I am convinced that there is a lot of prayerless (or prayer-lite) ministry going on in churches all over the country. Ask me how I know… I’ve done plenty of prayerless ministry myself. I’ve also never met a fellow pastor, church planter, or ministry leader who tells me they are struggling with spending too much time in prayer. It’s almost always the opposite— “I need to pray more,” “I wish I had time to pray more,” “I’m feeling distant from God while serving him.”
But here is the truth—healthy ministry is anchored and sustained in prayer. So how do we cultivate this kind of praying ministry?
That’s what I want to talk about—anchoring prayer and sustaining prayer in practice. I want to introduce prayer practices that might sound a little odd at first, but stick with me. I call them pillars and pockets. Pillars are extended times of prayer (often in retreat) that anchor us in the presence of God. Pockets are the daily, ongoing moments of prayer woven into an ordinary day that sustain us. Jesus modeled both of these, and I believe he wants us to follow his lead.
Pillars: Being With God Before Doing For God
Take a look at Mark 1:35-38. This might be the most important passage for anyone trying to do ministry in the pattern of Jesus.
Mark moves fast in chapter 1. Jesus announces the kingdom. He calls his first disciples. He preaches with an authority nobody’s seen before. His fame is spreading through the whole region. He’s healing people, casting out demons. Rivival is breaking out! And in the middle of all of it, here’s what Jesus does:
“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’ And he said to them, ‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.’”
Jesus retreats. He breaks away from all the ministry happening to anchor himself in the presence of God. And his disciples are baffled by it — everyone is looking for you. There’s more ministry to do, more people to see, more meetings, more demand.
But Jesus doesn’t serve the demands of the crowd, and he isn’t enslaved to the needs of ministry. He lived to do the will of the Father, and it’s in that retreat, in silence and solitude, in quiet, extended prayer, that he stays attuned to the Father’s voice. Notice what he says when he comes back: let us go. His path is clear. He knows exactly what to say yes to and what to say no to. That clarity came out of the extended time in the presence of the Father, not in the hustle and bustle of ministry.
I know this tension personally. So many seasons of ministry have left me feeling enslaved to the demands — the calendar, people in need, sermons to prep, follow-ups, strategy sessions, staff needing direction. It can feel like everyone is looking for you all the time. And in those seasons, I’m not doing ministry in the fellowship and enjoyment of the Spirit. I’m doing ministry in my own strength and just trying to stay sane.
Jesus’ example teaches us: we need regular pillars of prayer in our life and ministry.
In Mark 6:31, Jesus teaches his disciples to follow his pattern. They’d just returned from being sent out to do ministry, and they’d just gotten devastating news about John the Baptist. Jesus doesn’t send them back out immediately— he calls them to a desolate place to rest. It’s in that stillness that they’d seek God and find their footing again.
This is a rhythm your life and ministry need: regular, protected times of silence and solitude with the Lord in prayer. I’d encourage you to build monthly or quarterly pillars into your life—times of extended rest, retreat, and prayer. Solitude and silence work together to teach us to listen for the still, small voice of God. They slow us down and help us rest in his love and lordship. Solitude means blocking out the outside voices and interactions so we can focus on God. Silence means abstaining from speech so we can actually listen to what he’s saying to us.
We can wear busyness and activity like a badge of honor in our culture today. But it’s not a badge of honor in the kingdom of God. Your ministry needs pillars.
Pockets: Turning Ordinary Moments Into Prayer
Now, one over correction we could make is to think that Jesus wants us to spend the majority of our time in retreat. That’s not true. He wants us to retreat, but we return from retreat to engage a lost and dying world in gospel ministry. We are called to be missionaries, not monks. This is where the second practice comes in—pockets of prayer. Pockets are ordinary moments throughout the day turned into conversation with God.
The Apostle Paul calls us to this type of steady-state prayer life:
“Keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)
“Be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
The idea is simple: we’re never meant to get too far out on our own, operating apart from God in our daily life. A little prayer here and there when things get hard isn’t enough.
Think about it, there are countless pockets of time in an ordinary day where this kind of prayer fits naturally: driving into the office in the morning, transitioning between tasks, sitting in the car before walking into a meeting, walking the dog, making lunch. These are simple openings to talk to God. Prayer doesn’t have to be formal — it’s a conversation between a father and his son or daughter. Lord, I need your help. Father, forgive me. God, thank you. Father, supply the strength I lack.
This keeps us connected to the vine. It keeps us paying attention to the Spirit instead of operating in the flesh.
Here’s the honest challenge: we tend to fill these pockets with everything except prayer — scrolling, podcasts, the news. If we want to become people who pray continually, we’ll have to put some of that noise down.
An Anchored & Sustained Prayer Life
How might your enjoyment of Jesus in ministry grow if you actually prioritized both of these practices? Put some pillars into your ministry. Identify some pockets throughout your day. God wants to be enjoyed. He never intended for you to spend your life wearing yourself out doing his work while missing him in the process.
