While written with labor day in mind, we hope that these prayers will help inform our corporate prayer throughout the year. Feel free to adapt them for your own context, including an appropriate attribution line if it is printed or projected.
For those seeking employment
Heavenly Father,
we pray for those among us who are currently seeking employment.
We ask that you would supply opportunities
for your people to use their gifts and passions
that you have put in each of their hearts.
For those who are discouraged
and who are struggling to find employment,
we pray that you would supply their needs
and that you would help them to trust you in this season of waiting.
For each of those who are seeking work,
we pray you would remind them
that their worth is not found in what they do,
their salaries, their positions, or their productivity,
but in the fact that they belong to and are loved by you.
Help this truth bring them peace in seasons of waiting and seeking employment,
and use these truths to motivate the work that they do in the future.
We pray this in your name. Amen.
For those newly employed
Heavenly Father,
we give you praise
for those in this congregation
who have recently found employment and entered into new jobs.
Whether these be first jobs or new jobs,
we pray that you would bless and guide these individuals
in this new season of their lives.
Grant them joy, wisdom, purpose, and strength
as they engage in their labor.
Wherever they may find themselves,
empower them to be salt and light in their workplaces.
Give these individuals with new jobs
connection with coworkers and meaningful opportunities,
and may the new enthusiasm they hold strengthen them in the days ahead.
May each of them participate in your coming kingdom
and glorify you through the work of their hands.
We pray this in your name. Amen.
For those completing their employment
Heavenly Father,
we lift up to you those
who are reaching the end of their employment and careers.
We thank you for the years of faithfulness
that these individuals engaged in,
as well as your constant presence and care through their journeys.
As these individuals come to the end of their paid work
and reflect on all that these years held,
we pray that you would give them your grace and your presence
as they look back and look ahead.
As they enter a different season,
we ask that you would provide them opportunities
to use their gifts,
to be in community,
to love their neighbors,
and to glorify you.
As life brings changes in these individuals’ lives,
remind them that you and your love stay the same,
and that you are always with them.
May this knowledge comfort and guide them in the transition ahead.
We pray this in your name. Amen.
For faithful and consistent labor
Heavenly Father,
we recognize that
while some in our midst may be excited to start new jobs
and others may be finishing their work,
there are those that may be feeling the weight of their work.
To some, their work may feel
mundane, futile, discouraging, or disheartening.
We recognize these feelings are often appropriate responses
to work in a broken and complicated world,
but we pray that you would encourage their hearts
and strengthen their hands in the work that they are doing.
Please give your people the resilience and strength
to do the work they are presently assigned.
Remind them that you value the faithfulness and integrity
that no one else sees.
May this knowledge strengthen them in their day-to-day tasks.
Honor the work that is unseen or undervalued,
and receive the faithful work of your people as worship unto you.
We pray this in your name. Amen.
You can find more resources in the Work and Worship Collection.
