The Pastor's Devotional Life

Q: What does the Bible say about the pastor's devotional life?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of a pastor's devotional life as crucial for spiritual health and ministry effectiveness. Scripture, particularly in 1 Timothy 4:16, instructs pastors to take heed to themselves and their teaching, highlighting the necessity of nurturing one's own spiritual life through secret prayer and meditative reading of the Scriptures. A pastor's devotional life is depicted as the heartbeat of their ministry, affecting both their personal spirituality and their ability to lead effectively. Ignoring this aspect can lead to spiritual barrenness, as the vitality of their ministry is rooted in a deep, personal communion with God, independent of their ministerial duties.

Q: How do we know that personal devotion is vital for pastors?

Personal devotion confirms the reality of spiritual life for pastors, allowing them to genuinely seek God beyond ministry duties. The assessment of one's spiritual state and effectiveness in ministry is deeply intertwined with personal devotion. The pastor’s spiritual vitality directly influences their effectiveness in ministry, which is substantiated by texts such as 2 Corinthians 13:5, which calls for self-examination. A pastoral ministry not rooted in a vibrant personal relationship with God risks becoming hollow and ineffective. As presented in the sermon, the reflection on one’s devotional life offers assurance of true spiritual life and should amplify the urgency for pastors to invest time in their relationship with God, rather than solely in their ministerial roles.

Q: Why is the pastor's devotional life important for the church?

The pastor's devotional life is foundational for producing a spiritually vibrant and balanced ministry that nourishes the church. The vitality of a church is often determined by the spiritual health of its leaders. A pastor's personal devotion not only confirms their spiritual state but enhances their ability to minister effectively to others. According to Scripture, such devotion fosters a climate conducive to growth and blessing, as seen in how prayer and personal study connect the pastor with the Spirit of God. When pastors neglect their devotional life, the risk is that their preaching could become dry and lifeless, lacking the unction that comes from personal experience of God’s grace. The church will suffer if pastors do not cultivate their own relationship with God.

Q: How can pastors maintain their devotional life amidst ministry demands?

Pastors can maintain their devotional life by prioritizing it as essential, structuring their time, and fighting distractions. To maintain a fruitful devotional life, pastors must recognize its indispensable necessity and actively seek time for prayer and Scripture reading. This involves creating a structured plan for devotion that accommodates their ministry demands. Overcoming natural and spiritual hindrances, such as distractions and an undisciplined approach to time management, is crucial. Pastors need to set aside focused times for God, fight the tendencies of the flesh that resist spiritual discipline, and ensure their private devotional practices align with their public ministry. Such dedication ensures that they are spiritually fed and, in turn, are able to feed their congregations effectively.

Let us turn in the Word of God
to 1 Timothy 4. I shall read verses 6 through
16. 1 Timothy 4, verses 6 through
16. If thou put the brethren in remembrance
of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto
thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives'
fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily
exercise profiteth for a little time, But godliness is profitable
unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation. For therefore, we both labor
and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who
is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. These
things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth,
but be thou an example of the believers in word, in manner
of living, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance
to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, Neglect not the gift
that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying
on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself
and unto thy teaching, continue in them, for in doing this thou
shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." Let us pause
again for a moment of prayer to ask the Lord's special help
as we consider together this most vital theme of the pastor's
devotional life. Lord, you have heard the cries
that have gone up to thy throne on behalf of this conference
as a whole, the petitions that have been uttered from this very
meeting place in this hour. And now hear us as we cry to
thee again, not that we think we shall be heard for our much
speaking, but because, O Lord, we want again to consciously
acknowledge our present need of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. to make this written word a very
pointed and applied word to each of our hearts, and by Thy grace
may it become a life and habit-transforming word. Speak to us, Lord. For Thy name's sake we plead
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The subject which was assigned
to me for this opening session as most of you I'm sure are aware,
is the subject of the pastor's devotional life. Now, in order
that we might know together that which we're speaking about, I
want to say several things by way of introduction. First of
all, what are we considering when we talk about the pastor's
devotional life? Well, in no way do I think it
was in the thinking of the committee that we should establish some
kind of a dichotomy between the secular activities of the pastor
and that which we might call the sacred activities, as though
he were somehow more pleasing to God when he was on his knees
than perhaps when he's found polishing his shoes, last thing
Saturday night, which happens to be the last chore that I do
on Saturday night, or when perhaps he may be found spanking his
children Monday morning, which may be particularly needful after
they've been up too late the evening before, in no way are
we inferring that somehow this area of the pastor's life is
more sacred than any other area that comes within the compass
of the will of God. But we are speaking particularly
of the act and habit of secret prayer and private meditative
reading of the Holy Scriptures for the development of spiritual
life with no conscious reference to ministerial duties. Now, when
I read that definition that I worked on this week to one of the men
in the car, he says, well, it sounds rather involved, like
a sort of an antiquated statement from one of the old seventeenth-century
writers. Well, I asked him, what could
we change? And after we went over it, he said, well, I guess
it's all right. So it will stand as written. What are we talking
about when we speak of the pastor's devotional life? Well, this is
what I am speaking about tonight, and trust to bring to bear upon
this subject relevant portions of Holy Scripture, the act and
habit of secret prayer and private meditative reading of the Holy
Scriptures for the development of the spiritual life with no
conscious reference to ministerial duties. That exercise will have
tremendous carryover into ministerial duties, but the pastor's devotional
life is that aspect of his life when he's shut up with his God
and with the Word of his God and is not consciously thinking
of specific official ministerial duties. So much then for what
we mean by the phrase devotional life, and now the person who
is in focus, according to the title, is the pastor. But I'm
sure that the people on the committee had in mind all those who are
engaged in what we call some kind of full-time Christian ministry,
a bad distinction in some ways, but one that at least communicates. We're speaking of those of us
who live of the gospel. who do not have to go out and
put in our eight or ten or twelve hours a day in some form of employment
to put bread on the table and a roof over a head and electricity
and the light bulbs, but those things are taken care for us
by those to whom we minister. So this would take in teachers,
missionaries, as well as pastors and evangelists and other forms
of Christian work. But the principles apply to every
single one of us. For the Scripture does not give
a double standard of piety for the pastor. There is an intensified
standard of piety, but not a double standard. When recently studying
the requirements for the elders as set forth in Titus 1 and 1
Timothy 3, it was interesting to note that only one of those
requirements is not found repeated in the epistles addressed to
all Christians in general as a requirement of godliness and
piety amongst all believers, and that's the requirement that
they be apt to teach. All the other requirements—sober,
Good behavior, not given to much wine, those requirements are
given to Christians in general in other places. And so the standards
of piety, and this includes, of course, personal devotional
exercises, are basically the same for every individual believer. They are intensified for the
pastor or the Christian worker. So I trust that you who are called
lay people will not turn off the matters which we'll be dealing
with tonight, for they apply to you in a very real sense. Then, of course, last of all,
by way of introduction, let me state that it's comparatively
easy to gather materials from the Word of God on this subject,
for the Word of God is full of such material. It's comparatively
easy to go through Christian biography and glean some tremendous
statements from men of God whose lives have adorned the Church
with great blessing in years past. But I confess at the very
outset that the preparation of this message has not been the
real sweat, though I trust some sweat has gone into it, nor will
it involve too much sweat for you to sit here for an hour and
listen. But if by the grace of God we are to do what David did
when he said in Psalm 119 and verse 59, this will cost us something. I fought on my ways and I turned
my feet unto thy testimonies. I made haste and delayed not
to keep thy commandments. When he saw the standard of Holy
Scripture, and he thought upon his own ways, he said, my feet
are not walking in the ways of God. He said, I made haste. Before the impressions left me,
I sought to conform my present experience to my new light from
God. And oh, if God will be pleased
to do that, that the new light that comes, or old light that
comes with freshness, may find us thinking upon our ways and
then turning our feet unto the testimonies of God, then this
time will have been spent to our profit and to the blessing
of others. So much then for these introductory
thoughts. As we try to think our way through this subject,
let us consider in the first place the importance of the pastor's
devotional life. Then we shall consider some hindrances
to the pastor's devotional life, and if time permits, some practical
suggestions for the establishment of a fruitful devotional life.
First of all, then, the importance of a pastor's devotional life.
