A Prayer Before You Preach

My Master God,
I am expected to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;

Yet I long that people will be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony will be given for you.

Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and passion.

Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,
will fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a deep emotion to accompany the words I speak,
and grace to apply them to people’s consciences.

Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,
and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.

Help me to offer a testimony for yourself,
and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting your mercy.

Give me freedom to open up the sorrows of your people,
and to set before them comforting consolations.

Give your power to the truth preached,
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.

May your people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,
that people might be made holy.

I myself need your support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of your grace,
and be able to do something for you.

Give me then refreshment among your people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating Christ’s death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.

And keep me in tune with you as I do this work.

- Puritan Prayer, adapted by Kingdom People.

Judges

Steve Mathewson on Judges: Love God, Live Strong.

See how he introduced this to his congregation here.

Long-Haul Preaching

Long-Haul Preaching
by Steve Mathewson

David Jackman, veteran preacher and President of The Proclamation Trust in London, England, made this statement last week in a preaching lecture in Chicago: “Life transformation takes time. So preach over the long haul. You are a long distance runner.”

I needed to hear this statement because I’m prone to impatience! I can get impatient with the people to whom I preach. Why don’t they get it?! Why are they still the same old bunch that they were last week or last month or last year? But this line of thinking doesn’t stop with my congregation. It invariably leads to impatience with myself! What’s wrong with my preaching? What must I do differently? The lack of response must be my fault!

Now I’m not suggesting that preachers avoid rigorous self-evaluation. I’m on a life-long quest to improve my preaching for the glory of God and the good of His people. But I cross the line from healthy critique to unhealthy blame when I forget that life-transformation takes time.

Why don’t I get this? Perhaps it’s because God sometimes bring dramatic, instantaneous change in listeners’ lives. Sometimes. But these “sometimes” raise my expectations that God will do this almost every time. Yet that is not God’s usual way of working. As Richard Mouw claimed in a sermon a couple decades ago, we need to hear more about the slowness of God. God has the power create and change things instantly. But from our vantage point in the unfolding drama of redemption, it appears that God takes his time. Sanctification is a slow process. It happens over the long-haul. So behind my impatience with my listeners, myself, and the process of preaching is impatience with God. Lord, have mercy on this impatient preacher!

I still pray that this Sunday will be the moment in someone’s life – or in a number of lives – when striking transformation occurs. But whether it happens or not, or whether I see it or not, I need to stay the course and do my best to proclaim God’s word over the long haul. May God grant you the grace and perseverance to do the same.