My daily prayer list includes specific petitions for the preaching ministry at IDC. I pray that those who preach at our church would do so with clarity (Col. 4:4), boldness (Eph. 6:19), tenderness (2 Tim. 2:24-25), and faithfulness (1 Cor. 4:2, 2 Tim. 2:15). A couple weeks ago I realized I was spending vastly more time praying for the preachers than the hearers. So I set out to remedy the imbalance.

I’m a believer in trying to make spiritual concerns memorable—be that in matters of sermon application or intercessory prayer. I want to construct hooks on which truth can hang and be easily taken down. As I tried to coalesce everything I long for to be true about the hearers at my church I settled on two regular requests. Maybe they will be helpful for your ministry and prayer life.

“Lord, Make Them Thirsty”

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for faithful preaching, for they will be satisfied. The joy of satiation depends on one coming thirsty to God’s word. Let every heart gather eager and expectant for an encounter with God through His word. I pray for sinners to come with longing in their heart for something more than this life, for the life found in Christ alone. I pray for saints to come ready to experience God’s living word with the full force of its glory.

Alongside this request is for God to use His Spirit in the souls of our people to replace thirst for the things of earth with thirst for the things of heaven. May every heart long for the word that cannot fail, for the proclamation more sure and steady than any experience of earthly power and glory.

“Lord, Make Them Thrive”

May God let our congregation thrive spiritually under our preaching. I pray this comes in part from all of those who preach at our church to do so with increased power and deeper reverence. But, on the whole, I’m praying here for God to let the Spirit take our feeble attempts at heralding and multiply their effect exponentially in the church’s soul.

Let not the hearer focus on homiletical goofs in the sermon, but on that which exposes the truth of the text and their heart. Protect them from anything that robs attention and steals beauty from the gospel. Let them thrive equally under God’s promises, commands, and threats. Let them thrive in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Let them thrive no matter the genre—in narratives, poetry, prophecy, epistles, and anything else the Spirit inspired to be in the canon. We want continual growth and steady transformation, so Lord, let the preached word be their fuel for Christlikeness.

May the word thrive “overflowingly” in their hearts so they might be earnest ambassadors who carry the gospel with them wherever they go.

Lord, give make us a thirsty and thriving congregation.