Pushing Past the “Unspoken”
When I was a teenager in youth group, it seemed like more than half of the prayer requests would be “unspoken”. I get it — praying together can be awkward — especially if you feel like you’re facing a situation, sin, or temptation that you don’t think everyone else is facing. “Unspoken” is better than nothing, right?
And God isn’t surprised when something is left unsaid. When Jesus was teaching through how to pray in Matthew 6, He reminds us that “God knows what you need before you ask him.” God doesn’t need to hear someone say it out loud in youth group to know what that student is facing.
But often in Student Ministry here at CrossWay, an unspoken prayer request will be met with a follow-up question — “do you have someone you’ve told about this?”
Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it’s no. The unspoken prayer request gets added to the list either way. But that question points to a few deeper truths about how we’re supposed to operate if we’re in Christ.
First, we want to be obedient. James 5:16 not only commands that we pray for one another, but adds that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” There’s something happening in the spiritual when we pray for each other in the physical sense, and if a student has accepted the righteousness of Christ, you better bet there can be “great power” in praying for a friend.
Second, the church is designed to do this type of work. Romans 12:15 instructs to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” So often we find out about both the victories and struggles in someone’s life through what they share in a time of prayer. Galatians 6:2 tells us to “bear one another’s burdens”, and there is almost certainly no more faithful way to bear a burden than to faithfully pray for each other.
““Do you have someone you’ve told about this?””
Finally, we’re not designed to face situations alone. Over and over, Scripture says there’s wisdom in getting good advice (Proverbs 11:14, 12:15, 19:20, etc.). That’s why if something is going to remain unspoken on a given night, the question is at least asked — is there anyone who knows about this? If there’s not, maybe a seed will be planted, and the choice will be made to pursue both prayer and counsel from someone who they trust and who is chasing after Jesus.
And this isn’t only a Student Ministry priority. One of the key questions I ask a guy if I am just getting to know them through Men’s Ministry is “do you have someone you could talk to in a spiritual crisis?” The answer isn’t always encouraging, but it hopefully does the same thing, points to the Biblical responsibility that we have to be in community with one another.
An unspoken prayer request doesn’t rob God of His ability to move in a situation, but it does hold back the church from our ability to be the church. There’s loss in that, because Jesus didn’t only die to save individuals, but He died to purchase a “people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9), and those people need to be praying for each other.
- Justin (Student Ministry Pastor)