We see prayer at work every day.
You can, too.
In our places of work, we face challenges every day.
A narcissistic colleague. Legal challenges. An ever-shifting global economy. Broken supply chain. Tech difficulties. Lack of clarity.
We need:
- Wisdom
- Direction
- Easing of relationships between staff members
- Legal protection
- Energy and strength for the journey
- And on and on….
We need devoted partners
Our team partners with business and ministry leaders and employees to deliver focused and persistent intercession for you, your family, and your business.
We pray with the expectation of
- victory,
- breakthrough,
- healing,
- acceleration, and
- increase.
We create a significant advantage for founders and leaders, staff and students, and for your companies, families, communities, and legacy.
Forget abstract—prayer results are tangible and specific.
When Jesus told us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” this was not an abstract prayer, but a specific one.
Is there lack of resource in heaven? What about confusion? Are relationships fractured and hostile there? Are dreams limited or crushed?
Of course not. That means when we pray for his kingdom in your business as it is in heaven, we’re asking for his provision, for his wisdom and direction, for strong, healthy relationships, for big plans and dreams… the things he has prepared for you.
We would love to partner with you
If you feel drawn to partnership—to knowing that you have a team of faith-filled believers who have your back, who are interceding on your behalf, who are agreeing with God’s desires for your business, who are praying towards tangible, real-world results, we’d love to talk with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here you can find our most commonly asked questions.
Looking for pricing? Click here to jump to that section.
But what questions do you have about praying for business? We know we missed some, so please feel free to ask! Email connect@workplaceprayer.com and we will reply as soon as possible.
A month after Shane and Ronda, owners of Trask Insurance, partnered with us, we asked, “Why did you hire Workplace Prayer?”
And mild-mannered Shane pounded his fist on the table and said, “I want change, and I want it now!”
That conversation was on March 11, or 3/11.
On June 22, or 6/22—that original date, doubled—Trask Insurance closed their biggest account ever.
But that wasn’t all. He looked around that day and realized: his family had a new house drop into their lap. They weren’t expecting that.
And they’d bought another office. They hadn’t seen that coming.
And this was in that year of global upheaval, 2021. It had felt like devastation was on its way, but instead it was an exciting year.
Shane said later:
“When I started with Workplace Prayer, I did a kind of an intake form, and I had a whole list of things to pray for: for the community, for our office, for our family.
“And each one of them felt like Mount Everest, like wow, there's no way I can do that on my own. Some of them were dreams I’d had for ten years and more, that I had seen no real movement on.
“That list I’d made: it was like God used it as a checklist: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
“And then he gave even more!
“Now we’re praying for the revival that begins in the desert of Eastern Washington will spread to Olympia.”
With Shane and Ronda, we stand in awe of what God can do.
Lord, what you’ve done for Shane and Ronda, do again for each of us. You tell us that we have not because we ask not, and so we’re asking. Thank you, Lord! Amen!
Practically speaking, how does this work? What does it look as a client?
When people partner with Workplace Prayer, we send out an intake form.
Some of our clients never fill out the intake form.
We still pray for them.
They still see results.
Richard Koch talks about the importance of Simplify, to allow a client or customer to have the easiest possible experience.
John McGee said, “You are the ultimate simplify company. People pay, and they literally don’t need to do another thing.”
True.
But most of our clients at least fill out the intake form and send it back to us.
That establishes a baseline for how each client would like to see God act.
We welcome all requests. Business requests, personal requests. We believe that God has a solution for everything, so we don’t have boundaries around what we pray for and what we don’t.
Some people feel comfortable sharing very personal challenges. Some share a few general bullet points. There’s not a right or wrong way to present requests.
As we pray, oftentimes we find that we pray not only on the micro level, for individual people and their businesses, but also on the macro level.
For example, one week, as we talk to different clients, we find that they are all deeply weary, though there is no natural reason for that weariness.
Another week, their thinking feels foggy.
Another week, everything seems to be breaking.
Another week, financial challenges seem to be squeezing in more than normal.
I don’t know why these sorts of things come in waves, but they do.
So we pray at both the micro level and the macro level.
And we welcome our people to send us requests as often as they choose.
In truth, most people don't do this.
As a client myself, I have a reminder on my calendar, so I send a quick email every week: “These are my praises from last week; this is what I’m sensing for this next week.” (See a sample, below.)
