It was a Monday afternoon when I received the call from the Church Secretary, “will you be able to be a church at noon on Thursday?” As I wracked my brain thinking of my ‘to do’ list for the week, I responded, “sure, I’ll be there…why what’s up?” She assured me that it was nothing to harm me, but she was unable to share any details with me.
I arrived at church on Thursday at 1145a, went into my office, & waited until noon; the anticipation was driving me insane. By this time, I noticed that the other 2 pastors had come into the office as well, & so I decided to do a little investigation. I asked them if they knew what was going on, & what I managed to put together was that lunch would be served—and I am always ok with that! 
A few moments after 12, a Lady came into the office, to let us know that it was now time for us to join them in our Fellowship Hall. As we made our way down the hall, the sweet, savor of authentic, Mexican food tantalized my olfactory senses, I just couldn’t wait! (teeheheheee!)
When we arrived, the room was beautifully decorated, the food was displayed in such a manner that was fit for Royalty, & each pastor was escorted to their special seat. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “what is this all about?” But I continued to wait in anticipation!
As we settled in, one of the women stood up & asked for everyone’s attention. “You may be wondering why you are here today, well…a few years ago, a group of women in this church got together, and we decided to form a group, at first it was just for simply a group to share various things that we were dealing with and for prayer. But about a year ago, we all decided that we wanted to go deeper in our relationships with God, so we decided to recommit ourselves to God, His Word, & to a serious life of prayer. When we made this decision to rededicate ourselves,” she said, “that is when the Devil started to reek havoc in our lives. Some of our families were turned upside down, and things were spinning out of control! But we kept on earnestly praying, & seeking, & worshipping God, knowing that He would deliver us.”
“And as the Lord God lives today,” she exclaimed, “I stand here & testify to you about His goodness! And if I stood here & told you about the many awesome miracles that we have seen, I could keep going for the next year!”
“Praise the Lord!” I exclaimed, but what she said next, brought tears to my eyes, but overwhelming joy to my heart.
“But after going through these things, it got us thinking,” she said, “If we had this happen to us, and we merely rededicated our lives to God, how much more does the Devil reek havoc in the lives of our pastors who have dedicated their entire lives to God, and to the leading of people to Him?”
She continued to share with us that for the past two weeks, each of the families that surrounded us here for the meal, were assigned a specific pastor, and had been praying and fasting for us.
Till this day, I am still flooded with emotion when I think about this luncheon. How wonderful it was to know that people would be willing to not only pray for us, but sacrifice and fast for us as well!
One of the greatest things that members can do for their pastors is not only to pray for them, but tell us that you are! Pray for our families—our kids, our spouses (or lack thereof), pray for our needs, our desires, pray for our protection, pray for God to lead us daily with the dealings of our lives & the church, etc. Simply Pray Church! Pray!