We're going to look at it, with Scripture before us, in two ways. From the standpoint of a general
principle of Holy Scripture, and then from the standpoint
of four specific things that are accomplished in the exercise
of a devotional experience or in this devotional life that
we're speaking about. Now the general principle is
set before us in the text which I read to you tonight. First
Timothy chapter 4 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul says to this
young preacher, take heed unto thyself and unto thy teaching
Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself
and those that hear thee." That word, take heed, is a very strong
word. It's the same word used in Acts
3 and verse 5, where it speaks of that impotent man who fixed
his eyes upon Peter and John. Look on us! And the scripture
says that he looked to them. God is saying, look carefully
to yourself, for it's only as you do this that you will save
yourself, and that's your first responsibility, Timothy. I've
given you many instructions, Timothy. I've told you that I
want you to help the churches in selecting proper spiritual
leadership. I've set out the requirements.
I've told you what you're to teach, what you're not to teach,
what you're to tell the wives, the young men, the old men. I've
told you that you're to be this and do that. But Timothy, amidst
all of those tremendous responsibilities, never forget it, Timothy, Your
first and greatest responsibility is to watch closely over the
nurture and cultivation of your own soul. And if your obedience
to anything else I've told you makes that suffer, your obedience
is sin. For you've neglected the greater
part and chosen the lesser in its place. The same principle
is set forth in Acts 20 and verse 28, where the apostle is charging
the elders of the church at Ephesus. And when he comes to conclude
his exhortation to them, he says in Acts 20 and in verse 28, Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and then to all the flock of
God. over which the Holy Ghost had
made you overseers. The word take heed here is a
different word. The word used in Hebrews 2.1,
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we have heard, lest at any time we should drift away
from them. This is the word. We are to give
earnest heed to ourselves. In the light of these two texts
of Scripture, the principle, the general principle is obvious.
that the first and greatest responsibility of the Christian minister is
the nurture and cultivation of his own relationship to God. Someone has said that the minister's
life is the life of his ministry, and if that's true, and I believe
it is, the minister's life is the life of his ministry, then
his devotional life is the heartbeat of his life. If his life is the
life of his ministry, If his ministry will be no more than
what he is, then he will be no more than what his heart is.
And what is his heart? His devotional life. And cut
out a man's heart and you have a carcass, and before long it
stings. And instead of the fragrance
of Christ, there is the stench of self and of flesh, when the
vital heart throb of a warm devotional life is killed. In the light
of this principle, you and I, if we are not already convinced,
must become so deeply convinced that this matter of the cultivation
of our own relationship to God is of prime importance, that
we will fight with a holy vengeance every influence rising from within
our own hearts, from within our own homes, and within our official
ministerial duty. that would militate against the
establishment and maintenance of a fruitful devotional life.
And I say to any preacher here tonight, if you are not conscious
of fighting the tendency to neglect this principle and fighting it
with a holy vengeance, the battle has already been won
on the side of the enemy. If you are not conscious of a
very real struggle in warfare to maintain the primacy of that
principle, take heed to thyself." Then I submit the battle has
already been lost. Listen to the words of Henry
Martin, the saintly missionary to India. I see how great are
the temptations of a missionary to neglect his own soul, apparently
outwardly employed for God. My heart has been growing more
hard and proud. Let me be taught that the first
great business on earth is not the fulfillment of the Great
Commission. No, no. He said, let me be taught that
my first great business on earth is the sanctification of my own
soul. And then he goes on to say, so
shall I be rendered more capable also of performing the duties
of the ministry in a holy and a solemn manner. In another place,
Henry Martin says, may the Lord, in mercy to my soul, save me
from setting up any idol of any sort in his place, as I do by
preferring even a work professedly for him to communion with him. To obey is better than to sacrifice
and to hearken than the fat of rams. Let me learn this, that
to follow the direct injunctions of God about my own soul is more
my duty than to be engaged in other works under pretense of
doing Him service." Brethren, do you see how practical that
is? That means that when you go up to that study at 8.30 in
the morning and all of a sudden you think of all the letters
that must be written and the sick people that must be visited,
and you rationalize yourself away from giving those morning
hours to seeking God. Listen to what Henry Martin says,
It is more my duty to remember the words of God, Take heed to
thyself, than to remember the words, Take heed to the flock.
This is more my duty than to pretend to serve him by disobedience
to that principle. Listen to the words of Spurgeon
admonishing the young preachers in his college. It will be in
vain for me to stock my library, to organize societies or project
schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself. For books and agencies
And systems are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling. My own spirit, soul, and body
are my nearest machinery for sacred service. My spiritual
faculties, my inner life, are my battle acts and my weapons
of war. McShane, writing to a ministerial
friend who was traveling with a view to perfecting himself
in the German tongue, used language identical with our own, still
quoting from Spurgeon, who in turn has quoted McShane, I know
you will apply hard to German, but do not forget the culture
of the inner man. I mean of the heart. How diligently
the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every
stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember, you are God's
sword, his instrument, I trust, a chosen vessel to bear his name. In great measure, according to
the purity and perfection of the instrument, will be the success.
It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon
in the hands of God." and there is no advance in holiness
where there is perpetual neglect of the devotional place with
God. So much then for this general
principle. Now I want to move in to consider
the importance of the preacher's devotional life in terms of its
specific functions. Here the principle is clearly
stated in Scripture, take heed to thyself and then to the flock. But now what are the actual functions
of these devotional exercises. May I suggest in the first place
that the devotional exercises of the preacher or of the average
Christian, first of all, confirms the reality of spiritual life. It confirms the reality of spiritual
life. The fact that a man is a pastor
does not negate the necessity of obeying 2 Corinthians 13.5.
Examine yourself, prove yourself, whether ye be in the faith. The
fact that a man expounds the word of God does not negate the
necessity to obey 2 Peter 1.10. Make your calling and your election
sure. In fact, if any person, any Christian,
should be doubly in earnest to obey those injunctions to self-examination,
it should be the man who faces a text like Matthew 7.23 and
says, look, I could qualify for that. The average lay person
can't. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name? And in
your name cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful
works. Then will I profess unto them,
depart from me. I never knew you. ye that work
iniquity." Worked iniquity, but mighty workers in the cause of
God's kingdom, apparently. I find no reference in Scripture
to anyone coming before the throne of judgment and saying, Have we not known what it is
to be humbled in your presence, and when no eye was upon us but
thine, to mourn over inward corruption? Have I not known what it is to
wrestle against the swelling pride of my heart? O Lord, have
I not known what it is to bathe my sincere sorrow for sin in
tears that were triggered by a view of a bleeding Savior?
Oh, no. No one is found in that day seeking
to bring forward the inwardness of true piety. No, no. It's those who were content with
the outwardness of service, to whom He will say, Depart from
Me. I never knew you. My name was upon your lips, and
I honored thy name. And the powers of darkness moved,
but you never felt the release. the power of sin within your
own breast. Depart from me. I never knew
you. I tell you, brethren, that ought to make us tremble. One of the functions of a consistent
devotional life is that it confirms to the preacher that he's something
more than one more to stand in that crowd described in Matthew
7 who will say, Have we not preached? To whom you'll say, Depart. when
He can say, with all His failures before Him and all His weakness,
Lord, at least by Your grace I've known what it is to sneak
away into the quiet place. And there praise You, not because
it was Sunday morning and the first thing we do according to
the order of service is sing the doxology, but because, Lord,
I love You. And to be found on my knees with
my hymn book, not because it's part of my duty, but because,
Lord, I delight to praise You. It confirms the reality of life.
No man should seek confirmation of spiritual life in terms of
his gifts or his usefulness in service, but in terms of the
marks of vital inward piety. May I ask a very pointed and,
I trust, searching question to every pastor tonight, every Christian
worker? If you could this night Strip
away from your life all the praying, all the study of Scripture, all the talking about the things
of God that is directly related to your official ministerial
tasks. How much prayer, how much study
of the Word of God would you have left? Take away the hours
that are spent in working over the text, seeing its structure,
seeing its relationship to its context, seeking to lay it out
orderly, systematically, clearly, illustrate it, put little windows
in it, make it interesting, put all that study to one side. All
the study of Scripture related to preparing for that midweek
service, all of that, put it aside. Now put aside all the
prayer for God's blessing, particularly upon your ministry and your preaching
and your teaching. Put all that aside. And let remain that study of
Scripture that has as its conscious motivation, I'm a disciple of
Jesus. I'm one of his sheep. I love
his voice. I want to hear his voice for
me. Nobody else. I come to Scripture because I
know that the entrance of the Word gives light, and I want
Him to search me and try me and know my heart. And so I come
with a prayer, Lord, see if there be any wicked way in me. And
with no thought of exposing the sin of my people, I lift my heart
up to the burning light of Holy Scripture, that God will search
me and make me a holier man. I come because I love my God
and I love to see His face, and here in Holy Scripture His glory
breaks forth, and I come to that book because I want to see Him
and be ravished with a new sight of His glory in the face of Jesus. My preacher friend, how much
of your Bible study has that as its motivation? But you see, if there's spiritual
life, you'll be able to say, oh God, far too little, but thank
you at least some. And if you can't say at least
some, you're on dangerous ground. Dangerous ground. For the love
of reputation, for the love of the praise of men, a man can
be a deep and earnest student of the Word, to share it with
others, who himself has no hunger to have his own heart blessed
and burnt and broken with that word? Generally speaking, the only
reason a man sneaks away with that book, with no thought of
his people, is because grace has been imparted, grace that
has made him a true lover of God and a lover of his Son. grace
that has made him a hater of sin and a lover of holiness.
And this book is the means of sanctification. Sanctify them
through the truth. Thy word is truth." That's why
he comes to it. That's why he prays. I'm talking
about prayer. God, bless my preaching. For,
Lord, if you don't, it might not last too long. See, all the
foul motivation that can enter when we pray for success upon
our preachments of the prayer that's marked by humbling oneself
before God, confessing one's sin, one's pride, one's coldness. I submit to you that a consistent
devotional life has this specific function in that it first of
all confirms the reality of spiritual life. Listen to the words of John Owen.
He that would go down to the pit in peace Let him obtain a
great reputation for religion, for being a good five-pointer.
Let him preach and labor to make others better than he is himself.
And in the meantime, neglect to humble his own heart and to
walk with God and manifest holiness and usefulness, and he will not
fail at his end. Do you want to go down to the
pit in peace? John Owen says, then let all
of your spiritual exercises be with reference to others and
not to yourself, and you'll attain your end. You'll go down to the
pit in peace, utterly deceived. One warning of the danger of
an unconverted ministry, Spurgeon said, nor is the possession of
this first qualification, namely a true standing in grace, a thing
to be taken for granted by any man. For there is a very great
possibility of our being mistaken as to whether or not we are converted.
Believe me, it is no child's play to make your calling and
election. Sure, the world is full of counterfeits and swarms
with panderers to carnal self-conceit who gather round a minister as
vultures around a carcass. Our own hearts are deceitful,
so that the truth lies not on the surface, but must be drawn
up from the deepest well. We must search ourselves very
anxiously and very thoroughly, lest by any means, after having
preached to others, we ourselves should be cast away. Reverend,
I would never want to cooperate with a accuser of the brethren,
the devil himself, who would torment the tender, over-sensitive,
over-scrupulous conscience of a true Christian minister here
tonight. I would never want to be a cooperator with the devil
to torment an oversensitive conscience, but neither would I cooperate
with him in his work of deceiving us into thinking that because
we are, quote, busy in the ministry, we must therefore stand in a
state of grace. We may be sealing ourselves in
a state of deception from which only the pit itself may deliver
us. I was interested in the last reading carefully through John
not John, but George Whitfield's journals to find references like
these. After dinner I prayed, and an
old minister was so deeply convicted that calling Mr. Noble and me
out with great difficulty because of his weeping, he desired our
prayers. For, said he, I have been a scholar
and have preached the doctrines of grace for a long time. But I believe I have never felt
the power of them in my own soul." That's pretty sobering, isn't
it? A scholar, and I've preached
the doctrines of grace for a long time, but I've never felt the
power in my own soul. I trust there is some semblance
of devotional life, dear preacher friend. that will be a confirmation
to you of the reality of spiritual life. For God does not save men
because they preach, or because they preach well, or because
they preach successfully, but because they've been made holy,
humble servants of Jesus by the mighty work of God's grace and
God's Spirit. Well, I hurry to the second specific
function of the pastor's devotional life. It will not only confirm
the reality of spiritual life, but it will go far to maintain
the vitality of spiritual life. For our spiritual lives in their
vitality are oft like the brook chariot, which when Elijah first
came to it was full to the banks and was obviously inadequate
supply. Day by day he saw the shrinking
of that brook until it was just a little trickle. And every true
child of God who's walked longer than three weeks with God knows
a little something experimentally of the difference between the
reality and presence of spiritual life and the vitality and vibrance
of that life. The first psalm gives a beautiful
description of spiritual life that is in a constant state of
vitality. Verse 3 says, He shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. a tree that has been
planted as I've tried to search out that figure. I've been preaching
through the first psalm to my own people. It's either a custom,
an agricultural custom there in the Near East in which they
made irrigation ditches and then deliberately planted trees by
them, or finding a place where trees had been planted naturally
would bring the ditch by them. But it's the picture of the fact
that the roots go down so deep into that constant source of
supply that no matter what the climate is, the leaf never withers. There is not only the presence
of life, but the vitality of life, and that vitality is manifest
to all. Jeremiah uses the same figure
in the 17th chapter of his prophecy. Now, what's the source of that
vitality? Well, the first two verses tell
us, blessed is that man who walks not in the advice of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful, but His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in
his law doth he meditate, doth he mumble day and night. You see, it's that man whose
roots, all of his thoughts, so that his subconscious reacting
and thinking and evaluating, are more and more shaped and
molded by Holy Scripture. It's that man that shall be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water. It's not the man who
comes to the Word for his sermonic material, and having delivered
it, is done with the Word, but it's the man who so loves that
Word as the Word of his own Redeemer God that he mumbles in it, he
meditates in it, day and night. God said to Joshua, this book
of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. But thou shalt
meditate, same word, thou shalt mumble therein day and night
the word, ever feeding, shaping, molding, directing the thought,
the actions, the reactions. That's the person who maintains
the vitality of spiritual life. Do we not all know what it is
to our shame to preach ourselves into a state of spiritual barrenness? Beloved, I've been at conferences
where I had to quit after about the second day. I found myself
getting carnal as a goat. Why? Because there was so much
hearing and so much talking and so much catching up on old times
that there was a neglect of the secret place and the freshness
was gone. Instead of sermons falling like
dew upon the parched ground, They were like more dessert to
a man who's already stuffed. He tastes it and he's had enough.
Send the rest back to the kitchen. If we're to maintain the vitality
of life, there must be this matter of the consistent devotional
exercises, for it is here, in that secret place, when we are
reading the Word of God with no direct thought for our people,
that the promises glow with a heavenly light, that the warnings flash
in their frightening shadows, that the comforts of Scripture
distill like dew on a parched place. It's here that sin is
revealed in its ugliness in the light of God's countenance. It's
here that Christ is revealed in ravishing beauty. Heaven and
eternity are brought into sharp focus. Earth and time are put
in their proper place. The application of the blood
is felt in fresh, renewing power. And there we experience the quickening
grace of the Spirit. There is a statement found in
the memoirs of McShane, as Bonar comments on the life of McShane,
quoting from Jeremy Taylor, If thou meanest to enlarge thy religion,
do it rather by enlarging thine ordinary devotions than thy extraordinary. That's it. He meditates in the
Lord day and night. He shall be like a tree planted.
How is that freshness of spiritual life to be maintained? Only as
there is some measure of consistency in the devotional life. Now I
know some say, oh, that's legalistic. Yes, it would be legalistic if
I had the idea that God will keep me fresh because I pray
and read the scriptures. That's legalistic. But it's not
legalistic to say, I have no grounds to expect He'll keep
me fresh if I don't use the means He's appointed for my freshness,
which is what? The secret Christ-ing place with
God. And if there's no freshness,
it's probably because there's been relinquishing. of that warfare
of holy violence to maintain time alone with God. Listen to
the words of Bridges at this point. Time must be found for
spiritual feeding upon scriptural truths as well as for critical
investigation of their meaning or for a ministerial application
of their message. For if we should study the Bible
more as ministers than as Christians, more to find matter for the instruction
of our people than food for the nourishment of our own souls.
We neglect to place ourselves at the feet of our Divine Teacher.
Our communion with Him is cut off, and we become mere formalists
in our sacred profession. We cannot live by feeding others
or heal ourselves by the mere employment of healing our people. And therefore, by this course
of official service, our familiarity with the awful realities of death
and eternity may be rather like that of the grave digger, the
physician, or the soldier than the man of God viewing eternity
with deep seriousness and concern and bringing to his people the
profitable fruit of his contemplations. It has been well remarked that
once a man begins to view religion not as of personal but merely
professional importance, he has an obstacle in his course with
which the ordinary Christian is unacquainted. Brethren, I
don't believe personal testimony is out of place in preaching.
I see it in Holy Scripture, and I know there are times when
I must. By no means setting myself a
pattern, but I trust having at least experienced a little of
that which I'm seeking to preach, when I have just said, I don't
care. If I died tomorrow, somebody
would be in the pulpit to preach, or they'd have a memorial service
and go home. My first task is not the preparation of those
sermons. Sunday's been creeping up, and material has not yet
been digested. Circumstances have come into
the life where there's been carelessness in guarding the secret place,
and the heart has been dry, and the things of God unreal. Do
your people need another hollow, unreal sermon from an unreal
man? I have said far better to stand
up Sunday morning and just tell that the Lord is precious and
has made himself real to me, and have a little word of prayer
that will make himself real to the people and send them home,
at least having seen a real man in touch with a real God, than
a woman, professional Christian worker and so-called preacher. Brethren, the breath of God that
comes upon assemblies sometimes comes sovereignly without much
relationship to the human instrument. But generally speaking, the breath
of God descends upon a people when the breath of God is descended
upon a pastor. And they get the overflow. And
there's no overflow without consistent devotional life. Well, the third
