What is God doing in your workplace?

'Walk with me and work with me .... watch how I do it..' With these words Jesus issues an invitation that results in 'rest for our souls' (Matt. 11:28-29). Prayer, quite simply, is focussing our attention on God - ' watching' how he does it. But how do we 'watch'? One way is to prayerfully use our God-given imaginations as follows:

• Become still
• Thank God for your imagination and ask him to guard it
• In your imagination meet Jesus at the entrance to your workplace
• Welcome him in and ask him to lead you. In your imagination follow his lead, watch where he goes and who he speaks to. Notice his attitude to your colleagues, customers, facilities, team etc.
• Jesus only did what he saw his Father doing - reflect on how you might 'do' what you saw Jesus doing.
• In September 2011 EG (pg 13), we published the experience of one Executive Toolbox participant doing this and then sharing it with her workplace prayer group.

Using our senses

Creativity involves all our senses so think about how you might use yours to engage with God throughout your working day.

• Visuals: a meaningful screen saver for either your computer or phone; a picture on your desk or in your workspace. We soon get used to visuals so you may want to change it regularly.
• Touch: is there an item that you could have in your work area that you can hold to reconnect you with God e.g. a holding cross; a stone/rock etc.
• Smell: is there some way of introducing 'a pleasing aroma' into your work area as a reminder that our work can be a sacrifice of praise to our God?
• Taste: could every cup of coffee be a 'wake-up' reminder that we are co-labouring with Christ?
• Sound: for example, regularly changing the ringtone on our mobiles to remind us of the privilege of our communication with our Heavenly Father. Every time you hear a person's name mentioned, pray blessing on them.

Staying connected

Many of us find it all too easy to be so focussed on our work that the whole working day can fly by without the recognition of our connection to our loving God. How can we stay connected?

• Allow certain actions to trigger prayer e.g. walking to the coffee machine/photocopier/classroom/work station/meeting
• Many people wear a gym 'interval trainer' on their waistbands set to vibrate every 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes I am reminded that I co-labour with Jesus and can ask for his wisdom, patience etc.
• Every time you get into a lift, lift your eyes to the Lord
• As the 'loading' indicator on your computer gradually increases ask for God's Holy Spirit to fill you.

The commute

Watching my fellow commuters into London early in the morning I am struck by the different ways 'survival' techniques adopted: catching up on sleep, games downloaded on to mobiles, browsing through the free newspapers, texting, or head buried in a book. Are there ways we can use this time to hear from our Father, pray for our fellow travellers and prepare ourselves for the day ahead? Are there certain 'stopping points' on our journeys that we can use as prompts to pray?

Your Ideas

• Dynamic Lord's Prayer Flow Map. I take an A4 piece of paper. I draw flow lines through the middle of the page: God's power & will coming 'down' (your will be done, yours is the power); Worship and thanks going 'up' (your name be hallowed, yours is the glory); and other lines flowing 'out' (your kingdom come, yours is the kingdom). I then draw 3 boxes in the "kingdom" area of the sheet: A-Needs (give us each day...); B-Relationships (forgive us as we forgive...); C-Trial (lead us not... but deliver us). I have a number of cards each bearing a friend's name. One by one, the cards go in the middle of the flow map. I then pray the Lord's Prayer as if I were that person, imagining their life, and what that part of the flow would mean specifically for this person, desiring an increased flow of power -> kingdom (+ABC) -> worship for this friend, one by one for each friend (or family / neighbour / colleague / enemy / leader / orphan / widow )..... I even imagine them doing the same for their friends. An overflow of the Lord's Prayer through relational lines. Every time I do this, the Lord's Prayer takes on a different dimension. (Mark)
• I have a string of beads, all different, one to represent each member of my family. I either pray through the whole string or put my hand in my pocket (where the beads are kept) and pray for the person whose bead I touch at random. My beads are for my family but could, of course, be applied to colleagues or any other group of people. (Lisa)
• When I am running a workshop or meeting for clients I pray for the Lord to be present, that he blesses those who will participate, equips me to help them and for people to go away closer in their working relationships with one another. (Mark)
• Why not try short breath prayers. This way you are connecting with God and not sitting for long periods of time praying while your work is passing you by. (Alex) Short breath prayers are where you repeat a short phrase on your in-breath for a few minutes, such as 'Jesus, be my strength/wisdom' or 'Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me'.
• When someone calls our name at work, it can serve as a reminder that God has called us by name to this role and wants to bless our relationships. We could use this reminder to thank God for what he has provided for us and for his blessings to us in that place. (Joanna)
• Computer reminders: I use the fruit of the Spirit as my computer password as a reminder of God at work in me each day. (Samantha)
• Ever stuck in a dull, tedious, irrelevant meeting?! Use the time to silently pray for each person round the table! (Louise)
• Changing the atmosphere: When I worked in a company where there was a very negative vibe I stayed late after everyone one day and walked round all the office praying to clear it. (Samantha)
• When I am on a main line train or a tube I am conscious that this is a unique moment when a group of people, who will only ever be together for this moment in time, are all journeying together, albeit in a physical sense, with the same destination in mind. At these times I pray that together we will all move that bit closer to God and through the power of the Holy Spirit there will be for all some revelation of God's love for us. (Kevin)
• Linking with others: I have always made a point of finding other Christians in the office and tried to get together once a week to spend 5 minutes on a scripture thought and then pray for each other and for colleagues etc. Employers have usually been sympathetic and given us an office or the first aid room to meet in, or we went round the corner to a church when I worked in the City. (Samantha)
• I keep a palm cross in my drawer- when I see it, I send arrow prayer skyward. (Nathalie)