Pray for those in your charge
Paul on intercession
Paul urges that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people — and specifically for kings and all who are in authority. The principle reaches in every direction: pray for those over you, and pray for those entrusted to you. For a leader, this means lifting up in prayer the very people he is responsible for — interceding for them, not just managing them.
It is easy to work for people, strategize about people, even worry about people, and never actually pray for them. Paul makes intercession a duty of those who lead. The leader who prays for each person in his charge — by name, for their good — leads differently than the one who only manages them. Jesus, the model leader, prayed for his own: I pray for them, he said, for those you have given me. Praying for your people is not a substitute for leading them; it is the deepest form of it, bringing each one before God.
“I pray for them. I don't pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me.”
— Jesus, praying for his own — John 17:9 (WEB)
Interceding for the people in your charge is the deepest form of leading them. Praying for them by name is different from only managing or worrying about them.
“I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men.”
Paul makes intercession a duty of leaders; Jesus prayed for his own. A leader formed here lifts up his people in prayer, not just in planning. The inner work is bringing each person before God by name.
Pray regularly for the people entrusted to you, by name and for their good. Treat intercession as central leadership, not an extra. Bring those over you and under you before God.
Leaders work for, strategize about, and worry over people without ever praying for them. The blind spot is managing people God has invited them to intercede for.
Make a list of those entrusted to you. This week, pray for each by name, for their good.
It is easy to work for people, strategize about people, even worry about people, and never actually pray for them. Jesus prayed for his own by name.
Are you praying for the people entrusted to you, by name, or only working and worrying about them?