Other clients update us monthly.
Some clients text us occasionally. “I'm heading into a big meeting with the attorney in 15 minutes. Please pray.”
In general, we get far less updates than I initially expected.
But know that we pray, whether we get updates or not.
God knows the cries of our hearts, and he answers.
It is our joy to pray, and we invite you to partner with us.
Thank God who gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah,
Amy Joy
***
Sample Request List
2023.07.16-22
Looking Forward to a Fabulous Week
Praises
- Such a productive week this last week. So thankful. Good focus. Thankful, thankful, thankful.
- Massive breakthrough for myself about just enjoy the journey.
Prayers
Some exciting and specific projects:
- Finish the State of the Company document: compiling a bunch of the various how-to guides and core beliefs and structures into a more comprehensive manual. Very excited. Who we are, what we're seeking to establish and how we are seeking to establish it.
- After being stunned that I emailed clients for 5.5 hours last week, praying for the grace to release that to Adrienne. How to train? How to transition?
- Also stunned at how much time I spend on content. Wisdom on how to transition that to others.
- Then … how do I adjust the proposal to make it more like a game plan?
- Figure out how to market effectively to those who are already in our pipeline. How do I track their presence?
- Also: at some point I’ll re-engage with the website.
When my family first hired Bob Perry, I wanted to know: does our family have an assigned prayer time?
I had a friend hire me to pray for her business, back before I partnered with Bob, and she paid for one hour a month.
Today we sometimes hear this question phrased a bit differently: “Do you pray for me specifically? Or am I part of a blanket prayer?”
Bob had such a beautiful answer.
He said, “When you hire me, I carry you all month. Not just for an hour.”
We do pray for our clients by name. We treasure each of them, and their businesses and enterprises.
But we don’t say, “Here is the hour to pray for this one client.”
That wouldn’t be enough coverage!
The Workplace Prayer leadership team prays together every morning.
We pray prayers of protection and cutting free. We pray together about whatever things the Lord puts on our hearts, and often we find that the places we need breakthrough are also places our clients need breakthrough.
We welcome prayer requests at any time, whether through email or text.
Some of our clients text before major meetings. We love the opportunity to partner in prayer.
Some choose to send weekly email updates.
Some never send us any requests at all.
And the beautiful thing is: God still blesses their businesses! He meets their needs!
To me, as a paying client, I appreciate that I don’t have one hour of prayer coverage a month, but a constant umbrella of protection.
Jesus, thank you that you call us each by name, and you care more about our lives and our businesses than we could imagine. May we partner with you this day. Amen.
This is what we pray for, that you may become complete and get everything in order,
Amy Joy
When clients partner with us, we send them a list of seven questions.
- Name and Mailing Address of Company:
- Website:
- Company Description, Product, Service, Market, Mission:
- Size of Company (Employees, locations):
- Primary contact (YOU!) for Workplace Prayer (Name, Title, Best Phone Number, Email):
- Birthday of you and any other party with whom we might interact (spouse, co-owner, etc.):
- Where would you like to see breakthrough? (i.e. strategic business direction, crisis management, internal team issues, legal challenges, family breakdown, desire for spiritual awakening, etc.—as many as come to mind):
One of my favorite testimonies comes from Shane, with Trask Insurance in Washington.
When he first partnered with us at Workplace Prayer, he filled out our intake form.
He said later, “I had a list of things that I wanted, but that I was not seeing happen. And each one of them seemed like Mount Everest. Then, as the year went by, it was like the Lord used that list as a checklist, and he answered the prayers. It was like check, check, check, check, check, check, check.”
We love it when our clients spend a bit of time thinking about what they want the Lord to do for them in this next season.
We encourage: Ask for what you want!
And we know that not all of us are list people. It’s not a requirement.
But how precious to be able to look back and say, “These are things that I hoped for, and the Lord provided.”
Be strong,
Amy Joy
We offer several ways for our clients to engage. None are required, but they can choose.
Prayer Requests
We send out an intake form when clients first partner with us, asking were they need breakthrough, or what requests they have.
Some clients never fill that out.
And that's okay! We still pray for them, and they still see results.
Some clients fill out the intake form, and then never follow up.
That's also okay! We still pray for them, and trust that things move along in the Lord's timing.
