When you have an important decision to make at work, do you pray? Do you pray before presentations, performance reviews, and job interviews? Do you pray before finalizing your budget and selecting which candidate to hire?
If not…why?
Maybe you think those concerns are beneath the consideration of the Creator of the universe. Yet if we care about it, God does (cf. I Peter 5:7).
Maybe as you learned to pray from your parents or people at church, that just was not an example you heard. Yet, Scripture is full of faithful, prayerful people like Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah whom God blessed with success as they did His will.
Maybe you honestly just do not pray much. Yet, to be a Christian is to follow Jesus – and Jesus prayed.
The most important decision Jesus ever made in His mission work was choosing the Twelve Apostles. Do you know how He did it? “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…” (Luke 6:12-13).
Instead of accomplished scholars or talented speakers, Jesus chose rural fishermen. They were dedicated and passionate fishermen who were willing to learn, though. He chose men who normally would never be seen together – Matthew the tax collector worked for Rome while Simon the Zealot wanted Rome overthrown. He even chose Judas Iscariot, someone He knew would betray Him (cf. John 6:70-71). How? How did Jesus have the vision and courage to make such bold decisions?
He prayed. He prayed all night. He fully submitted to God’s will, prayed, and made decisions that reverberated through the rest of His life on their way to changing the world.
And we are His followers.
We are the latest in a long line of faithful, prayerful people who are working hard in a sinful world. If we will pray about our work – like Jesus did, like so many before us have – who knows what God might do through us?
Ready to work with God everyday? Check out our sermon series “Don’t Quit Your Day Job: Glorifying God from 9 to 5”!