Praying for your company
“Imagine you were diagnosed with such a lethal condition that the doctor told you that you would die within hours unless you took a particular medicine - a pill every night before going to sleep. Imagine that you were told that you could never miss it or you would die. Would you forget? Would you not get around to it some nights? No - it would be so crucial that you wouldn’t forget, you would never miss. Well, if we don’t pray together to God, we’re not going to make it because of all we are facing. I’m certainly not. We have to pray, we can’t let it just slip our minds.”
- Kathy Keller - from Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Tim Keller
This is an illustration Kathy used to implore Tim to pray with her every night. Since that conversation over twelve years ago, Tim says he can't remember one night they didn't pray together. Prayer has slipped my mind over and over throughout the years, but this anecdote has centered me since I read it.
Praying for our own lives is a necessity, I don't think anyone would disagree. We see commands throughout scripture to pray. Jesus gave us tools such as the Lord's prayer and he modeled this by often retreating to desolate places alone to commune with the Father.
Many great writers have written on prayer over the years, so I won't attempt to foolishly recreate their insights. Tim's book above, John Eldredge's Moving Mountains and Paul Billheimer's Destined for the Throne have had a huge impact on my prayer life if you are looking for somewhere to start.
Switching gears - what about praying for our companies? Do we feel the same way about this? Can they exist and thrive without prayer? Will the best people come to work for you without prayer? Will you see the zigs and zags you need to make as a leader without the presence of the Holy Spirit? Is God really working while I am praying? This dangerous though - because if I pray for the many facets of my business, maybe God will get all the glory and not me - me the incredible leader, the bold ambitious leader that has led us to victory!
Recently while recording an FDE podcast, Rusty had a thought - "Wouldn't it be amazing that if someone asked you what makes your company different you could just email them your company prayer and say ... well, here's what we hope God does through us each day. I'm not sure it makes us different, but it's what we feel called to".
This idea of a company prayer, of all the Followers of the Way in and associated with the organization praying the same thing together each day, just wouldn't leave my mind.
So, we spent some time at Sovereign's Capital praying to God about what He would want us to ask Him each and every day with regards to our work and the company He has allowed us to steward. We took some parts from some of our favorite daily prayers and other parts are specific to Sovereigns' Capital. We would be honored if you took the time to read ...
Sovereign's Capital Company Prayer
I know some people are not extremely fond of recited prayers, but we at Sovereign's have found great power in it. There is something powerful about everyone in the organization asking the same things from God each day. It's also helpful on those mornings when I can muster very little of my own prayer thoughts. This guides me into the presence of the Lord and into the Community of the Saints.
We would be greatly encouraged if anyone with their own company prayer would send it our way. We would also be encouraged if this sparks anyone to write their own - please let us know if we can be helpful on that journey.
We firmly believe that transformation happens in the marketplace, but as with anything, we must ask, we must seek and we must knock. We believe prayer is the key to opening that door.
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash