Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
Exodus 17:12–13
What happens on the mountain determines what happens in the valley below. That is one of the most fundamental truths of spiritual leadership I know. Perhaps the second truth is that there is always a cost to stay on that mountain. We are called to lead from the mountain, but we need help to do it.
There are things to which God calls a leader that only that leader can do. Chief among them is prayer. Certainly, the whole church is called to pray, but the leader’s authority and intimacy in prayer have an exponential effect on the church. When a leader fails to pray, the whole church feels the impact of that failure. But when a leader dedicates oneself to leading by prayer, that prayer has an impact on the whole church. The importance of prayer cannot be overemphasized when it comes to leading a church or a family forward. All true progress is made by prayer. There is no more important work than prayer. But it can be dangerous and is often exhausting.
The mountaintop is the place where we meet with God, and the valley is the place where the work of ministry is done and the physical resources of the church are administered. The mountain is the place of spiritual leadership, while the valley is the place of physical work. Leading from the mountain and leading from the valley require very different skill sets and attention. The valley is the place where we construct systems and where we measure resources. It is the place where we give. The mountain is the place where we receive from the presence of God. We need wise and skilled leaders in both, but we cannot allow the pressures of the valley to force us off the mountain. God calls a pastor, leader, and parent to the mountain.
The tension between these two priorities was one of the main challenges the early Church faced in the first century. As the church began to grow, the apostles found themselves giving more time to the physical needs of the community and to the conflicts that rose from those decisions. The book of Acts records that not long after Christ’s ascension, the Church became conflicted over how to provide care to widows (see Acts 6:1–4). It was a logistical question that was also complicated by divisions between Jews and Gentiles.
Certainly, these needs and the growing conflict around them were issues the apostles cared about and were responsible for, but they recognized that their time and energy could be easily distracted. They could end up spending all their time managing these processes and, in doing so, forfeit the work they knew they were called to. Instead of taking up the work themselves, they appointed deacons to take charge. It was an act of delegation and an act of prioritization. The apostles decided to prioritize what they alone could do and what the Church could not afford to lose—prayer.
The apostles explained, “We will turn this responsibility over to them [the new deacons] and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:3–4). The apostles delegated work not just to save themselves time and energy but to prioritize praying and preaching the Word. They had been called to lead through prayer, and they could not lose that priority. They chose to stay on the mountain and to appoint skilled leaders to take up the work of the valley.
Pastors who believe it is their job to do the ministry are the lids to their churches. A pastor’s job is to send leaders into ministry and to empower the church to do the work among the people. Pastors are called to equip the saints for the work, and they are called to pray and preach the Word. It is easy to think of this as only a logistical reality. For the church to grow, there must be more leaders to serve. While that is true, I also want you to recognize that this principle is also a spiritual reality. For the church to grow and fulfill its purposes, the pastor must maintain his or her priority of prayer and his or her place on the mountain.
I love to read about past revivals, and one of the patterns that always emerges is the prioritization of prayer that sustained those seasons of renewal. Revivals are not a consequence of marketing or systems. Revivals happen because a man or woman has an encounter with God and refuses to come down from the mountain. Revivals happen because of the prioritization of prayer.
Have you read about the ministry of Jonathan Edwards? Edwards did not have a charismatic personality. Those who heard him preach described his quiet voice and solemn demeanor. Edwards usually read his sermons from carefully written manuscripts, sometimes failing to even look up at those to whom he preached. Edwards was not who you would imagine a revival preacher to be. But Edwards knew how to lead from the mountain. Edwards led many of the revivals that became a part of America’s first Great Awakening.
The Spirit moved because Edwards prioritized prayer. He described it as the believer’s “great duty,”1 and he wrote of his own unceasing prayers. “It was always my manner, at such times, to sing forth my contemplations. Prayer seemed to be natural to me; as the breath, by which the inward burnings of my heart had vent.”2
It is always that way with those who awaken revival. Prayer is a way of living—a way of breathing. Revival happens first in their personal times of prayer, but it spreads as they refuse to come down from the higher place, choosing instead to lead from the mountain. Prayer makes all things possible. It can make the preaching of a bookish and timid minister the burning fire of another Great Awakening. We need pastors who will lead and preach from the repositories of their mountaintop prayer.
Perhaps our best example of leading from the mountain was Moses. Moses had been trained by the Egyptians to be a leader and to excel in battle techniques and government administration. Having also spent so many years in the hardships of the desert and the wilderness, he was certainly capable and skilled. But as the Israelites prepared to face the Amalekites, Moses knew his place was not on the battlefield but on the mountain above (see Exodus 17:8–13).
He appointed Joshua to lead the battle in the valley. And as Joshua prepared the army for that battle, Moses scaled the mountain with his staff. As the two armies collided on the battlefield, Moses raised his hands over the conflict. He was joined by Aaron and Hur. It did not take the soldiers long to recognize that Moses, though physically distant from the battle, was the most important factor in Israel’s success.
