Deep Befriending: A Prayer for Pastors

Father, being a pastor is not easy. It is tough. So, I pray for faithful pastors everywhere. Those who are feeding your sheep, loving your people, and nurturing your bride. I pray for those pastors whose prayer lives have been inactive. If they feel too burnt out or burned to talk, please, keep speaking to them, Lord. When the weight of your presence has become seemingly weightless in their lives, I pray that your glory would fall fresh upon them and surround them. When the only things that are heavy are the pits of their stomachs, calm and soothe them, God. When they are heart-wrought, heal their hearts. When their emotions are like a dry riverbed, when they have pastored but not been pastored to, when they have befriended but not received deep befriending, when they have invested but have either not been invested in or have been uninvested in, re-awaken a yearning within them. And when they're longing for trust but seem to find betrayal at every corner, O Holy Spirit, I pray that you would fall quickly upon them. I pray for your presence in their lives. I pray for the vacant areas of their souls to be replenished by you. In your vastness and gloriousness, I ask that you just show up. Show up as a friend and bring the type of friendship they long for. Show up with deep relationship and a deep befriending. Settle their burdened souls. Show up quickly, now even. Come, Holy Spirit, and move. Knock, so that they can answer.