The Business God Has Given Me

Praying for “You Incorporated” – Part 1

The Business of Prayer – Part 5.1

If your life is the business that God has charged you with making profitable, then how are you reporting on its progress? How are you conducting this business? What’s your plan and what’s the health of your business (your life)? Are you going into the meeting with the CEO of the Universe prepared? Does God want to fire you from leading your own life? What goals do you have for your business ( your life) this quarter, this week, today, that you’re going to report on? This is next level prayer!

You Inc.
Let’s focus on your life as your business. Your life is your business. We will call it “You Inc.” In this message, we plan to address the expectation of how to prepare an agenda for use in prayer. But before I do, I must say what it is not. It’s not using an outline like the Lord’s prayer, the tabernacle prayer, or the prayer of Jabez. That will come later in the section we call “Praying in a Manner.”

Your life is your business given to you by God. It’s important to see your life this way, then you’ll understand who you’re really accountable to. The average person lives their life in his or her own way. It’s the uncommon person who lives their life as dictated to them by the one who sanctioned their life in the first place.

That brings me to the thought of God being the CEO of your life. If you had a meeting with Him, what would you talk about? If this hasn’t been a thought for you, allow me to introduce you to the CEO of your life. Think of God as You Inc.’s founder and CEO. What would you say to the CEO of your life if you had a scheduled meeting with Him? What would you say if you had to answer for your life? Well I believe this is exactly what one should do in prayer. You get to answer to God for your life.

And while I’m here, allow me  to go left for a second. Stop blaming someone else for what’s happened in and to You. Inc. When you stand before the CEO those excuses won’t work when He’s made Himself available to you and for you to be successful. 

In fact, in the parable of the talents, He shares a story about what happens when you don’t do well with the business He’s given you. He gave one person five responsibilities, another person two, and the last person one responsibility to handle. The persons who had more than one talent were able to make progress and double what they had which means they were successful. However, that person with one responsibility did nothing with what he had and as a result, the master did away with them and his position. He fired him (to say it nicely). ^[1] Does God want to fire you or give you more to work with?

My next question for you would be “how would you prepare for this meeting?” If you want to be successful, you’ll need to learn how to report to God properly. In this message, I want to give you an illustration as well as examples you can use to take prayer for You, Inc. to the next level.

What if you decided to give God an update on your life, You Inc.?
In one of the last companies I worked at, I got to be a part of the senior leadership teams’ recurring meetings. These meetings were often held in a conference or boardroom with a rectangular table. Around this table were representatives from each of the companies departments: marketing, finance, IT, IS, facilities, operations, government affairs, etc. At this meeting each department had to give updates to and answer questions of the president. What if you had to do this for God? What if you decided to give God an update on your life, You Inc., each day and allowed Him to ask questions of you? What would that look like and what would that do to your time in prayer.

This is exactly how Pamela and I model our prayer time. If I could sit in the boardroom and answer to a human being what I’ve been doing for their business, surely I can meet God each day and answer up for my business, You, Inc. We’ve found that God will show you and talk you through every area of your life if you only ask. What follows is the eight departments of our life and what we use to report to God. This is not set in stone, for not all businesses (lives) are created the same and you may add, take away, and even improve upon these to enhance your daily prayer time.

• Executive Administration: Who are the decision makers, advisors, mentors, and overseers of your life?
  Answering this gives you the leaders in your life that you should daily be praying for. These are the leaders whose guidance you follow for your own success. What are the responsibilities of your executive administration?
• Finance Department: How do you manage your resources?
  What would you say to God about your finances? Would you be proud of what you’ve accomplished or would you be ashamed in the report you’d give? Can God count on you to each week bring Him an update on how you’ve improved your business financially? The Bible says that God placed individuals in charge of the financial affairs of the Temple of God. ^[2] So who’s in charge of your financial affairs?
• Facilities: How are you maintaining your dwelling and possessions?
  If God asked you for an update on your mortgage or auto loan, what would it be? How about your home improvement projects? What are you doing with what God has given you? Your possessions. Is there a plan He’s given you? Where are you with the plans? Have you created a plan to obtain that home or pay off that loan? What would you say to the CEO regarding your facilities, your assets?
• Office Administration: How do you keep your records and schedule?
  This department is one of my favorites because it has to do what you use to run your business. For example, does your life have a master calendar of the events that happen in your life? Where are you keeping your records? How are you storing and reflecting on your memorabilia? I can’t wait to share with you how we use our family’s yearbook. Yes, yearbook. When you’re serious about God’s involvement in your life, you’ll be serious about prayer. And just to be clear, this works. This is what we live by and it’s not for the average pray-er. This is next-level prayer. What will your report to God regarding how you manage your life? What tools do you use, plan on using, replacing?
• Productivity Department: What do you do and how do you produce streams of income?
  I like to think of this department not by how much one makes, but rather what are you producing? What can you report to God that you produced this week, this month, this year? What accomplishments and milestones can you share with Jesus, to let him know what you’ve done to increase your talents?
• Marketing Department: What are you here for and how do you promote it?
  For the area of marketing, have you determined what values your company, your life, has? Have you presented your goals to God for approval? How will you and your family market yourselves? What does your family promote, represent, and stand for? This is the business of prayer.
• Human Relations (HR): How do you care for your family?
  If your life which I’m calling your business had an HR department, what might be the duties assigned? Would it be responsible for your marital status? How are your parent-to-child relations going? What relationships are doing well and which need work? How would you provide these HR updates to the CEO? How are you caring for the people in your life? This is your business and the business of prayer.
• Legacy Department: What are your legal needs, taxes, rights, voting, and impact on society?
  The reason we have unique gifts and talents is so that we can help another. Your legacy department handles how one can continue utilizing one’s gifts to perpetually help others. Have you considered how your life, your business will leave a lasting legacy? What is The CEO saying to you about your legacy? Where are you in setting your life up to leave the best legacy possible? This too is the business of prayer.

While I’ve listed eight departments (so to speak) as examples for you, your list will look much different. Maybe you only want to use four. Maybe you’re just getting started; start with the one that speaks to you the most. At any rate, if you desire to take prayer to the next level, begin with turning your prayer time into the best business meeting you possibly can. Use your prayer time to provide updates and receive feedback from your CEO. In the messages that follow, we will expound on each of the eight departments to give you an even more specific example of what it is to pray at the next level. This is the business of prayer.

Question: how can you see your prayer time benefiting from viewing your life as the business God has left you to manage?

[1] ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:20-28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed April 26, 2022, https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.25.20-28.NKJV
[2] 1 Chronicles‬ ‭26:20-22‬ ‭MSG‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed April 26, 2022, https://www.bible.com/97/1ch.26.20-22.msg
All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.