pastor at church preaching powerfully under the anointing of God every week and serving the people that God entrusted to him or her faithfully. We need to remember that they are real people just like us and need encouragement every now and then. Just like God encouraged Joshua to be strong and courageous in order to lead the Israelites, so too our pastors need to hear encouragement from us to be strong and courageous as they lead us. So our prayer should be that God would help our pastors be strong and courageous and also that we would be vessels to speak encouraging words to our pastors as well.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

We all need to stand on this verse for the direction of our personal lives but Pastors and leaders of churches need to stand on this verse in order to ensure that the Church goes in the direction that God wants it to go. Pray that your Pastor will be able to see and hear where God wants to lead your church body.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9

To be a pastor is a physically demanding position. Pastors sometimes spend hours late into the night and early morning studying and seeking Gods face in order to receive a message and then have to visit and pray for people from the church during the day. It requires a lot of strength. So pray that your pastor does not grow weary through all the work that they are doing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. – James 1:5-6

The job of a pastor is not an easy one because they have to deal with people of all different personalities types that are at different maturity levels both mentally and spiritually. For this reason pastors need to have wisdom to approach every conversation the correct way. So pray that your pastor will operate in wisdom and ask God to continually increase their level of wisdom.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour – 1 Peter 5:8

The devil will always try to cause a Pastor to fall into sin. The reason is when the pastor falls, the rest of the congregation is affected as well. For this reason we need to pray and cover our pastors regularly so the enemy is not successful in their attempts to cause our pastor to sin.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. – Romans 1:11-12

Paul here knew that the Romans needed to be encouraged and strengthened spiritually so that it would benefit them and that their ministry would grow. This should be at the heart of every pastor. To be able to help their congregation mature spiritually and grow. So pray this for your pastor as well

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified – 1 Corinthians 9:27

Pray that your pastor will practice what they preach. We hear this sometimes that pastors are leading double lives. Preaching one thing and living another way when people don’t see them. Pray that they will not disqualify themselves by what you do in the time when they are now preaching or ministering to their church members.

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church – 1 Timothy 3:2-6

Here Paul’s encourages Timothy how to manage his home. To manage your home doesn’t mean that no problems will arise but it means to take responsibility for addressing them biblically. One of the other things that The devil would love to do is destroy families and there is a big target on the family of pastors. So cover and pray for your pastor and their family that God would give them a strong marriage and family.