Prayers for work
A short prayer before work
Most work days start in a rush. The alarm, the shower, the hunt for keys, and then you're on the train or at the desk with forty unread emails before you've had a single thought of your own. A prayer before work doesn't have to be long to make a difference. Thirty seconds in the car park or while the laptop starts up is enough to remind you whose you are before the day starts telling you.
Below are eight short prayers for different kinds of work days, each with a verse. Use them as they are, or let them get you started and carry on in your own words. If you want older words, we also have a page of prayers for work from the Book of Common Prayer and other old sources.
For an ordinary day
Most days aren't dramatic. They're the same commute, the same inbox and the same people, and that's exactly where God tends to meet us.
Lord, here's another ordinary day. Help me do my work well and be kind to the people in it. Let something I do today be useful to someone, even if nobody notices.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!
Before a big meeting or presentation
There's a lovely moment in the book of Nehemiah. He's a servant standing in front of a king, and the king asks him a question that could change everything. Before he answers, this happens:
“What is your request?” replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven
He didn't get to step outside and pray for an hour. He prayed in the gap before he spoke. You can do the same in the lift, or with your hand on the meeting room door.
Lord, I'm nervous about this. Give me a clear head and the right words. Help me listen properly as well as speak, and whatever happens in there, I'm still yours.
If it's a decision you're dreading getting wrong, this one is worth holding on to:
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
When you don't like your job
Plenty of people go to work every day at a job they'd leave tomorrow if they could. Maybe it pays the rent and nothing else, or the boss is unfair, or you know you're capable of more. That's a real thing to bring to God, and you don't have to pretend to be grateful for it.
Lord, I don't want to go in today. You know why. Help me get through it without becoming bitter, and do my work properly anyway. And if there's somewhere better for me, please open that door.
Paul wrote these words to people who were doing work far harder than most of ours, and who had no say in it at all:
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, as for the Lord and not for men,
It doesn't make a bad job good, but it does mean the work isn't wasted. God sees it even when your manager doesn't.
Before a night shift
Nurses, carers, security guards, warehouse staff, people driving lorries at 3am. Night work has its own tiredness, and most prayers for work assume you're starting at nine in the morning.
Lord, while everyone else is going to bed I'm going to work. Keep me alert and safe tonight, help me look after the people I'm responsible for, and when I get home, give me proper sleep.
The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
And for the long hours around 4am, when the building is quiet and your eyes are heavy:
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Behold, the Protector of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Working from home
The commute might be ten steps, but working from home has its own pull. The day blurs into the evening, the laptop never quite closes, and you can go hours without speaking to anyone.
Lord, I'm starting work at the kitchen table again. Help me focus when I should be working, and stop when I should stop. Remind me to check in on the people I'd normally see, and keep me from feeling cut off.
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
A small thing that helps: pray the same short prayer as you open the laptop each morning, and another as you shut it. It gives the day a beginning and an end when the walls don't.
When you're dreading someone at work
Sometimes the hard part of the day isn't the work but a person. The colleague who belittles you in meetings, the customer who shouts, the manager who keeps moving the goalposts.
Lord, I have to deal with him again today. Help me stay calm and say what's true without being cruel. Bless him, even though I don't feel like asking for it. And protect me from carrying it home.
If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.
I like that "if it is possible". The Bible is realistic. Some people won't be at peace with you whatever you do, and that isn't your failure.
When you're already exhausted
Some days you're tired before you've begun. A new baby, a sick parent, a long run of overtime, or just a heaviness you can't explain.
Lord, I've got nothing in the tank today. Carry me through it. Help me do what really needs doing and let the rest wait. And let me rest properly tonight.
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
When you're looking for work
Being out of work is hard in ways people who haven't been through it don't always see. There's the money worry, of course, but also the long days, the applications that disappear without a reply, and the question at every party of what you do.
Lord, I need a job. You know how many applications I've sent and how few have come back. Keep me going today. Open the right door, and while I wait, remind me that I'm worth more to you than what I earn.
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Making it stick
The best prayer before work is the one you actually remember to pray, so tie it to something you do every day anyway. Pray as you turn the key in the ignition, as you badge in, as the kettle boils in the staff kitchen, or as you open your laptop.
If you start the day on your phone, you could put a prayer between you and your work apps. That's what Mutter's App Guard does: when you open an app you've chosen, a short prayer or verse comes up first, and once you say Amen the app opens. Each morning there's also a morning prayer with its own drawing, if you like to start the day with one before you leave the house.
Questions
What is a good short prayer before work?
Try this one: Lord, help me do my work well today and be kind to the people in it. I'm yours, whatever happens. It takes ten seconds, and it's enough.
Can I pray during work as well?
Yes, and it doesn't have to be obvious. Nehemiah prayed in the middle of a conversation with a king. A silent sentence between meetings or before you answer a hard email is a real prayer.
Is there a prayer for the end of the work day?
Thank God for what went well, hand over what didn't, and ask him to help you leave the rest at work. Something like Lord, thank you for today. I'm leaving the unfinished things with you.