specific function of the pastor's devotional life is this, confirming
the reality of spiritual life, maintaining the vitality of spiritual
life, thirdly, providing the soil of an anointed ministry. What is this matter of unction,
that peculiar quality that's either there or it isn't? That
heavenly influence which makes a man able to say with call in
1 Corinthians 2, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power. I don't understand what this
matter of unction is. I know what it isn't. And I know
when I must grind on without it, And I trust I know a little
bit what it is to have the wind of God fill the sails and to
sense you're being carried along by an influence that doesn't
find its roots in you. And though there's an element
of divine sovereignty and divine unpredictableness, lest we should
ever think we've got God in our little box. The ways of the Spirit
are like the wind, yet Scripture does reveal that there is an
inseparable relationship between the secret prayers of the servant
of God and the precipitation of spiritual unction and power.
For prayer and the outcalling of the Spirit are linked again
and again in Scripture to text. These are merely suggested, by
no means exhaustive. Luke 11.13, if ye, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask Him. Luke 11.13, Philippians 1.19,
for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your
prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus. Prayer and the
supply of the Spirit. Acts chapter 4, and as they prayed,
the place where they prayed was shaken. They were filled with
the Holy Ghost. They spake the Word of God with
boldness. It's as they prayed that the
Spirit was poured out in the day of Pentecost. And my brethren,
I don't understand it, but it's revealed and I believe it. that
there is this relationship between the secret groans and agonizings
and pleadings of the servant of God when he's shut up with
no one but himself and his God, and speaking with that heavenly
dew, of moving in his family with a heavenly breath, of moving
amongst his flock, not with the stake-on steps of the professional
preacher, but with the fragrance of Jesus.
and the overflow of his own life. There is that relationship between
secret devotional reading and this matter of unction that has
not only the concept of Scripture that the pure Spirit poured out
in clothing the servant of God, but the servant himself being
possessed of the Word. Jeremiah says in the fifteenth
chapter of his prophecy, Thy words were found, and I did what? and thy words were unto me the
outline and substance of my sermon?" Too often that's how we would
have to write it. Thy words were found and I did exegete them.
We can't look at a passage. We can't hear a passage read,
but what we're sermonizing and breaking it down, thinking, how
could I share that to others? No, no, Jeremiah says, thy words
were found and I did eat them. I wanted to make them mine. I
had no thought of anybody else. And thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart." Listen to the same prophet as
he says in chapter 20. Having gotten discouraged in
feeling one of those terrible blue Mondays, might as well quit.
He said, I'm not going to talk anymore. Every time I open my
mouth I put my foot in it and everybody else sticks his foot
in my shins. What's the sense? He said, I wasn't long in that
resolution to quit when something happened. Thy word was where? In my head? No, in my heart,
as a fire shut up within my bones. I was weary with forbearing.
I could not stay. He preached. Why? He'd explode
if he didn't. If he didn't open this cavity,
he was afraid it would blow out some other. And whatever unction
is, I know it's not noise. Some of us, when we explode,
it comes out in volume. Other people, it doesn't. It
doesn't need to be volume. But there's that peculiar something. From the time the words leave
the mouth of the preacher and come to the ears of the hearers,
there's a divine influence that sits upon them and sends them
home with power and authority. And men know they're hearing
the voice of God. That's unction. It doesn't come to the man to
whom this book is his official textbook for his ministerial
functions. It comes to the man to whom this
book, this precious meat and drink, is the word of his God. Listen to Bridges again. It is
the present experience, nourishment and enjoyment, that gives a glow
of unction far beyond the power of accomplishment To bear our
message written in our hearts is the first method of carrying
to our people deep and weighty impressions of the things of
God. Oh, to be able to say, brethren, with John, that which we have
seen and we have heard, and our hands have handled that which
we have seen and heard, we declare. I don't believe a busy bee is
particular where he finds some good nectar, some pollen. And I'm reading from Salvation
Army hymnal tonight, a hymn of the past general of the Salvation
Army that captures this concept of the third function of the
preacher's devotional life, giving unction to his ministry. Listen
to the words of Albert Osborne. In the secret of thy presence,
where the pure in heart may dwell, are the springs of sacred service
and a power that none can tell. There my love must bring its
offering, there my heart must yield its praise, and the Lord
will come revealing all the secrets of His ways. More than all my
lips may utter, more than all I do or bring is the depth of
my devotion to my Savior, Lord, and King. Nothing less will keep
me tender, nothing less will keep me true, nothing less will
keep the fragrance and the bloom in all I do. Blessed Lord, to
see Thee truly, then to tell as I have seen, this shall rule
my life supremely, this shall be the sacred gleam Sealed again
is all the sealing, pledged again my willing heart, first to know
Thee, then to serve Thee, then to see Thee as Thou art. Then the fourth function of the
pastor's devotional life is that by the assistance of God it will
aid in creating the climate of a balanced ministry. One of the
terrible effects of the Fall is disharmony and disproportionateness. All was in perfect equipoise
in the world when it came from God's hand. Everything in the
inanimate world, everything within man, was in perfect balance. And sin came and all was thrown
into disharmony. Now when God regenerates us,
turns us to himself and we become new men in Christ. There is a
basic reuniting of that which was out of harmony and a basic
bringing together, but not a perfect bringing together. And one of
the areas in which this problem of disharmony is seen is in the
tendency to imbalance in the Christian life. Now, how are
you going to be kept balanced in your ministry? It's only as
in the devotional reading of Scripture, God is continually
keeping your own inner life, your thought life, your perspective
of truth, as He keeps that in balance. Then there will be balance
in your ministry. And I would submit this is precisely
the purpose for which the entire revelation of God was given to
us. Notice in 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy 3, what Paul says the function of
Holy Scripture should be in the life of a preacher. I'm sorry,
yes, 2 Timothy chapter 3. He says in verse 15, from a child,
Timothy, you have known the Holy Scriptures. Now what is their
first function? Number one, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. And the first function of Holy
Scripture is to be a pointer to Christ. Now, what's the second
great function? Listen. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof,
correction, instruction, and righteousness. That the people
of God may be perfect? No. That the man of God Who's
the man of God? That's that peculiar title that
Paul uses with Timothy, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. And he says, Timothy, the scriptures
which you learned from your childhood, which have been God's pointer
