By Landon Coleman
Pastor, Immanuel
Recently a faithful member of Immanuel passed away, and I was honored to preach at his memorial service.
As I prepared to speak at this funeral, my mind went back to a blog post I wrote back in 2016. That post was titled “Seven Ways to Pray When a Church Member Dies.” I wrote the post because I had been preparing for another funeral – the funeral of a former pastor at Immanuel.
As I prepared for that service, I was reflecting on the fact that when a church member dies we often tell their family, “I’ll be praying for you.” I wondered then, and I wonder now, do we really pray for these people? If so, what should we ask God to do in the lives of those who are grieving? How should we pray when our brothers and sisters in Christ die? Here are a few suggestions:
- First, ask God to comfort the family as they grieve. Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3)
- Second, ask God to equip the family to comfort others. Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians that God, “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” (2 Corinthians 1:4).
- Third, thank God for the time that was given. It really doesn’t matter if a person dies “too soon” or “old and full of years.” You’ll always wish you had more time. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thankful for the time you did have. Long or short, the time you had was a gift from God (James 1:17).
- Fourth, pray for those who lead in the funeral service. As someone who speaks at funerals, I assure you these prayers are appreciated. It is a delicate task to honor a life well lived, to glorify Jesus (not people), and to proclaim the truth (Ephesians 6:19).
- Fifth, ask God to raise up more laborers for the harvest. When a faithful church member dies, it’s good to ask God to raise up a “Joshua” to follow “Moses.” Hopefully training and discipleship are already in place to prepare a new generation, but a funeral is certainly a good time to ask God to send new laborers (Matthew 9:38).
- Sixth, stop and reflect on the brevity of your life. Anytime you attend a funeral you should stop and ask God to give you wisdom. We need the Lord to show us areas of our life where we need to change, repent, do better, etc (James 4:14).
- Seventh, pray that the lives impacted by the deceased person would continue to bear fruit. I prayed this last week. I thought about the many lives that were impacted by our former pastor, and I prayed that these lives would continue to bring glory to Jesus. I prayed that those who received the truth would be faithful to pass it on to a new generation who can in turn teach others (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
