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The disuse, misuse, abuse and proper use of prayer for leaders

Fred Smith

Prayer alone will not produce a leader. Paul was a leader but leading in the wrong direction before he became a Christian and learned Christian prayer. Chuck Colson was a great leader in politics before he ever prayed.

But neither can someone be a competent Christian leader without prayer. As healthy plants require rain, so powerful leadership requires prayer. Prayer and Christian leadership unite to bring the blessings of God.


Disuse

Leaders face unique temptations in the area of prayer, and the first is to let it fall into disuse. When spiritual leadership becomes weak or arrogant through lessened prayer, then prayer gets pushed further and further down the organizational agenda. Inevitably comes a leanness of soul even in times of outward success. A current writer says it well: “If I am so successful, why do I feel so phony?”

The problem is, success often lessens our urgency for prayer. As a work gains momentum, the needs in prayer change but not the need for prayer. An organization on a roll needs prayer for direction; a struggling work needs prayer for support to keep it alive. But both organizations need prayer just as much.

Misuse

Busy leaders can sometimes misuse prayer. For example, using prayer for persuasion is a misuse. I served on a corporate board whose president always started the morning meeting with a devotional. Late one night, giving his “good-night prayer”, he thanked God for the devotional I was to give the next morning, which he knew he had not mentioned to me. I felt no disrespect to God to interrupt and say, “God, You know I didn’t know about this, and I’m not going to stay up all night preparing.” Everyone laughed after they got over the shock of me interrupting his “prayer”. He was not praying; he was making an announcement.

Recently I heard a speaker ask the audience to pray while he spoke. I think this, too, can be a misuse, for a preacher should ask people to listen, not to pray.

Neither can lack of proper lead time be overcome with prayer, for only once do we know of the sun standing still. Leadership through great sermons and Sunday school lessons will not come without preparation, no matter how sincerely we pray. Sermons are preceded by prayer but developed through work. Study to be informed; pray to be wise.

Nor can we pick the wrong people and make up for their incompetence with prayer. Prayer will not turn a donkey into a racehorse, no matter how much we prefer the racehorse to the donkey.

Finally, when leaders become hesitant to make a crucial decision, prayer can be misused as a pious way to procrastinate. Who can criticize a leader who asks for more time so he can pray – even though he is really hiding his fear and indecision? A leader needs to face his fears and indecision, not cover them with a prayer shawl.

Abuse

Stepping over a fine line from misuse is abuse. I see a difference between the two. Misuse comes from ignorance, while abuse comes from the wrong attitude and motive.

I have heard leaders instruct God to bless their plans. This, to me, is abuse, for it is proper to request something from God but not to instruct Him.

Sometimes a leader lets followers listen in while he thanks God for telling him what the organization is supposed to do. Often such prayers claim knowledge of God’s will in order to line up followers. I once heard a leader ask for discussion of a program that, according to him, was the will of God. I refused to enter the discussion, for it is not mine to argue with the will of God.

Prayer is not a substitute for intelligent effort, careful planning, efficient selection of people or adequate financing. A prominent Christian business leader resigned from a college board because of the repeated calls for “seasons of prayer” to get the college out of financial difficulties. The businessman believed in prayer but not as a substitute for responsible financial management. He told me the board was never given any financial statements or operating figures; in fact, none existed other than the depleted bank account and the unpaid bills. As leaders, we have no right to pray for what we can do, for God has already supplied that need.

Proper Use

As serious as these dangers in prayer are, we, as leaders, must accent the positive powers of prayer properly used. When I became chair of the board of Youth for Christ, I remember hearing the old-timers talk about the tremendous blessings that accompanied all-night prayer.

What is the responsible use of prayer? To ask God to do what we can’t do. For example, we cannot permeate our projects with his Spirit, and so we ask Him to. Often we are unaware of the need to change direction, so we ask God for wisdom to be given at the right time and to guide us in the right direction.

Other responsible uses of prayer include these: to recognize God as the ultimate leader; to seek His will together, being willing to do it when it appears; and to dedicate ourselves before God to our maximum effort.

I have found that proper leadership prayer involves four steps, often overlapping:

Positioning. Prayer positions me. It reminds me I am not the ultimate leader; the Lord Jesus is. I am a steward, not the owner. Sometimes kneeling physically helps me with this step. Shifting into neutral. Prayer becomes most effective when I get fully into “neutral”, where I will accept divine leadership. This is the most difficult part of my prayer life. Leaders usually are strong-willed, opinionated persons who feel awkward and uncomfortable in neutral. It is so much easier to ask God’s approval of what we want to do than to say “Your will be done” and truly mean it. I’ve found I must still my thoughts, honestly separate my interest from the ministry interest, and then test in my mind and spirit various options and how they feel to me. If there is time, I let the options simmer overnight or longer. Then I repeat the options, and if one seems to serve the cause better than the others, I know I am ready to get out of neutral and put the machine in motion with a clear conscience. Dynamic peace. Tournament golfers settling over a crucial putt, block out the amount of money on the putt and think only of making a pure stroke. Often, as leaders, we must block out our fear of failure or our second-guesses as to what we have decided. Prayer helps us find a dynamic peace – not a sleepy peace but an exhilarating peace. There is confidence in dynamic peace, and confidence lets me concentrate fully upon the task. Prayer does not improve our basic skill, but it gives us concentration that permits us to do our best. Acceptance. When I’ve done my best, only then in prayer can I peacefully accept failure and success and, with Kipling, “treat those two impostors just the same”. A leader prays himself into the conscious presence and will of God so that he accomplishes “my utmost for His highest” and hears the welcoming benediction, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Fred Smith is a contributing editor of Leadership Journal, where this article was first published in Fall 1994. He is also the author of several books, including Leading with Integrity (Bethany House, 1999).

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Last modified May 4, 2000.

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