Some of our clients email or text sporadically, as needed: emergency hospitalization, a closing, an appointment with the city council, stepping into a deposition, an acrimonious meeting with a boss.
Some email or text regularly, as they sense a need.
Some of our clients put a weekly or monthly reminder on their calendar to send an update. (How to tell which might be right for you? Some businesses are in a greater state of flux, with a new list of requests almost every week. Some are more stable, or dealing with incremental change. In those cases, it’s not fun to write the same list of requests week after week—that starts to feel like Groundhog Day.)
As a client, I send in my requests weekly. I appreciate that attentional focus once a week.
But there's no requirement. We do our work, whether our clients send requests or not.
Live Group Interaction
We have several prayer calls every week on our dedicated conference line, and happily welcome participants from around the globe. Not only the United States, but, on occasion, Mexico, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Uruguay.
We also offer regular Zoom calls on a range of teaching or participatory topics.
Live One-on-One Interaction
Some clients opt for one-on-one prayer and coaching with a member our team. We usually structure this as a half hour per week, but we offer other variations, as needed.
Here’s a joyful overview of the kinds of businesses and organizations and individuals who partner with us.
- While most of them are business owners, we have a few employees who want the kingdom of God to come through them into their place of work, and a few ministries or families who want prayer coverage, too.
- We have several solopreneurs. One client was even one step before that, and partnered with us when she went back to school—not sure of the next step in life, but ready to hear from God. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have a founder of a 5,500 person organization, and a client who worked as an executive at one of the Big Four, before he was poached for his genius and his skills.
- While most pay for their own businesses, we also have a few who sponsor other organizationsthat are dear to them.
- Many are strong Christians who have walked with God for decades. At least one came to us after a life of being angry with God, but curious to see if that anger could dissipate a bit. And one client, for a season, sponsored a business whose owner didn’t show much interest in following Jesus. (Yes, God blessed him, too.)
- We have some clients who come to us absolutely desperate for a shift. Some feel more constricted, with a nagging sense that their bigger dreams have been delayed too long. And for some, things are good overall, but they want a greater impact or legacy. And God acts!
- We have some who are launching a start-up and want prayer coverage from the beginning. On the other end, we have a third generation business that started back in the early 1970s.
- We have some clients who are on their first business venture, and also serial entrepreneurs who start and sell businesses as a matter of course.
- While most clients ask us to pray for their main work, we also have clients who work a day job and want us to pray for their side hustle. (How awesome is that!)
- We have young clients, middle aged clients, and clients who are close to retirement and looking at transitions between current management and future management.
- And, in preparing this message, I was stunned to realize that we have at least one representative from each of the Seven Spheres of Influence: 1) Education, 2) Religion, 3) Family, 4) Business, 5) Government/Military, 6) Arts/Entertainment, and 7) Media. So thrilled!
So really, there's a place for everyone with Workplace Prayer.
Thank you, Jesus, that you put each of us in a place that needs your love. May we serve faithfully and well. Amen.
When it comes to mercy, God is rich!
Amy Joy
After a few years of experience in praying for businesses, we’ve noticed a few red flags from potential partners, indicators that we might not be the right fit in this season.
- Workplace Prayer is not a Hail Mary pass.
While it would be lovely if a business in deep trouble could pay $100 to prayer experts and have a miraculous turnaround in one month … this isn’t what we’ve seen.
Not saying it won’t ever happen, but we haven’t seen it yet.
If a business isn’t working, one month of prayer coverage is not going to turn around the fundamentals.
- Don’t go into debt to pay for Workplace Prayer.
While we do have some clients who give sacrificially to be part of Workplace Prayer—and we honor the widow’s mite nature of their partnership—we don’t believe it’s good stewardship to dig a deeper hole in order to have prayer coverage.
If you find yourself in debt, be released to not move forward with us until you reach a more stable financial footing.
- We appreciate when our clients pay us.
As one friend said, “We are spending the time covering you in prayer daily. We appreciate when our clients honor our commitment.”
We make payment as easy as possible. We have the option for recurring payments. We are happy to send invoices.
Our clients can choose whether to pay either as a charitable donation, or as a for-profit business expense—we’re set up for both.
And we’d be delighted to partner with you!
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ,
Amy Joy
When we started Workplace Prayer, Bob and I were curious to see who would want to partner with us.
At this point, we feel like we have three general categories.
1) Some clients come in deep distress. A toxic work environment. Extreme fatigue. Hanging on by the fingernails.
Sometimes financial distress. But also deeper challenges related to staff or poor company culture or supply chain issues.
These clients need immediate triage.
2) Some clients are fighting an anaconda. Their businesses are puttering along, but something keeps their significant progress choked off.
Staff in the wrong roles. Hidden challenges (that maybe would come to light with more prayer). Constant, petty irritations that left them feeling pecked to death by ducks.
These clients need strengthening and encouraging.
3) We also have clients who were doing pretty well, but want more. More influence, more kingdom advance, more community transformation.
These clients need the Lord’s vision for any pivot to the next thing.
Bob loves to pray his life verse, Ephesians 1:17, over all.
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
Lord, we want your Spirit in greater measure! Thank you, Jesus!
This is what we pray for, that you may become complete,
Amy Joy
Bob once shared five beautiful reasons why prayer is good in the workplace.
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Prayer is good for workplace relationships.
When God’s people go into their workplaces, they carry the presence of God to coworkers and to the surrounding community.
Prayer is good for workplace finances.
We know from Proverbs that God delights in righteous business. When business people operate out of honesty and righteousness, he blesses them financially, and they are blessed to be a blessing.
Prayer is good for workplace families.
God established the family as a showplace of his grace.
Prayer is good for workplace wisdom.
Did you know that you can ask God questions about your business … and he will answer?
He gives generously to all without finding fault.
Prayer is good for workplace leadership.
Leaders know about decision fatigue—that almost paralyzed feeling that comes when they have made too many decisions. Prayer can help.
Leaders know about the loneliness at the top—that lack of positive feedback and support. Prayer can help.
Leaders know about imposter syndrome, about the challenge of managing employees, about charting a course of action, even if unpopular. Prayer can help.
This is why workplaceprayer.com exists.
*
We welcome you to partner with us.
To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ,
Amy Joy
What a business-oriented question!
When Bob and I started Workplace Prayer, we asked the Lord about the ROI on a regular basis.
Lord, we think that praying for business is a good idea. We think that it will work. We think that this is a need in the body of Christ.
But we recognize these are business people, and, for the most part, if they don't see a return on investment, they are not going to keep paying us.
Over the years, we have been delighted to find that, yes, prayer, in aggregate, actually does produce results.
That said, we can’t guarantee what the Lord will do.
Some clients do get absolutely astonishing ROI.
One of our first clients, I asked that he would have 100x in new business for every dollar he invest with us. A year in, I asked him about the dollar figure. “Oh! It ended up being 142x!” he said.
Some clients hold steady. Some don’t improve much at all, or are in a field that isn’t as profitable today as it once was. (The tech world, especially, changes quickly.)
Perry Marshall, who has had paid prayer for a decade and a half (not only through Workplace Prayer) has had various set-backs.
But he said, “One of the ways that I know that intercession works is I that lucky breaks happen to me that really I have no business having happen. The different connections, the different ideas, the different unexpected breakthroughs.”
Which is also to say: the return on investment isn't always immediate.
In general, we recommend that if a potential client is in a tight spot financially, that they hold off from partnering with us.
If a business doesn't have sound fundamentals, prayer might help soothe the demise of a business, but thus far, we haven’t seen that $100 a month will turn an unsound business around.
That said, if a business isn’t working because of spiritual pressure, or spiritual oppression, then prayer might be the missing piece.
Which is all to say: we absolutely celebrate the big wins. Of course.
But when the Lord chooses not to release a massive overflow of finances, then we say, “Okay, Lord, what else do you have for us in this season?”
After clients partner with us, we can’t predict what will happen.
But the most common comment we hear from them is that they feel like someone actually has their back … maybe for the first time.
We often also see their staff shuffle around, so that the right people fill the right roles.
Often the cash flow situation starts to turn around, or open up more thoroughly.
Often they have new and creative ideas.
Or they find new and unexpected partners.
Each client experiences different things.
And they’re not all good.
It’s not fun to find out that your partner has been planning a hostile takeover, or that your wife has a brain tumor.
But in those situations, what was hidden came to light. That, too, is a gift.
Whether the situation is good or bad, we cover it in prayer.
