Weekly Encouragement

This morning when I asked God how to pray for you and your business, He responded with the word “silence,” so the team and I spent some extended time silently sitting with our Creator. Then we shared what we felt, saw or heard with each other. I hope that some of these bullets bless you. The time in silence together was deeply encouraging for me.

• Empty your expectations so that I can fill you with mine. 

• In extended silence I will restore the creativity of your mind.

• Confusion will disappear.

• Calmness will replace anxiety.

• I’m recharging you with energy.

• I have an endowment waiting for you.

• You will find rest in praise and gratefulness.

• Breathe.

• Don’t be intimidated to get closer to me. I want you to experience my beauty.

• Watch me closely so that you do not lose your way. 

We used 1 Samuel 1:12-13a to start praying/sitting silently. “It so happened that as she continued in prayer before God, Eli was watching her closely. Hannah was praying in her heart, silently. Her lips moved, but no sound was heard.”

Later when we moved into some specific requests for some of the companies on the registry, God brought us back to 1 Samuel 3:11 where God said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention.”

I’m not really sure what all this means, but I enjoyed seeing God connect silent prayer with “shaking things up.” Maybe God wants to shake up something in your business. I’d encourage you to spend some extended time doing nothing, alone in silence. God has used this practice to push the reset button on me a few times…

Thanks for letting us pray for you.

Quietly,

Dayn and the Prayer Team

This morning (Monday), we prayed for you and your business. 

One of my favorite men in the Bible is Bezalel. He seems like an ordinary guy who simply does his job with excellence. He is also the first person explicitly mentioned in scripture as being “full of the spirit.” Specifically Exodus 35:31 states God filled him with the Spirit to create the tabernacle with exceptional craftsmanship and wisdom. We spent time considering Exodus 37:1-9, which describes how Bezalel made the Ark of the Covenant (famous before the Indiana Jones movie). Just like He did with Bezalel, we believe that God wants to partner with you in your work and bless you with wisdom, creativity and excellence.

We prayed that you would find joy and pleasure in your work. We prayed that your work would be a blessing to you and to those you are serving and to God. We prayed that the riskiest/weakest part of your business strategy would require God’s support (some of the Ark’s design doesn’t make engineering sense) so that you would start work by relying on His perspective and provision and allow God to carry the load. Along those lines, we prayed for God-reliance and not self-reliance. We admired the beauty of the Ark and asked that you would be able to see how beautiful your work is in God’s eyes. We prayed that you would experience beauty in your workplace. We prayed that, like Bezalel, you would be a gifted teacher to those around you. Lastly, we prayed that God’s presence would feel like a friend that you are working with throughout the day.

Please send detailed updates when you get a chance. We love praying for you, your family and your business.

Praying while we work,

Dayn and the Prayer Team

On Monday, we prayed for you and your business. Thank you again for that privilege! It is always one of the best parts of my week.

We prayed a verse that I normally skim over: 

Mark 3:9a And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd (ESV)

The boat, when pushed out a little bit, allowed Jesus to share His teachings with more people and allowed the gathered crowd to both see and hear Him better.

We prayed that:

• Your business would be set apart from the crowd;
• Your business would be easy to see;
• Your business would be heard clearly;
• You would enjoy deeper relationships because of increased visibility;
• You would be aware of new ways to bless those around you, like Jesus did by pushing out from shore;
• Your business would be a beacon of hope;
• You would hear God when He asks for a boat;
• Your business would stand out because of the values that you express through the work that you do;
• Your marketing and sales efforts would have traction.

We love praying for you, your family and your business.

Watching the boat,

Dayn and the Prayer Team.

​Yesterday, our teams had the privilege of praying for you. We also celebrated a few stories from the field about receivables coming in last week – just at the right time. We love hearing about answered prayers!

We prayed Moses to Matthew as we looked at Moses’s story from the burning bush to the Red Sea. The complete story is written in Exodus 3-14. My abbreviated paraphrase follows. Moses sees a bush on fire that is not being consumed by the fire and approaches it. God speaks to Moses about rescuing the Isrealites from Egypt. Moses has a bunch of excuses. God says that He will help. Moses leaves with his family to go to Egypt. God fights with Moses and Moses is saved by his wife. Moses gets to Egypt and fails 9 times to get the Isrealites freed. He even manages to get the Isrealites to hate him. The 10th time works.

We were praying and considering the Moses story from a business perspective. It felt like a start-up that kept failing over and over, even to the point that the customers were telling him to leave. How and why did Moses keep listening and responding to what God was asking him to do? I would have been resentful and second guessing whether I was hearing God. I would have been angry at God, Pharaoh, and the Isrealites. I would have seen them as my enemies. 

That led us to pray:

Matthew 5:43-47 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”

Combining Moses and Matthew 5, this is what our prayers sounded like:

• That you would persevere through burdens;
• That your family would not be collateral damage;
• That your marketplace reputation would survive any setbacks;
• That you would see hardship as bringing out the best in you;
• That the supple moves of prayer would bring out your true selves, your God-created selves;
• That you would be able to love, regardless of who you are interacting with;
• That you would be blessed by loving your enemies;
• That the upside down Kingdom of God would shine on you and open many doors because you choose prayer and love;
• That you would see your own “burning bush” in the work that you are doing;
• That you would be quick to pray and slow to anger;
• That by praying and looking to God your hearts would be widened to see others through God’s eyes;
• That you and your workplace would seek God’s Kingdom and His will to be done in your company.

We love sitting with our creator and letting Him lead us as we pray for you. Thanks for keeping your requests current and specific.

On our knees for you,

Dayn and the Prayer Team.