Asked to lead the portion on business at the National Day of Prayer service in Wheatfield, New York, the following is the prayer that I prepared:
Heavenly Father, we come seeking shalom for the marketplace – in the fullest sense of the Hebrew word we ask for businesses to experience your peace, prosperity, wholeness, and peace. You want us to pray for all such endeavors because as they prosper so do your people. And so we pray for those business leaders who are not disciples of Jesus Christ that you would shower them with your blessings. And we pray that you would restrain greed and dishonesty, all deception and fraud, that are in the hearts of any such leaders for the good of all people. We pray for Christians who work for unbelieving bosses that you would encourage them to know that they are not serving those bosses but actually serving the Lord Christ with their hard work. We pray that the witness of the integrity, industry, and the results that follow, would impress their coworkers and supervisors and on up the corporate ladder. We pray for opportunities to share the gospel as the motivation for this work ethic and that you would speak through your people by your Spirit.
We come before your throne, O God, knowing that consumerism is a different religion than Christianity and asking for your people to be filled with your Spirit as they spend and as they sell in the marketplaces. Give us insight into the best stewardship of your resources rather than to get caught up in the cycle of buying and throwing away of consumerism. Help Christian employers and employees to avoid selling products and services as Christ alternatives or by encouraging coveting rather than contentment with your gifts. Reward employers who stand for truth and give rest to their employees for the Lord’s Day. Protect business leaders from the pressures of the world to conform and from the rules and regulations of the government to compel them to act contrary to the dictates of conscience according to your holy Word. Destroy, Lord of Hosts, those companies that are at war with people made in your image through abortion and other such means because such a battle is necessary for there to be true shalom in the marketplace.
We come asking you, the Almighty Creator of all things seen and unseen in heaven and on earth, to fill your people with wisdom, ability, intelligence, knowledge and craftsmanship to devise artistic designs in every craft. May the work that your people do inspire us to look up to you above. Give us an imagination to fashion goods and services that will survive the coming purifying fire when you finish making all things new. We pray that chambers of commerce and business organizations will recognize and champion those who do good work according to your Word.
Giver of all good gifts, our Father in heaven, we give you thanks today for the business leaders here with us today and in our congregations who are faithfully influencing our communities and society, we give you thanks for all those who cannot be here today because they are laboring as you have called them to do in many different fields from factories to restaurants and thus are serving Christ in all such places, we give you thanks as well for how you have blessed us through them and their generosity. May the whole world around us come to see that you are worthy of thanksgiving and honor and glory as the members of our churches let their lights shine. All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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