Lord, Psalm 139:5 says, “You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” Thank you for your surround protection, your guidance, and your blessing. May we live in that reality. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Strengthen one another,
Amy Joy
I once said to a curious man that my extended family saw a dozen or more answered prayers every day when we first hired Bob. “Out of what denominator?!” he exclaimed.
Good question.
If I had sent Bob a list of thousands of needs, a dozen every day wouldn’t seem very impressive.
I had sent Bob an overview description of my family and our business.
But I counted prayers as anything that was a need that I knew about, or something that had been bothering me.
Some of these were fairly petty, but we all know that a hike with a tiny piece of sharp grit in the shoe can consume our thoughts.
At least one was an enormous request, that even I didn’t know about until after the fact. My husband got a call from his mom. She said, “Your sister's husband had spinal meningitis.”
He was about to go on life support, but then he was fine.
(And, yes, it was odd that we didn’t hear about this until after the fact, but I think the family was in massive triage without time for extra calls.)
I didn't know that was happening, so I wasn't praying for Phil’s side of the family.
Bob didn't know that was happening, but he was praying for our families and our businesses.
I count that as a health and healing answered prayer, even though we didn't know the specifics.
Or like our client, age 32, who I reached out to at one point.
“Have you seen much financial benefit from this? Is this working for you?”
“Well, I didn't tell you this, but we have not been able to have children. My hormones are so off, I was almost diagnosed with early menopause. We were looking IVF. But within a month of you praying, we got pregnant naturally. And that saved us $25,000 out of pocket.”
So maybe not a help in the business, but a financial benefit.
Which is to say: we don't have to know what the prayer is. And if our clients never contact us, that's actually fine.
Because the Lord knows.
May we live for the praise of his glory,
Amy Joy
Workplace Prayer started in 2020. We haven’t been around for even a decade.
Until Workplace Prayer has a decade-long case study, we can look at the reports of others to see what prayer coverage, in general, can do.
For example, when marketing expert Perry Marshall told me to hire an intercessor in the fall of 2019, he had already had a paid intercessor (not part of the Workplace Prayer team) for the last decade or so.
Today Perry is a friend, a mentor, and a client, and he shares publicly about various business challenges he has faced.
A few years after he hired an intercessor, he made a costly business decision that required him to dig his way out for several years.
He also hired a team member that made some decisions that were extremely costly—almost incalculably costly. (For those in the marketing space: he went from the first page of Google to blacklisted.)
But he didn't say, “Well, clearly, hiring an intercessor was a poor choice. I'm out.”
Instead, he took a principled approach: “I value prayer, and believe that prayer for my business is good, whether this month is up or down.”
A decade in, despite some of these decisions and challenges, those costly business decisions did not sink him.
And when I look at the impressive things that he's been able to accomplish over the last 10 years (published Evolution 2.0, launched the world’s largest science research challenge, had his reinvention of the Pareto Principle published in the Harvard Business Review, and founded the Cancer and Evolution Group, where scientists across a dozen disciplines are approaching cancer in a brand new way, among others), and when I look ahead at what he most likely will be able to accomplish over the next 10 years, the overall guidance of the Lord is very evident.
Even if, at certain points, the decisions weren’t ideal.
I offer this to you, because I personally would love it if prayer kept me from all poor decisions and all mistakes.
But I don’t think that’s quite how prayer works.
How beautiful, that the Lord redeems our lives, even in any mistakes we make.
“You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past. You have laid your hand on me!” (Psalm 139:5 TPT).
How beautiful are you, Jesus. Thank you. Amen.
I thank God for the grace given to us in King Jesus,
Amy Joy
In April 2023, Bob and I gave a lunch presentation at Heaven in Business.
Coming out of that time, I said, “Bob, you made everybody feel so cared for! You have such a heart of compassion, and people in the room all felt loved.”
And Bob said, “You made everybody feel cheered. As they walked in, you were cheering, ‘Yay, Sharon! Yay, Lonnie! Welcome, welcome!’
“And, actually, I think that is a great summary of what we do at Workplace Prayer. We care and we cheer.
“Yes, of course we pray.
“But we're a cheerleader for others’ dreams. We want to hold them up, strengthen them, encourage them.
“And part of the call to pray for a business is also to say, ‘We celebrate the call of God on your life, and we are excited to partner with it to bring it to fulfillment. We believe in you.’”
If you are in need of more cheering, or more care, this is what we do.