There was a spiritual battle happening on the mountain just as there was a physical battle taking place below. Exodus records, “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning” (verse 11). Moses controlled the victory from the mountain. I believe that is one of the Bible’s clearest images of leadership. God’s leader is called to stand on the mountain and to pray. Those prayers determine the outcome.
Aaron and Hur could see this reality in the physical ebb and flow of battle lines, but it is no less true of our own prayers. When we pray, God’s army is moved. When we pray, victory comes. For any leader who is called by God, prayer is the first responsibility. It is not something we do when it is needed—it is our calling and a priority that we refuse to give up.
In the previous chapter, we discussed the gift of prayer as our intimacy with God. Now we must recognize the responsibility of it, too. If you are a leader, you have been called to pray. You have been called to the mountain. So much depends on it. But responsibilities always come with a challenge. The challenge we face in prayer is not only starting to pray but continuing to pray. It is hard to stay on the mountain.
Moses understood the importance of his hands staying raised, but that didn’t change the difficulty of the task. Moses grew tired. His arms grew tired. At some point they must have begun to fall, and they watched as the consequences played out on the battlefield below them. The Israelites began to lose. Moses wanted to keep them raised, but he grew weary—as we also do.
You can understand the responsibility of prayer and still find it difficult to sustain the work. You can know what God offers on the mountain and still find yourself sliding back into the valley. If you are going to sustain your prayers, you need to recognize it will be a battle.
Prayer always requires personal sacrifice. It requires time, but it also causes pain and requires endurance. Moses experienced that responsibility in the form of physical pain and weakness. Anyone who prays eventually pays a cost. Spiritual battles always become physical ones. Daniel first began a battle in heaven and then ended up in a very physical lion’s den. If you pray, things will change. As they change, you will feel it personally. The enemy fears most the power of prayer because it is always the spiritual battle that matters most. But to win the battle, we must also fight the natural battle and its many temptations.
I have heard many people who, having committed to a new intensity of prayer, later admit that things were easier before they began to pray. We pray and suddenly find all sorts of things going wrong. That shouldn’t surprise you. When you pray, you are doing something dangerous. You are doing something that matters. The prayers of a pastor often change the spiritual atmosphere and expose tensions, division, and sin. Prayer often leads to conflict and persecution.
Prayer changes things, and change always produces resistance. The enemy is content to let us stay busy with ministry, but when we begin to pray, we initiate a spiritual battle. There are always counterattacks. There will be a temptation to let up and avoid the pain.
There is also the temptation of distraction. As our prayers begin to expose problems and sins, we want to get busy fixing things. That’s what we have been trained to do. We shift our attention from prayer and start taking up these new challenges and newly exposed problems. This is the same temptation the apostles first faced—give up some prayer time to work on the church’s systems of support. But the more we pray, the more we must focus and delegate.
You can also count on facing the criticism of others. Those who do not value prayer have a hard time recognizing the value of prayer in the life of their pastor. People will see it as a waste of time. They will offer endless opinions about how you should be spending your time and about what they expect you to accomplish. It is easy to leave the hill if you are trying to appease those who criticize the time you spend there.
But perhaps the greatest temptation is weariness. Moses grew tired. We do, too. Prayer and the spiritual battles that prayer awakens make us tired. There is always a weariness to prayer. We carry a heavy burden and bear a great responsibility. Jesus often withdrew to pray, and He experienced the burden of it. He prayed with tears and with drops of blood (see Luke 22:44).
Do you remember when Jesus asked His disciples to pray with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane? They kept falling asleep (see Luke 22:45–46). I think they understood the gravity of the moment, but it was hard to sustain such a weight. It wears us out. Who hasn’t become distracted or even dozed off in prayer? Sustained prayer is an act of spiritual endurance. And it is in these moments of weariness that we need the help of others.
The reason every pastor needs a core team of prayer partners is because we are weak and tire easily. We, like Moses, begin to lose our posture. Our hands begin to fall, and we risk losing the battle. Thankfully, Moses wasn’t alone on that mountain. Seeing his hands beginning to slip, “they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset” (Exodus 17:12). Moses did not pray alone. He was surrounded by those who were willing to lift him up. He was surrounded by those who held him accountable to prayer. That stone beneath him was an altar, an altar in which prayer partners helped him sustain the spiritual battle of prayer.
I have been blessed to have had similar partners in prayer throughout my ministry. The work I have endeavored has depended on them. I would not take up the work of ministry without ensuring I had prayer partners joining me. I believe in the power of prayer more than I believe in the gravity that holds me to the ground. But I, too, have grown tired. As I surrounded myself with prayer partners, I began to feel a new level of accountability. Some days I showed up to pray because I knew they were praying for me, and I knew they were counting on me to pray for them. I didn’t want to let them down. They reminded me of what mattered most, and they kept me praying when my own strength faltered.
I think God honors their partnership and prayers as much as my own, just as God honored Moses’ hands that were held up by Aaron and Hur. On my best days, I come to prayer energized and passionate. But even on the days that I feel weary, because of their support, I still show up and pray. God honors that, too. You need a core team of partners who will join you and sustain you in prayer. You need their accountability and their help.
