Small Prayers for Our Work

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

John 14:12 records what I have to imagine was one of the most shocking things the disciples ever heard Jesus say: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Upon hearing this, the disciples must have been floored. They had seen Jesus give sight to the blind, feed the five thousand, and raise Lazarus from the dead. We’re going to do “greater things than these” Jesus? Yes.

Paul is reminding us of this same truth here in Ephesians 3, saying that God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, God chooses to work through us and our “good works” to bring His Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” Combine this with Jesus and Paul’s reminders of God’s “immeasurable” power, and I think we all can admit that our prayers for our work are far too small.

This isn’t name-it-and-claim-it “theology.” Far from it. We aren’t to pray big prayers to increase the size of our paycheck. Lord knows, that would be the worst thing to happen to most of us. No, we ought to pray bigger prayers with an aim towards expanding the Kingdom through our work!

We should be praying that poverty would be eradicated in our cities because our businesses have provided meaningful work and a living wage to every one of its citizens. We should be praying that we’d have the privilege of seeing every one of our co-workers come to know and follow Jesus. We should be praying that millions more customers would smell the aroma of Christ through how we work and the exceptional products we create.

Of course, our motives are never fully pure. But through the Holy Spirit groaning on our behalf (Romans 8:26), God is able to take our prayers for our work and turn them into words that honor Him. Take a minute this morning to pray that the Lord would enlarge your vision for your work, not as a means of accumulation, but as a means of service to God and others.