Praying on the Job
by Cynthia Bezek, editor of Pray!

Earlier this month I was invited to visit an engineering company in Texas. The invitation didn’t come because I have any expertise in engineering. Rather, it came because a man who works in the company heard I was coming to town and wanted to have the company’s chaplains and intercessors pray for me and the ministry of Pray! magazine.

I’d heard of companies managed by Christians who designate believers to pray for and with their staff and customers. In fact, Pray! covered several of these companies in the July/August 2006 theme section on “Prayer at Work.�? But receiving the prayers of marketplace intercessors was an entirely new and wonderful experience.

When I arrived at the company’s high-tech facility, I was given a short tour and then led to a beautiful prayer room where I was invited to sit in a wooden chair handcrafted in Africa especially for the room. After one of the chaplains anointed me with oil, he and other members of the team prayed insightfully and fervently for my company’s finances, staffing, and spiritual impact, as well as for my family’s personal needs. When they finished praying, I felt refreshed and strengthened for the work God has given me to do. I can only imagine what it must be like to work in a place where Spirit-led prayer is compassionately offered to any employee who wants it.

But not everyone works in a company with paid intercessors and chaplains like that engineering company in Texas. Still, wherever God has planted us, we can pray.

When my husband, David, worked for IBM years ago, he encountered a colleague who was going through a tough situation with his finances and family. Jim was not a believer, but when David offered to pray for him, he gratefully accepted. David continued to pray and care for Jim, and several months later, David and I had the privilege of leading Jim and his wife in a prayer to receive Jesus.

As I’ve reflected again on the power of workplace prayers, I’ve been inspired to pray more regularly and intentionally for—and with—the people I work among. In fact, my staff and I are having a prayer retreat today and tomorrow so we can do that very thing.

Perhaps there are people you work with who could use your prayers. Will you take a step of faith and ask them how you can pray for them?

*To read the articles in the "Prayer at Work" theme section, search for “work�?in Issue 55 of our online archives. Or click here to order a copy of this issue.