The Role of Prayer in Business Success

I know the title suggests success is in the bag if we pray about it.? I do not believe that, but I do believe that prayer is vital for Christians in business.??

Connection and Relationship

Prayer is our connection to God and is how we build a relationship with Him.? He is the branch, and we are the vines.? We need to be connected to Him to bear His fruit.? I have been drawn to prayer since becoming a Christ follower.? Christ gave us back a relationship with God.? I feel His presence with me all day when I stay connected in prayer.? We don’t need long, drawn-out prayers.? Many times, I just say “help”!? It’s not like He doesn’t know what is going on.

God is in Control

He is the one in control, and through prayer, we acknowledge our dependence on Him, as it should be.? Unfortunately, God will let us do it our own way.? That is the free will thing.? However, I have personally learned that my free will is not always good for me; however, my dependence on God is always good for me.

I have seen many clients push to make things happen in their business and end up frustrated and anxious. I have also seen many clients pray about decisions, seek good counsel from others, and keep moving forward, but be completely open to a God-shut door and let go of the outcome. This latter process ensures peace throughout the process.

God Cares About our Business

When we pray about our business, we acknowledge that God is the Lord of our whole lives. God cares about our business, too, and we trust Him with all of our lives. We can’t just check our faith at the door of our business. If we have asked him to be the Lord of our lives, then we need to relinquish all of our lives to him. I constantly challenge myself with the question, “Do you really trust God?”???

Do you? ? If so, then we need to trust Him with our business, too.

Trusting Him means always taking the high road and doing what is right, even if it isn’t the most financially rewarding decision.? Trusting Him means focusing on what is right, not the outcome.??

If the metric outcome isn’t what we hoped for, the personal outcome of knowing we did what is honoring God is still worth it.?

Praying about Business Direction

Praying about our business direction helps us to align our vision with God’s will for our business, not just what we want.? As Christians, we should trust and want God’s will.? He is God, so He is the obvious one to trust.??

Through prayer, it helps us consciously make that alignment.? With as much marketing education and background as I have, people wouldn’t expect us to have created a faith-based business coaching and Christian mental health counseling practice under one roof.? It doesn’t necessarily make marketing sense.? But I felt like this was the vision God had for us.? Twenty years in, and it has been the perfect vision.? And I couldn’t be more in awe of God’s work or more thankful.

Praying about Business Decisions

Praying about business decisions is like praying for God’s will in our business vision.? It is an activity that seeks God’s input, enhances our faith, and opens our hearts to His leadership and guidance.? It also helps us take a second before making an impulsive decision.? I am known for that.? How about you?? Have you ever made a super impulsive and fast decision that you later thought I should have prayed about?? It isn’t like I intentionally skip over praying about it; I just go into “get it done” mode.? But I need to do the opposite and intentionally seek God.?

Align with God’s Measurement of Business Success

Aligning with God through prayer also guides our definition of business success to align with His view of success rather than the world’s.? There are more factors to business success than just revenues and profits.? I think the world keeps us comparing ourselves to others, with these measurements being the most black-and-white metrics available.? But success is more than just financial metrics.? Success also includes:

• Helping others
• Delivering quality in our products or services
• Or providing a living for others

To name a few.

I have always been impressed by Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A. They both made decisions to honor God by staying closed on Sundays, which is very contrary in the retail and fast-food world. They are choosing to lose a day of revenue a week, which is 52 days a year. Yet, both have grown to be very large, successful businesses.??

God’s metrics create Kingdom success, which is all that will matter in eternity.

God didn’t promise us easy.? And as I mentioned, I don’t believe in the prosperity gospel.? I do believe that when we pray and strengthen our relationship with God,?

• We are more at peace as we have His peace.
• We more often do the right thing, as in the God thing, although we are only human and definitely mess up at times.
• And we please God as He wants our dependence and relationship with us.

Do you pray about your business?

Do you wait a bit to try to hear back from Him?

How do you measure success???

I would love to hear how you use prayer in your business life.? Please share in the comments.