I was sitting in a Golden Corral in 2001. I was a part-time youth pastor who was desperate to find another part-time job so I could continue doing youth ministry. My stress was evident to one of the other youth workers at the meeting. He asked if he could pray.
I assumed his intentions were simply to calm my frustrations, but he actually stopped and prayed for me. I remember thinking how easy prayer was! I was also convicted that I had neglected to pray.
I forget how easy it is to stop and pray.
Prayer is one of National Network of Youth Ministries' core principles. Here is why:
1) Prayer communicates that we care.
2) Prayer refocuses us to our strength. Our strength isn't in our ideas or knowledge, but in the movement of God in our ministries!
3) Prayer proves that we are not the authority.
I'm ALIVE because of prayer.
A few years later I was diagnosed with cancer. It was bad. They gave me a 40% chance of survival past five years. So we asked people to pray. My family was young. I was the local Youth For Christ missionary... and people PRAYED. I'm not talking little prayers, but a tremendous amount of outpouring over my obvious sickness. The message of my illness spread through a number of churches and people prayed.
A year and a half later, prayers to heal me from cancer turned into prayers of thankfulness. God had done an incredible work... for a tall, skinny white guy who already loved Jesus. I remember asking a friend, "If God could hear and answer the prayers for my PHYSICAL cancer... how much MORE does he care about answering the prayers for those who are battling SPIRITUAL cancer?"
National Day of Prayer - May 2nd!
National Day of Prayer is an excellent example of what happens when ministries network for a common purpose. Networking isn't conformity to each other, but it is the ability to link arms for a common purpose. I don't know what National Day of Prayer looks like in your community, but every year I ask myself, "Am I leading the way in prayer for the students within my community?"
I've seen the power of prayer. I've experienced what happens when people really PRAY. I know that God can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to Ephesians 3:20. I wonder how God could answer my prayers for those students battling spiritual cancer.
Would you join me in prayer on May 2nd? Maybe you will join with other churches in a public prayer service, maybe you'll gather a group of youth workers to pray in a private gathering, perhaps you will set aside some personal time to cry out for the teens in your community, but please join me as we ask God to heal the spiritual cancer of those we are called to serve.