Weekend Edition & Sunday Prayer | Praying for Your Workplace

Welcome to another Weekend Edition & Sunday Prayer and a new installment of The COVID-19 Devotionals.

This past week, in addition to taking a look at addiction and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve focused our attention on the economy and work amid the storm this virus has wrought. As we discussed in this post, we spend a significant percentage of our waking hours working. Work is a key element influencing our lives. From previous posts, we know that it is okay to pray for the right job. Recently, in light of the millions of people who have lost their means of supporting themselves and their families, we lifted them up in prayer.

God is a God of work. Work existed before the Fall. After the Fall, work became affected by sin, like all human endeavors. But work results in good things, as we can see in the opening narrative of the creation account in the biblical book of Genesis. God intended for work to be a good thing. An honest day’s work is something that delights God and that He hopes for all of us to experience. Work is good and work can yield good results. Personally, I don’t know of a problem that not having a job ever fixed.

People of faith and in the church have been praying over work for centuries. Lifting up work and thanking God for the jobs He provided us through the economic systems ruling at different times and in different places is a common theme of prayer. I’ve sat in numerous prayer circles lifting up people’s need for a new job or a better job. You’ve likely prayed for God to intervene in some work situation, as have I.

Below are a couple of prayers focusing on work. One is written by an Episcopal bishop who was also a prolific writer. The other is an anonymous prayer focusing on the Christian’s attitude and influence at work.

       

          Almighty God, thank Thee for the job of this day.
May we find gladness in all its toil and difficulty,
its pleasure and success,
and even in its failure and sorrow.
We would look always away from ourselves,
and behold the glory and the need of the world
that we may have the will and the strength to bring
the gift of gladness to others;
that with them we stand to bear
the burden and heat of the day
and offer Thee the praise of work well done.
Amen. —Bishop Charles Lewis Slattery (1867-1930)

Find more workplace prayers here.

My Work Prayer

First and foremost God, thank You for the opportunity to minister to others in the workplace and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those in our society that are displaced and homeless. I’m grateful for the opportunity to minister to men in order to help them grow in their relationship with You, my Lord and God. I am thankful for the work You have provided me, my wife, my family members and everyone everywhere. Work gives us purpose and significance, as well as an income. Help us glorify You through the work we do and how we do it. We pray for those without work who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and we lift them up to You, Almighty God, and ask that You would see to it that they could find new work opportunities where old ones have faded from their grasp and call all those back to their old jobs wherever possible. Where there is no way, God, we ask that You would make a way. Help us, O Lord, do good work, yielding good results, not just for ourselves, but for Your honor, praise, and glory. We thank You for the work You have set before us. May we steward it in a manner that leads people to delight in You and magnifies Your goodness. We thank You, Lord. Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reflection Questions:

How has COVID-19 impacted your work and how can we be praying for you?

Do you view work as a good thing from God or a cursed thing that you’re sentenced to carry out in order to survive?

How does your attitude and approach to your work share the Gospel?

 

Do you see your work as a potential mission field through which you may have the opportunity to lead others to Christ?

I pray that all is well with you and yours, my friends, followers, and readers. I’m not sure what this post-COVID-19 looks like in the long run, but it seems we are inching closer to finding out with each passing day. Please continue social distancing, but remember social distancing does not equal social isolation. Stay connected. Stay active. Participate and engage with the world.

Blessings,

The Devotional Guy™

ABOUT: The Devotional Guy™ is a writing ministry of Rainer Bantau, a seasoned gospel preacher, church musician, and chaplain ministering to individuals in their workplaces, to the homeless, and wherever he meets them. He shares helps, hope, and insights on his blog, The Devotional Guy™.

 

Sources:

Bible.org

LearnReligions.com

Theology of Work

 

Thank you to the wonderful visual artists and photographers at Pexels, Pixabay, and Pixlr.

I believe that to experience life the way God intended, you and I must receive God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, God has made this gift available to all who ask.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13

Will you personally receive the gift of eternal life so that you can experience the total forgiveness from your sins that come through believing in the atoning death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9