to Christ, are now to be the instrument that you, as the man
of God, might be perfect, mature, well-rounded, kept in proper
perspective, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And so if
there is not a system, some system of continuous exposure to the
whole spectrum of the Word of God, if I do not have some systematic
devotional patterns whereby over a period of a couple of years
I'm not going through the entire breadth of Scripture asking God
to speak to me, to show me what doctrine, what reproof, what
correction is there, I'm going to be imbalanced. in my thinking
and, consequently, in my ministry. Again, I would bear testimony
here as to why I would ever be found at a Reformed Baptist conference. There's only one reason, from
the human side, that I have come to believe and love those aspects
of truth about which we gather, secondary, of course, to our
Lord and as the truth is in Him. It's because this matter of the
devotional reading of scripture brought me periodically to John
17. And when I came to those words,
I have given eternal life to as many as thou hast given them,
given me. And I said, now, Lord, whatever
you want to show me about yourself, show me here. It seemed as though
he was telling me there are people who my father gave to me. And
I have given eternal life to them. And the obvious implication
is not all men were given to them or all would have eternal
life. And so I put it on the shelf for a while, but it wouldn't
be long before you go from John into Acts and then you're in
Romans. And when you came to Romans 9, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy." Well, you just put it down for a sign, but it wasn't
long before you got through Romans and Corinthians, and there you
were, smacking Ephesians 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Until it was just
too much, And the Lord just subdued my heart and disposed my mind
to embrace the wonderful truth of his sovereign election of
his people, all but on the same token. Why could I never embrace
this idea that, well, since God has chosen His people, we must
not preach the duty of faith and the duty of repentance? It's
illogical if men are spiritually impotent. Well, because in reading
through the book of Acts, I find Peter standing saying, Repent!
And I find Paul saying, Repent! And I find John saying, Believe!
I couldn't become a hard shell. No man can read his Bible and
become a hard shell Baptist. No man can read his Bible spiritually
sensitive to its message and become indifferent to evangelism
any more than he can read his Bible spiritually sensitive and
forever seek to cast off the glorious truths that we commonly
call Calvinism. O beloved, that we might have
a balanced ministry. None of us will have a perfectly
balanced ministry, but we can, under God, do much to be deterred
from a glaringly imbalanced ministry by a consistent devotional life. Now, if you desire as a pastor
to cumber the ground by a ministry which has no biblical grounds
of assurance, no present vitality of spiritual life, no heavenly
unction, and no assurance of balance, then, my dear preacher
friend, you may go right on rationalizing as to why you don't frequent
the closet. If we could right now make a
board one foot long and two inches square of every rationalizing
statement that's gone through the minds of men here tonight
who know they are negligent in this area, I think we'd probably
burst the walls with these boards. For we all have the best reasons
that would be totally inexcusable in our brethren, but God knows
my situation's different. Yes, He does know. He knows that
you're lying. He knows that it's spiritual
carelessness that has led to this state where not only does
a day or two, but three and four and weeks pass without that kind
of meditative reading of the Holy Scriptures until they burn
with no thought of my people but my own soul. Brethren, in
the five years that I spent in the itinerant ministry, I received
a shocking revelation. Going from evangelical church
to evangelical church in many parts of this country, in a period
of five years, going into dozens of such churches, I met less
than a dozen men who testified that they had any regular, systematic
devotional habits. Less than a dozen. It's no wonder that poor hungry
sheep look up and are not fed. Is it no wonder that they're
running off after Pentecostalism? Is it no wonder that they're
running off into little groups outside the pale of the organized
church? Little cell groups, faith and
action groups. I see them running after all
of these things in our area. And in one respect, I don't blame
them. For to sit under an arm's shimless
ministry from a dead, wooden servant of Christ would be more
than my own soul could take. O brethren, if we are determined
by God's grace to be true Christians and true ministers, then we will
arm ourselves for the holy conflict and fight with holy violence
until we, by God's grace, maintain some semblance of consistent,
fruitful devotional life. Now, I can see my time is only
going to permit me to touch briefly on the hindrances to the pastor's
devotional life. I would suggest that they are
twofold. Number one, the natural or external
hindrances, and then in the second place, the internal or spiritual
hindrances. What are the natural or external
hindrances? Well, there's that of an undisciplined
life in general and that of an unplanned devotional time in
particular. An undisciplined life in general.
Because we live of the gospel, we have no clock to punch, no
boss to frown if we come in three minutes after eight. Nobody to
check on our hours, nobody to say at the end of the week when
they're making up the paychecks, well this fella's put in only
32 hours, so his time-hour rate is $3.95 an hour, therefore,
boom, this is what he gets, no? Nobody to check on us. No clock
to punch. And you know what many of us
have cultivated? That unholy art of doing little non-essential
things in such a way to convince ourselves and others that we're
very busy in the work of the kingdom. That's the unholy art
of puttering. Puttering! That's what puttering
is. It's the unholy art of doing
little inconsequential things in such a way to convince ourselves
and others that we're very busy in the kingdom of God. And we
always feel good when someone calls and says, well, you know, Pastor,
I know you're so very busy. I hate to take your time to say,
boy, the act is going over good. Tozer once prayed, Oh God, save
me from puttering. I've been puttering around the
garden. Well, if you need physical exercise, don't putter, get out
there and work. And if you don't need physical exercise and you
ought to be studying, well, don't be puttering, be up studying.
And we ought to be praying. Let's be praying with every fiber
of our redeemed beings engaged. Whatever thy hand finds to do,
do with all thy might is unto the Lord. This is a world of
order and system, and there must be some structure to our lives. And so I submit that the reason
some of us have very unfruitful devotional exercises is because
of this very natural factor of an undisciplined life in general.
And perhaps it would help. And I've done this on occasions
when I found my own rationalizing heart getting the best of me.
I've taken a three-by-five card and I've laid it on my desk.
And when I went there or into my study to pray, I jotted down
the time I came in. And when I got up off my knees,
I jotted the time I was done. And when I went to my desk to
study, I jotted down the time. And when I left, if it was to
go downstairs for a cup of coffee, I jotted down the time. When
I got back, I jotted down the time. If I went to mail, and
I took a count at the end of the day. And it was shocking
at times to see how I'd been deceiving myself into thinking
I was spending a day in holy ministerial exercises. when the