Lord Jesus, we think of how much you’re a God of celebration. From the creation of the world, “while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7), to the “rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10), to the disciples’ return from their first ministry trip, when Jesus praised God, “full of joy through the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21) … thank you that you’re a God of celebration.
May we walk with you in joy this day. Amen.
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault,
Amy Joy
So many reasons, but here are two.
1) The Long Tail
Workplace Prayer client Paul Van Hoesen once pointed out that each of us has a long tail.
In the realm of business, Amazon has a long tail. Although any bookstore carries New York Times bestsellers, classic novels, and favorite picture books, if we go to Amazon, we can find things like the popular guide to homeopathy from the World War II era.
That book might only sell one used copy in a year. But because of Amazon’s structure, and the system of additional vendors, the long tail supplies what we need.
In our own way, we, too, have a long tail: a specific, unique circle of influence.
We each have people that we can uniquely impact for God’s kingdom.
No one else is going to be able to reach those ones.
Our work, and our place, is unique and ordained by the Lord.
As we go through our day, we have contact with people who need us, and who need what we carry.
We have puzzle pieces that they need. We have prayers that they need.
Our place in the workplace matters.
2) So Much Time
I asked Bob once to explain why he loves Workplace Prayer. Here’s what he said.
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A dedicated church-goer might be in church two hours a week. Three, if their church offers a Sunday school class.
But how many hours a week is that same person in the workplace? Forty? Fifty?
For most people, after sleep, their workplace is the single largest time commitment in any given week.
In August 2020, when we went looking for a good name that combined the workplace and prayer, the URL workplaceprayer.com was available for the minimum asking price.
We thought: almost no one is thinking about how to bring prayer to the workplace.
What a strategic oversight on the part of believers!
The place where God’s people spend the bulk of their time has been entirely overlooked.
And yet prayer for the workplace exists! It’s powerful!
Prayer is the magic key that makes everything else in the business work better.
In the Lord, the work you’re doing will not be worthless,
Amy Joy
I was talking to one friend, and he asked, “Do you pray for increase? Because I don’t think I want to be part of the prosperity gospel.”
What a great question!
When we look at the life of the Apostle Paul, clearly he didn’t jet around the world. Whipped, beaten with rods, shipwrecked … so intense.
Or the life of Jesus! Crucifixion!
Their lives are the opposite of the prosperity gospel.
But one month the Lord invited me to read through the book of Proverbs, and actually trace the benefits that come to the wise person.
Over and over we find that favor follows the righteous, that Wisdom walks with the person who welcomes her.
Three months after hiring Bob, my mom said to me, “Amy, we have been in business for 30 years. We have prayed for our clients, prayed for our products, prayed for our staff, prayed for the delivery drivers. Every possible thing we could think of, we've prayed for.
“But we never thought to pray for increase. We are actually doing good in the world! We're seeking to bring God's kingdom! Why would I not want my brand and my products to spread to the places where they're needed?”
The challenge, then, is to hold in tension both the record of history (Jesus, Stephen, Paul, martyrs, etc.), but also hold fast to the promise of the scripture. To actually believe what the Bible says about favor over the righteous. To hope that our businesses succeed as they are doing good in the world.
John, who rested his head on Jesus’ breast, wrote in III John 2: “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (LSB).
One client came to us. He said, “I'm in my 50s. I've pretty much hated God my whole life, because of a lot of really hard things in my childhood. But I'm willing to give God a second chance now.”
He came expecting the prosperity train.
But instead, he first got right with God.
The scriptures started to speak to him. (I got teary the first time he prayed on a call: “I just read Proverbs 3:5-6, and I think this applies to me! Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”)
His home, that had been a place of conflict, became a place of peace.
He started to do the inner work needed, so that he would be able to handle financial increase.
I wish prayer coverage would allow us all to avoid any kind of pain or difficulty.
It doesn’t.
Pain is part of life.
But even with pain, we ask for increase. We want the Lord’s hand to be on us, in ever-increasing measure.
We’d be happy to pray for you, too.
God is strong, and he wants us strong,
Amy Joy
My friend Kristin works for a food service company. She explained to me when to outsource.
Ideally, you outsource things that
1) are not your core competency, and
2) require skilled labor.
Most companies, for example, outsource their accounting. QuickBooks for small businesses, and a finance department for larger businesses. And most of us hire an outside firm to do our taxes.
