A WORD FOR TODAY, October 16, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, October 16, 2025
“For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21, WEB
There is an ongoing joke with many pastors. When we get together with them in more personal situations, like when we invite them for dinner in our home or at a restaurant, everyone looks to them for prayer. We look to them as our model. It is their job to pray. However, in those situations, our pastors look to us because it is their “job, and since it is a personal gathering, it isn’t up to them. “I get paid to pray,” they say. “This is your time.” That’s one way to encourage others into active prayer lives.
Even though our pastors are paid to pray, it is something that we are all meant to do. We tend to let those trained in spiritual matters do the spiritual things, ignoring our responsibility to do those very things. We let the pastors be evangelists, but we should be sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our neighbors. We let our pastors read the Bible and explain it to us, but we should spend time in God’s Word every day. We look to our pastors to take care of the business of the church; that’s what we hired them for, right? (We don’t hire our pastors, God calls them into ministry, but that’s for another day.)
Some might think that a pastor’s job is easy. After all, they only work an hour or so a week, right? That is not remotely true. Being a pastor is a 24/7 job. They put hours into planning that hour a week when we come together to worship our God. They study the scriptures so that their messages are not only relevant to our lives, but so that they are biblically founded and true to God’s Word. They are available for us at our moments of deepest need, answering the phone at insane hours in case a parishioner is sick. They bury our dead and comfort those who grieve. They advocate for those who are dealing with difficult situations. They counsel people with troubles in their relationships. They take upon their shoulders the burdens of our sin and struggle with the emotions of those to whom they are ministering.
On top of the spiritual work they do, they are often responsible for mundane tasks around the Church. Most pastors can tell you about days that they have been on their hands and knees cleaning up overflowing toilets and sitting late at night at their desk pouring over budgets. They order materials, lead preschool children in worship, attend committee meetings, outreach to the community, and pray for every one of their sheep.
A pastor once told me that a council member questioned his record of work. The pastor had recorded all his home and hospital visits, the hours spend preparing a sermon, the community gatherings at which he represented the Church, and other work that he did. He included the number of hours in prayer. The council member was shocked. “Shouldn’t you pray on your time?” the council member asked. No, the truth is that praying for the flock is one of the most important jobs of our pastors. This task deepens the bond of the pastor with the God who will answer, but it also builds the relationship between pastor and parishioner. Our pastors share everything with us, our grief and joy, our hopes and doubts, our assurance, and our fears. Being a pastor is a deeply satisfying job, but it is also emotionally, spiritually, and physically demanding.
Our pastors need us as much as we need them. Yes, they have certain duties and responsibilities that are given to them because they are our pastor, but that doesn’t mean we can’t step in to help. We can visit the sick and imprisoned. We can teach Bible studies. We can invite our neighbors to church events.
Most of all, we can pray. Paul wrote about how he prays for the Christians, in hopeful expectation of God’s blessing on their lives of faith. He prays that they will know God’s love for them. This is certainly what our pastors do for us. We need to remember, however, that our pastors are Christians just like us. They need prayer, too. They need us to pray that they know God’s love for them. They need us to pray in hopeful expectation of God’s blessing on their lives of faith. They probably need our prayers more than we need theirs because as ministers they face attacks and difficulties we’ll never understand. They might be paid to pray, but we are privileged to do so for them. October is Pastor Appreciation month. We can do lots of things to show our pastors we are thankful for their ministry among us but let us give them what they need the most: our prayers.
October is a good month to celebrate our pastors because it gives them the strength to help them through the upcoming season. We don’t realize how busy they are through Advent and Christmas, not only with extra services and social engagements, but also with the struggles of life. More people die at this time of year. More people struggle with emotional issues, suffering from depression and loneliness. It is a time when God’s people need guidance so that they will make the right decisions about resources and relationships. They carry our burdens throughout the year, but the burdens of the next few months tend to be especially heavy.
Our pastors are there for us year-round, so we should never limit our thanksgiving and our prayers to one month, yet this is a very good time for us to remind them how much they are appreciated. Send a note or a token that will brighten their day. Remember that they have a hard job, perhaps one of the hardest of all. They are responsible for so much more than a twelve-minute sermon on Sunday morning. Be compassionate, merciful and full of grace; they are carrying the burdens of the world on their shoulders. Be careful about how to deal with them so that they can glorify God and do their work with joy.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.