Have you ever wondered about how to pray for your pastor? Have you pondered, “What are the needs he has and what would be most beneficial for me to pray for him?”
The apostle Paul’s requests for the prayers of the churches for him are fitting places to start (see Eph. 6:19-20; Col. 4:3-4 as two examples), as are Paul’s own prayers for the churches to whom he was writing (see Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:15-23; 1 Thess. 1:2-5; and 2 Thess. 1:3; 3:5 as a few examples).
Consider also a small portion of a prayer offered by David Michaels for John Piper in For the Fame of God’s Name:
Father, we acknowledge that our pastor’s life, like ours, is a vapor and the number of his days is in your hands. I ask that you would please sustain in him the pace and the grace to finish the race. Keep guarding him from ungodliness and worldly passions. Keep lifting him from the power of every sin. Keep him practicing what he preaches. Keep him alert in prayer with all perseverance. Keep him happy, not because he is spared affliction but because his joy is rooted in you and his feet are walking in your light. Keep his heart exulting in your glory and his mouth filled with your praise. Keep his tongue telling of your righteousness and his lips declaring the wondrous deeds of your salvation to all who come behind him. Come upon our pastor…with great power, and let your Word have free course to run and be glorified for the eternal praise of Jesus Christ and for the sake of his name — in which I pray, Amen.
(from terry enns “words of grace” blog)