Dear Pastor,
If you need help…ASK for it!
I know many times you feel alone. AND…I also know that you feel the pressure to need to put on the front that you have it all together, that you never struggle and that there is nothing in your life that ever catches you off guard.
But bro, you are NOT the Messiah…and you’ve got to stop pretending you are.
Once again, if you need help…ASK for it!
- Are you wrestling with sexual temptation (or have you already given in?)
- Are you constantly believing that if you were somewhere else that all of your problems would be gone?
- Are you having problems sleeping at night because you are worried?
- Are you wanting to quit the ministry?
- Do you feel guilty about not spending time with your family…but feel like you are enslaved so much to the expectations of others that you say no to those who love you the most?
- Is your marriage where it needs to be?
- Would you say that you and your kids have a great relationship?
- Do you know you need to take time off and feel like if you don’t soon you might absolutely lose your mind…but you refuse to do it because you fear what others might say?
I could go on and on asking these questions; however, the reason for this post is that I have so often found that many pastors wrestle and struggle with these issues above…and instead of seeking help they simply seek relief through some sort of immoral and/or unethical behavior.
Pastor/church leader…I KNOW you are under pressure. This is coming from a guy who began experiencing a serious battle with depression in December of 2007 and am just now coming out of the woods on this deal. The thing that got me through wasn’t “just loving God more and trying harder,” but rather finding a godly counselor and opening up more to some very trusted friends who walked with me and prayed for me during some pretty intense times.
Pastor…if you need help…ASK!
Screw what people think about you! Your calling was to never please people…and you need to be in this for the LONG HAUL! Seriously, we should desire to FINISH WELL…not FLAME OUT “for His glory!!!”
Pastor…if you need help…ASK! Pick up the phone right now and call someone…a friend or another pastor you trust and just talk about what you are wrestling with.
You can either get help now or leave a mess for others to clean up later.
You cannot have a healthy church/ministry if you are not healthy yourself. Sure, it can SEEM healthy…but when your wheels come off the collateral damage will be significant.
AND…we cannot tell our people to be honest with their struggles if we aren’t doing the same.
Pastor…if you need help…ASK!
Sure, pray and ask God…but…ask Him to lead you to a person (or the people) in your life that HE wants to use to help you through WHATEVER you are wrestling with.
If you feel all alone then it’s because you have chosen to be that way. There are over six billion people on the planet…surely God has placed at least one of them here who can at least listen and help you through this.
Pastor…if you need help…ASK!
NOW!