total of it, if it were out in the workaday world, wouldn't
bring home enough bread to feed my children, let alone my wife
and the guests and the visitors who come. Brethren, we must cultivate an
ordered, disciplined life. I wouldn't set up rules for you,
but there must be some rules for you that you set up. And
then an unplanned devotional time in particular. I'm convinced
that some have great hindrances in their devotional exercises
because they have no order and they come in the morning and
the mind is dull and the spirit is heavy and they just try to
pray a little bit and nothing happens, try to read a little
bit. You'll have some order, some structure. Recognize that,
generally speaking, the spirit will be sluggish and heavy and
stodgy. So you're going to begin by spending
the first few minutes in singing praises to the Lord. You're going
to read some psalms until there begins to be a driving way of
some of the clouds of heaviness. Then you have some system of
reading through certain portions of scripture, some plan for your
devotional life. I was going to quote something
from McShane, but you can search it out for yourself, and that'll
be a good incentive to buy his memoirs if you don't have it.
If you read page 158, it has some helpful suggestions. But
of course, the great hindrance to the pastor's devotional life
is not external. but it's the spiritual or the
internal. And may I suggest that there are two basic internal,
excuse me, spiritual hindrances to the pastor's devotional life.
One is the aversion of the flesh to holy exercises. Galatians
5.17 says, the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit
against the flesh. These two are contrary, the one
to the other. Paul says in Romans chapter 7
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. And nowhere
and in no circumstance is evil more present than when I would
do the thing that is most good. Let me illustrate. Have you not
found many times when the mind has been dull and you've thought,
well, I shouldn't pray in this frame of mind? That's an insult
to God, to just pray with your mind just running around in circles
until you slouched down in the living room chair and you picked
up the newspaper and when your eyes turned to the sports page,
suddenly the mind became alert! How do you explain that? How
do you explain that? Or maybe some friend you hadn't
seen for a while came through the door and suddenly you were
very much awake. How do you explain that? There's no explanation but this,
the flesh lusting against the spirit. And John Owen has some
very helpful insights in his volume number six on indwelling
sin, expounding this very concept. And it brought great help to
me to understand myself in this area. Why is there this aversion?
I can be alert to everything till I think of prey, and then
dullness and distraction. And when I recognize that that's
what it is, that aversion of the flesh and the more spiritual
inactivity, the more violent is that aversion, then there's
only one way to meet it, with holy violence! Reckon myself
dead to its claims. Buffet my body! Drive myself to the secret place. And then the second great spiritual
and internal hindrance to devotional exercises is conscious controversy
with God. Paul said in Acts 24, 16, Herein
do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense
toward God and toward man. He said, I exercise myself. The Greek word is the one from
which we get our English word ascetic. I put myself under strict
rigors to keep an unblemished conscience. Why? Because an unblemished
conscience is the indispensable requirement for the holy exercises
of prayer and meditative reading of the Scripture. Unless, of
course, the prayer is one of confession, to get an unblemished
conscience for fresh application of the blood. There are times
when we have controversies with God and we make ourselves find
things to do to keep from the secret place, because it's in
that secret place that we know we can't deal with God without
dealing with that thing. For John says in 1 John 3, Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward
God, and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep
his commandments. It's possible to preach, to learn
the art of handling words and outlines, and have some tremendous
areas of controversy with God. It's possible to make sick calls
and visitation and conduct board meetings, but you can't pray
long with conscious controversy with God, can you? Can you? I've heard of men who preached
for years while they were living in adultery or full of covetousness,
but I haven't heard of men who were known for their secret prayer
lives guilty of the same sin. Of all people, the servant of
God must keep an unblemished conscience if he is to know a
fruitful devotional life. What's the pathway to a fruitful
devotional life? I'll just give you my headings
and you can work out the rest. Recognize the indispensable necessity. What you regard as necessary,
you make time for. I don't care how busy you were
this past week in your ministerial duties, you didn't go to call
on somebody in the hospital dressed in your nightclothes. You got
time, you found time to get dressed because you believed it was necessary.
When you're convinced the secret place is necessary, time will
be made and found. And the only reason that's the
first thing we relinquish is we really feel we can do it and
get away with it. Appear at the first Presbyterian
hospital in my nightclothes, I couldn't do it and get away
with it. Therefore, no matter how busy I am, I better get dressed.
Skip the secret place? I can do it and get away with
it. That's why we skip it, because we think we can. We're not convinced
of its necessity. Then secondly, resolve to make
any necessary adjustments of time and habit in order to establish
this place with God. And then begin right at this
conference, begin anew. We read in Revelation 2, repent
and do the first works. Let your repentance give birth
not only to holy resolve, but to holy action. Let's not allow
unguarded late conversations during the conference to rob
us of time alone with God in the morning. Let's not allow
the good things of fellowship with each other to rob us of
that better thing of fellowship with our God. And I'm convinced,
brethren, if we come to these meetings tomorrow morning, all
of us fresh from a new touch of God upon our hearts in the
secret place, I believe—I don't mean to be irreverent—that a
dog could bark and we'd get blessed. God would see somehow that hungry,
prepared hearts would get blessed. There could be the greatest preachment
and exposition in these days, but if it falls upon fallow hearts. There will not be much blessing
in the days ahead. Take heed to thyself. This is
your first and great responsibility. As we look to our Lord Jesus,
we see the perfect pattern, pressed by ministerial demands that make
all of us look like sluggards. And yet it's said of him that
a great while before day he went off alone to pray. He that saith he abideth in him,
ought himself so to walk, even as he walked. Let us pray.

The Pastor's Devotional Life

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the pastor's devotional life?

How do we know that personal devotion is vital for pastors?

Why is the pastor's devotional life important for the church?

How can pastors maintain their devotional life amidst ministry demands?

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The Pastor's Devotional Life

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the pastor's devotional life?

How do we know that personal devotion is vital for pastors?

Why is the pastor's devotional life important for the church?

How can pastors maintain their devotional life amidst ministry demands?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

Comments

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