Most pastors will be familiar with the work of John Maxwell. His leadership books have helped millions lead at a higher level. Certainly, I have learned much from him and am a better leader thanks to his work. But perhaps one of my favorite Maxwell books is one of his least known. Early in Maxwell’s career, he wrote a book titled Partners in Prayer. The book is dedicated to the importance of supporting a pastor through prayer. From the beginning, Maxwell understood that prayer was critical to spiritual leadership.
Maxwell writes:
God’s hand moves when people and pastors pray together. . . . I can personally attest to the benefits that others’ prayers have given me. There have been times when I’ve gotten ready to do a service or conference, and I’ve been physically exhausted. But when my prayer partners lay hands on me, and I see them praying over the auditorium, I receive a new strength—physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I feel prepared to receive the power of God.3
That is my prayer for you as well. I pray that you find partners who will pray with you, pray for you, and keep you praying. C. Peter Wagner wrote, “The most underutilized source of spiritual power in our churches today is intercession for Christian leaders.”4 I couldn’t agree more.
So how do you go about forming such a group of prayer partners? Once again, Moses is a good place to start. Moses had Aaron and Hur. I think they represent the kinds of partnerships we need in ministry.
We know quite a bit about Aaron. Aaron served as the first priest in Israel’s history. Aaron was a minister and, like Moses, was dedicated to full time ministry work. Aaron had long been a partner with Moses and knew him personally. He certainly understood Moses’ history, as well as his struggles, frustrations, and vulnerabilities. Aaron supported Moses as a fellow minister in the work.
We each need ministry partners who understand us and the work we are doing. We need fellow ministers to join with us in prayer. These ministry prayer partnerships often form outside of the churches we lead. If you are a pastor, look around and find another pastor with whom you can pray and with whom you can share accountability. Pray together and share the needs you’re facing. Share the challenges of prayer, and bear some of that weight together.
We know less about Hur than we do Aaron. Hur was most likely a lay Israelite. Perhaps Hur was an administrative leader or a craftsman. Hur reminds us that you don’t have to be a religious leader to be a partner in prayer. Hur may simply have been a friend who understood the weight Moses carried and was willing to help share that load. Some of my greatest partners in prayer have been men in the churches I serve. They are men of various ages and professions, but all are passionate about and are dedicated to prayer.
The best way to find a partner in prayer is to look for the people around you who are already praying. Perhaps they are other pastors; perhaps they are congregants. Look for those who are already committed to prayer and invite them to pray with you. (I recommend you find someone of the same gender.) Set regular times to pray together.
Also, share the task of prayer with others in your church. Sometimes it is as simple as asking them to pray for you. Ask them to pray over your services. Ask them to pray for God’s anointing on your prayers and preaching. Sometimes all you need to do is ask. And if you are a member of a church, let the pastors know that you’re praying for them. Let them know you are willing to help bear the responsibility of lifting them up in prayer.
I mentioned previously that Jesus took His disciples with Him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus often did that. He took His disciples with Him when He withdrew to pray. He took Peter, James, and John with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus was teaching them how to pray, but He also asked them to pray with Him. Jesus dedicated intentional time—an altar—for praying with others. If He needed partners in prayer, then we surely do, too. We lead best from the mountain when we are surrounded by faithful partners dedicated to keeping us there.
C. H. Spurgeon put it well: “Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.”5 Our victories in the value come when we take the time to build an altar of prayer partners to help us sustain our priority of prayer.
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
Identify those around you who are already praying. We all need others to support us in prayer, but prayer partnership takes intentionality. You are going to have to build the kind of relationships with people who will stand with you in prayer. Begin by looking at the people around you who are already praying. Who do you know that believes in prayer and already has his or her own prayer altar? Identify the people of prayer God has already placed in your life.
Ask them to join you in prayer. Sometimes, all we need to do is ask. Once you have recognized individuals who are passionate about prayer, ask them if they would be willing to pray with you. Ask them if they would be willing to join you as a partner in prayer. Be intentional about asking them to bear this responsibility with you. The act of asking helps establish accountability and intentionality. Keep a list of people who have agreed to partner with you in prayer.
Share your prayer needs. Develop a regular rhythm of communicating your prayer needs to those who have committed to praying with you. Use whatever means is convenient for your group, including in person, over the phone, by email, and via group texting by phone or app. Prayer partnership is only as effective as your willingness to share needs and call one another to prayer. Don’t wait until an emergency or crisis. Regularly find things you can pray about.
Find a regular time to pray together. Though you can pray for one another in your personal times of prayer, there is nothing like praying together in person. Video conferencing is another way to meet if gathering in person does not work. Schedule a time once a week or once a month to pray together. Pray for specific needs, but also take time to allow the Spirit to speak to you and lead you in prayer. You can also schedule special prayer times when you need discernment or are facing a unique challenge.