In a different direction, most of us outsource oil changes and car maintenance.
For Kristin’s company, they grew when the economy took a downturn. Companies like Lockheed Martin were paying their lunch ladies the same as the engineers. But the core competency of Lockheed Martin and others was not fixing lunch: it was engineering. And in that economy, the businesses would not have survived if they kept the extra employees.
This outsourcing of lunch didn’t mean that the employees never had to fix food. They needed to get breakfast and dinner and snacks.
And most of us need to figure out some little car maintenance, like putting air in the tires, or changing windshield wipers.
We still have to provide the accountant with financial statements, and we need to review her work before submitting taxes.
“Outsourcing” doesn’t mean “entire abdication.”
And so it is with prayer.
We pray hours every day, because that is our joy and our honor.
Bob has spent 40 years praying and saying, “Lord, teach me to pray.” Prayer is the consuming passion of his life.
I’ve never met anyone else like that.
It seems to me that some people are set apart, called by God to be modern-day Levites.
From a quantity standpoint, this is how we spend our time. We realize that the businesses and the ministries that we cover in prayer have specific functions that the Lord has invited them to perform in order to serve all of God's children.
It would be, perhaps, impossible to fulfill the work that the Lord has put in our clients’ hands to do if our clients were also praying many hours a day.
So in a way, businesses do outsource their prayers to us.
We are trained and competent.
We want businesses to focus on their core competencies while we pray.
But in another way, none of us can outsource all of our prayer. Each of us have the privilege to engage with the God of the universe.
We want to supplement our clients’ prayers, not take them over.
In fact, we deliberately seek to train our clients to pray, as much as they choose.
We recognize that as we all pray, these prayers allow the work to go forward more easily and well.
The grace of King Jesus the Lord, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all,
Amy Joy
Once I was talking to a client about some of his goals and dreams for the next year.
I enjoyed the conversation, full of so much big picture thinking.
Suddenly he said, “Is it okay if I ask for these things? Can I actually just say what I want? I don't know if I've ever voiced these desires of my heart. It’s almost scary to speak them aloud.”
I loved this question. Because I think we all have a tendency to restrict our ask, because we don't want to seem greedy.
In the past, my natural tendency was to ask bigger for others, and smaller for myself.
But Bob’s tendency is to ask big for everyone and everything. He even has a “PRAY BIG” sign in his office.
But what does the scripture show?
A New Testament Answer
In Philippians 2:13, we read “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (NLT).
In other words, because God is working in us, he forms both our desires and our ability to accomplish them.
As we walk with God, we can embrace the things that God has put in our hearts, because he gave us the desire to begin with.
But what if we have a desire that isn’t God-given?
We pray, as Epaphras did for the church at Colossae, “that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12).
God is able to prune our desires, as needed.
An Old Testament Answer
Bob taught me to pray the prayer of Jabez. He started praying I Chronicles 4:10 back in 1983, a full 17 years before the famous Prayer of Jabez came out.
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.”
Jabez asked for blessing and influence, for protection and comfort.
And the verse doesn’t end with, “And God, angered, smote Jabez for asking for too many blessings.”
No. Jabez prayed a big prayer. “And God granted his request.”
God said yes.
At Workplace Prayer, we pray this prayer every day.
We ask the Lord to bless us. (Meaning: not just those on the prayer call, but all in our circle of influence.)
We ask for more influence.
We ask for more protection. (As any investor knows, it’s so terribly important not to lose the gains you’ve earned.)
We ask for more comfort.
So we encourage you: if you have a desire in your heart, voice it. Even if it’s a big prayer.
We give you permission to actually just say, “This is what I want.”
At Workplace Prayer, we welcome big requests. And we take big requests and add to them.
We aren’t daunted by big requests. We want to change the narrative on prayer worldwide! So we understand big asks!
Lord, please inform our desires. As we ask for the big things you put on our hearts, please also give us the ability to accomplish them, or prune them away. Thank you. Amen.
Whatever you do, do it with love,
Amy Joy
P.S. Bob and I have a short book, training businesspeople to pray big prayers out of the prayer of Jabez. Want a new tool for breakthrough? Order Seek for Glory at https://happybooks.me/glory
Pricing
How much does prayer support cost?
