We urge our youth to pray more, but we can’t push that agenda too far as we don’t pray enough ourselves. Not that we’re lazy or unfocused, but ministry and life take up too much of our time. We know the importance of prayer, but when we actually sit down and concentrate on prayer, we invariably fall asleep.

How do I establish a prayer life?

This devotional is not intended for youth, but written specifically for youth workers. Establishing a prayer life is the responsibility of the youth worker and not premised on any potential impact it has on youth. Prayer is not about results; prayer seeks the Lord.

Our prayer lives inevitably will impact youth: If I was a teen and my youth leader wasn’t praying, I wouldn’t be too keen on it, either; but prayer transcends youth ministry metrics; prayer does not compete with marketing. Prayer, in this context, is about the youth worker. This youth worker is too busy and too tired to pray effectively.

We are to be where the kids are, which I learned from reading YouthWorker Journal. We are to know youth and their culture, being a part of their frantic, data-dense lives. Ministry always has been a high-maintenance calling. In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds the 5,000; in verse 22: “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd.”

We establish a prayer life when we carve out enough time for prayer, and this prayer life for us doesn’t begin by finding a perfectly tranquil time and place in which to pray, but is more practical. Jesus made it a point to be alone in order to go out and pray. We tend to work at being along not in order to pray, but to sleep.

My spiritual director told me prayer is hard work; when we are sleep-deprived, the Lord is not mocked. I fall asleep during prayer because the Lord doesn’t want me to look privately pious, but to get some sleep. We can’t have a prayer life if we’re too busy to get enough rest. We establish a prayer life when we get enough rest.

We find enough time to rest when we spend less time on the trivial. Small talk and knowing the life of kids are necessary, but I don’t worry about the status of pets of the girlfriends of someone in the youth group. While communication is crucial, constant communication is unnecessary. I do not know the latest in the lives of every youth. I’m busy; youth work is busy; Jesus was busy; but Jesus made the time to pray even when He had thousands ready to listen to His every word.

When we get enough rest, we manifest motivation, discipline and theological vision. We transcend the latest tech fad and acronym. We don’t need to be so up-to-date than we’re burned out; no one is able to know every detail in the lives of teens. Jesus didn’t—in verse 22, He sent people away. When we have the priority of prayer, enough in order to get the rest we need, we will establish that prayer life.

Then we will be able to sit still, know He is God and hear His still small voice telling us that we have chosen a life greater than Facebook.

Eric Segawa has pastored at San Lorenzo Japanese Christian Church and Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Fremont. Eric has an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary.