Saturday, August 5, 2017

3 Sunday Morning Habits For Pastors


There is no greater calling in the church then God calling specific Godly, gifted men and women to rightly divide the Word of God as we see in 2 Timothy 2:15.  It is both a scary and rewarding calling; scary because we are warned by God in James 3:1 that those who preach will be judged much strictly based on how we honor God with His Word, and rewarding because we get to see God's Word change lives.  For many Pastors, Sundays are some of the most painful and exciting times for their ministry.  That's true for me, and I want to share with you all 3 spiritual habits that has helped me to shepherd well on Sundays...

#1:  MORNING FASTING
My favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I could eat breakfast for each meal during the day, that's how much I love eggs, bacon, rice, french toast, you get my drift.  To me fasting is going without a daily life giving substance that causes me to be dependent on.  I'm dependent on breakfast, and it's my desire to use Sunday mornings to leverage my heart in being more dependent on God's Spirit rather than breakfast.  Psalms 63:1 say's "Lord, my soul thirsts for you."  This time allows me to draw close to Christ, and be dependent on His work through me on Sundays.

#2:  MORNING READING
It was not till I was 18 years old that I have found great joy in reading, I believe it's because it was the year I was rescued by Christ, and he gave me a desire to learn more.  Every Sundays when I walk into my office before service I sit down and read my bible and a leadership development book.  Again this allows my heart to be filled with more of Christ and less of me.  Right now I'm reading through Philippians and The Pastor's Guide by O.S. Hawkins.  Facts state that reading expands the mind both in knowledge and creativity, and allows us to create healthy habits. Pslam 119:105

#3:  MORNING PRAYER
This is a sweet moment for me.  This is something I did not create as a habit, but rather what my associate, Kahu Marcus McBee, has created for me.  After our 8:45am production meeting with our worship and tech teams, a few of our men would stay behind after our meeting and lay hands on me.  This is the measure of a healthy church, a people who understands that PRAYER IS THE WORK, THEN GOD WORKS! Jeremiah 29:12

Lastly, if you are a Pastor like me and you fight the tensions of large attendance numbers, and then you are discouraged because you expected more to show up, here's something my Pastor friend from South Dakota once shared with me, he said "Zeke, the only people you have to look forward to seeing on Sundays are the ones that call you Pastor."  For a few of you, that statement may sound ungodly, and lacks compassion for the lost, and after sitting on that thought for a while, I now understand what he meant.  What he meant was that my biggest concern as a shepherd is to focus on my sheep, "the ones who call me pastor."  That does not mean, the others don't matter, it just gives distinctive on how we must be faithful to making disciples of those who submit, and are willing to grow in biblical discipline, which by the way is the hardest thing to do.  Thank God for the washing of His Word.

A hui hou,
Kahu Zeke

No comments:

Post a Comment