Our clients come from a wide range of businesses, from executives in companies with thousands of associates, to solopreneurs. Established businesses to the earliest startups. Companies that send out proposals for $2000 projects, and companies that send out proposals for $50 million projects.
We have some clients whose businesses are growing, and some who are barely making ends meet.
Some clients, after praying about it, choose to pay us more than what we ask. (This has happened more than once! It surprises us and blesses us!)
But we also recognize that not everyone comes from a tradition of hearing God’s voice, so we offer pricing guidelines, based on our own needs as a company.
We pray over every proposal, or game plan, before we send it out.
We usually start basic prayer support for businesses somewhere in the $300 to $1000 per month range.
We don’t want to turn anyone away, though, and do, at times, drop below the $300 minimum. That doesn’t cover the costs of what we need to operate, but we still treasure those clients, often giving with tremendous sacrifice, as the widow’s mite, and trust that the Lord will sustain us.
Any form of regular, one-on-one interaction with a team member is priced like any other professional appointment with a CPA, a therapist, or a life coach.
We have one real estate investor who pays a minimum retainer ($100/month), but before God decided on a percentage of each sale to donate. These infrequent payouts boost his overall monthly rate by a good bit.
And several clients or advocates sponsor other businesses or ministries, usually ones they have some personal connection with. Their child’s taekwondo studio. Their church’s non-profit ministry. A former company that still holds some ties. A family member’s business.
Prayer has been the work of Bob's life. Our client Paul Van Hoesen once said, “It should be illegal in the kingdom to engage this much talent at budget rates.”
A subject matter expert in any field—whether a CPA, a lawyer, a professional quarterback—has spent decades refining their craft.
Similarly with Bob. He’s read the hundreds of books, prayed in scores of nations, participated in hundreds of conferences and workshops, led the thousands of prayer calls, and prayed the tens of thousands of hours. He has a genuine level of expertise, unmatched, in my experience.
Which is to say: it’s challenging to put a price tag on prayer! If it’s odd and a bit uncomfortable for you, we feel the same way. It remains odd and a bit uncomfortable for us, too.
One more comment: we find it challenging when someone says, “Dollar for dollar, you provide the best value of any investment I’ve ever had!”
On the one hand, that’s extremely gratifying—answered prayers and the blessing we pray for!
On the other hand, we aren’t seeking to be a budget brand.
We think about David the king, and how his his heart posture was, “I will not make an offering to the Eternal One, my True God, that has cost me nothing” (I Samuel 24:24 VOICE).
People of prayer are in short supply. As such, everyone wants a piece of Bob’s time.
When we charge for prayer, this allows us to put a boundary around our time. It gives us clarity on where we're supposed to focus.
As our friend Scott Flora explained, “You're not paying for the gift. The gift is free. You're paying for the time invested.”
Amen.
Not just the time today, but the time invested in becoming an effective person of prayer.
We welcome your comments or questions on this topic.
We want to keep praising God for the incredible way we see Him changing the hearts of our team to believe in and ask for prayer. It was evident in our plant meeting this morning that our faith is starting to rise in our employees as they asked for special prayer for families and situations that need a touch from God!
Stoll
We cannot tell you what a gift it is to know that God has called us to do this business and has surrounded us with prayer warriors for the Kingdom. In all my life’s walk, I have never known the presence of God like I do now and I know that David would say the same. Regular words fail me in expressing gratitude to the Kingdom and to you all for your prayers. To say “thank you” doesn’t seem to be enough.
Jan Dalton
Cruz got caught in the potato digger chain- doesn't know how he got out! It should have taken his head off. (his words) This was the same timing of your urgent feeling to pray about safety. A God moment for sure.
Gilbert and Kirsten Hintz
While you are praying in the supernatural, things are absolutely happening in the natural. I am SO grateful that you are on my side. I can sense it!! Best. Investment. Ever…. Be encouraged. You guys rock. #customerforlife!
Emma Sharma
Your ministry has really touch a part of my soul that has been in hibernation for a very long time. Decades. I was on the prayer tonight and my spirits were lifted by all the voices praising God.
John Fox
I don't know if you guys started praying for me today, but I woke up early and felt compelled to pray for all of my managers in a "deep" way, so … I’m giving you guys credit for starting that chain of events whether you earned it or not!
It felt like Jesus woke me up and told me "this is what I want you to do" and it was amazing! So ... thanks! (I think!).