I am going to commit to writing one post per week.
At least until I mess up... which given my previous level of consistency could be until... next week...
But I enjoy writing these a lot, and I think that I'm learning as I'm writing as well. Thanks for reading!
Without further ado...
YL Leader Survival Guide, Chapter 3
Prayer is the best chance we have at changing anything in this world.
Here's the problem though: we don't really always do it very often.
We've all felt what it's like to take kids to camp, tell them about Jesus, and then have those kids who just "committed their lives to Christ" pretty much run off and do the same stuff they always used to do. That is, if you've taken kids to camp, you've probably felt that. Even if you haven't, think about a time when you poured into a high schooler and then they just basically turned around and did the opposite of what you were hoping they'd do.
One of the enemy's most potent lies is making us feel like we are responsible for this happening, that we're failing our friends and failing God when our high school friends run wild and refuse salvation. It frequently leads us to thoughts like these: What have I done wrong? What can I do to fix this? How am I so terrible at this? Am I wasting God's time out here? How are other people having success and I'm not?
I want to be a voice that shouts the truth over all these lies. So listen up.
As we begin to take responsibility for the refusal of our friends to embrace the Gospel, we begin to try to fix the problem ourselves. We try harder, and harder, and harder to get them to club, and to get them to open up, and to hang out with them all the time. Those are all great, and I've seen God speak to high schoolers over and over through all those things... But without us knowing it, our priorities begin to shift. We begin to care more and more about whether our high school friends think we're cool, or open up to us, or want to hang out with us. The lie that we are responsible for saving people puts tons of undue weight on every little thing we do. And you know what? We just weren't made to shoulder that.
Here's the thing, guys: You can't save anyone. You can't make God's spirit move in the lives of a high schooler. You can perform exactly zero eternally significant things in high schoolers' lives without the movement of God.
This is a good thing. For real. If you've ever felt the weight of that responsibility, you know that it's not meant to rest on our shoulders. When God told you to be a YL leader, that responsibility wasn't in your job description. That's His job.
Lean in close, because I have a Young Life trade secret for you that will revolutionize the way you do ministry: Prayer is the best shot you have at bringing any lasting change to the high school friends you love. Not making sure they see you catch a football with one hand before club. Not being extra funny. And honestly, not even spending hours and hours per week hanging out with them is truly going to bring the fullness of the change you desire to see in their lives. Think about it: If the only one who can truly change hearts is God, and if The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16), then our main strategy has to be intercession. Because through Jesus' blood, we are righteous before God.
Wanna go to bat for your friends? Do it through prayer. Lots of prayer.
In fact, I wouldn't put it past God to not bring our friends to salvation until we start praying. He has done weirder things than that...
What if our priority was prayer even over contact work? Is that even okay?
Here's something I know about God: He loves the quiet, the unknown, the heartfelt cries of His people that nobody hears but Him. Why does He love them so much? Because that's where the real work gets done. That's where the real heavy lifting happens in the building of the Kingdom of God. When God's people commit to prayer and start throwing their weight around, that's when stuff starts to happen.
I know that some people like to say, "What even is prayer? He's just going to do what he wants anyway if it's his will, so me asking for something isn't going to make a difference."
It just doesn't feel like it's making much difference sometimes. And we can't always see the difference. And we sure don't like not being able to see the difference, do we?
Here's the thing. That is the opposite of what the Bible says about prayer. We see all over scripture places where people asked God for things, and He changed his mind. Abraham talked God down to sparing Sodom and Gomorrah if there were 10 righteous people there. Which there weren't, but he was really just wanting Lot to be spared. And God brought Lot out of the city. Job's friends had to ask Job to pray for them before God would forgive them at the end of the book of Job. Moses talked God out of destroying his people when they turned away from him. Those are just a few examples of people asking for things in the Bible.
"But what if they hadn't asked? He would have done the same thing anyway because it was his will."
There is really no such thing as "what if." There's one way that things have happened, and there's one way that things are going to happen. You can't say "what if they didn't ask," because they did ask. That was the story. The story is that they did ask, and because they asked He decided to do it. "what if" is a moot point. Therefore, ask, knowing that what you ask God for matters to him! We truly do influence things when we pray.
Here's the other thing: You need prayer for yourself. Badly. In order to make sure you are spiritually healthy, which as it turns out is mission critical when it comes to ministry, you need to be communicating back and forth with God. We were made to need to pray. That's why we are commanded to "pray without ceasing," because it's something our spirits need. My team leader enjoyed sharing this quote frequently with our team: "If you aren't being fed, then those who are feeding off you will eat you alive." So... stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
"Prayer is to our spiritual lives as breathing is to our physical lives. If you're not breathing, you're dead. If you're not praying..." - T. M. Moore
Young Life leaders, be free from self condemnation based on visible results! Commit yourselves to praying for your high school friends, your team, and everything else God puts on your heart, believing that God acts upon your prayers. Don't listen to the voices that say you aren't doing enough. If listening to God is your main priority, in Young Life or out of Young Life, your obedience should provide peace of mind. Care for yourself well by staying connected to the Father, so that you can be a more clear picture of Christ to those you minister to. Don't be fooled into thinking that you don't need to pray about your ministry frequently, because "Ministry without prayer is the highest form of arrogance." Don't be tricked into feeling like you must shoulder more responsibility than you need to... otherwise it gets really easy to start selling God to people instead of listening, obeying, saying what God puts on your heart to say, and then letting Him do the heavy lifting of the heart, which only He can do.
James 4:2 - You do not have because you do not ask God.
Hebrews 5:7 - During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 - First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.
Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and hidden things you do not know.
Ephesians 3:20-21 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.
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