Rise Up!

Acts 26: 16-18, “But rise, and stand upon thy feet: For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

In this scripture, Paul was giving account of why he was arrested and sent before King Agrippa. I consider it an encouragement to read these verses because I can relate to it in the workplace.

Although I have not found myself arrested and having to defend myself, as Paul did,  I do however relate to his mission as he describes it above. It’s almost as if the Lord is saying to Christians as a whole to:

Rise, Stand to our feet. We are ministers to the workplace for Him, that the workplace might turn from the darkness, and receive.

Crisis

Inevitably, there will one day be somebody at work who gets one of those phone calls that nobody wants to get – somebody is in jail, someone was caught cheating, the bill collector is at the house, a child got hurt, or some other instance that requires immediate attention by the coworker.

If you’ve had an opportunity to set yourself apart as one who cares, and prays as the Lord leads, then your coworker in crisis will come to you in that time of situational distress.  Those dreaded calls/family emergencies are no fun and they will more than likely seek someone out for support. It will be you. This may not happen immediately, but it will happen.

They will come to you because they know you are a person who prays and who, in their eyes, God listens to in prayer. Take that opportunity to pray for them and let them know that you are available to pray with them again later if they would like.

Don’t leave it there though. Without preaching to them, use the opportunity also to let them know that they can pray on their own too because God listens to everybody. Reminding them of this might just spur them in their own spiritual journey. But, make sure they understand that you are available to pray, that you’re not dusting them off.

These crisis situations happen. As a result, I’ve prayed with several co-workers over the years.  In my cases, the prayers have usually been short, direct to the point prayers. Shortness is not a formula though.  Pray as the Lord leads. It may be awkward at first, but pray.

In every case, eventually each of the people have come back to me and told me that they appreciated me taking the time to listen to them and to pray, that it meant a lot to them. That’s nice to have that affirmation. But, don’t seek that kind of a response – it may never come. The point isn’t to get a pat on the back. It’s to love on the sheep (your coworkers) in prayer.