Prayer For Your Co-Worker: Part One

Have you ever just had a small inkling to say a prayer for a co-worker. Maybe they were going through a bad time or you saw their life headed in the wrong direction. You had the desire but did not know how to start. In this series, I hope to share a little on how you can pray effectively for your co-workers and maybe family, friends, and others.

First off, you're going to have to play the judge. I know we are told “not to judge” and when you quote, “You will know them by their fruits”, you are told that God did not call you to be a fruit inspector. Although this is witty, it is not scriptural. Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37 tell us not to judge others but Jesus says in Matthew 7:16 and 20 that, “You will know them by their fruits” and “therefore by their fruits you will know them.” So which is it? I submit that Jesus is talking about people as trees. You will know a tree by the fruit it bears. He did not say you will know if the fruit is good or bad. We are to see the fruit and discern whether the people are saved or unsaved. Or for a better metaphor, are they partaking of the Tree of Life or the forbidden Tree of Knowledge? We are not to judge the fruit of service to God. That is His doing.

So why am I talking about judging? Our first action in praying for our co-worker is to discern spiritually if the co-worker is a Christ-follower (Saved, Born again, Christian or however you wish to say it). To know this gives you promises from God’s Word to use, and through the Word, know God’s will for the co-worker.

What is God’s will for your co-worker you may ask? In 1 Timothy 2:3, Paul says,
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men (and women) to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” No matter what others say about there being a “predestined” people to be saved and others not, it is God’s will that all receive Him. He has no pleasure in the death of the godless. (Ezekiel 18:32)
If you are unable to discern if they are saved or unsaved, pray for their salvation. If you can’t tell if someone is a Christian then odds are they are not.

How do you start, realize you are in a battle for their soul. This sounds wild, but it is the truth. Not many preachers speak of demons and evil spirits but that does not mean they do not exist. The Bible is full of teachings on our enemy and that they will do anything to hinder someone from knowing Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians,
“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
So without going into a deep discussion of spiritual warfare, we are to stand against this spirit that blinds the co-worker from seeing the truth and pray against it, and pray not only that they will see the truth, but believe it.

In the conclusion of part one, Discern their needs, their greatest need is to know Christ. Of course pray for any other needs in their life, and pray that they will see God’s hand at work in it.

Your Spiritual PPE

PPE (personnel protective equipment) is the safety equipment that a person uses in their vocation. And every person uses them in their work life.
2 Timothy 2:4, Paul mentions three different vocations: Soldier, Athlete and farmer. We know the soldier’s PPE from Ephesians 6:14, which mostly known as a Christian’s spiritual armor.
“Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to squench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
These are listed as Spiritual weapons for our warfare with the evil one.
I wish to share with you the Spiritual PPE used to keep us safe while doing our Kingdom Work. As mentioned, Paul spoke of the athlete and farmer as an example of our Christian life. They too used PPE. Although the Roman athletes of Paul’s day competed in the nude most of the time, modern athletes use a verity of PPEs for their vocation: proper shoes, gloves, helmets, pads. Farmers also use them in the fields. Namely to guard from heat stroke and skin cancer they use hats and long sleeve shirts, along with proper boots to protect their feet. So you see everyone uses PPE in their work, even the office work uses agronomical chairs and keyboard attachment to guard from muscle stains.
I would now like to share some of the Spiritual PPEs I see being used in our spiritual lives.

Hardhat: to protect us from the unseen
dangers in our spiritual lives. The things that the Lord keeps from happening that we never know. You put it on by being Born Again and coming under His protection.
Apron: This could be a shop or welding apron that keeps our clothes from being soiled or burned. We put them on by separating ourselves from the world. Not becoming hermits but by not doing things the world’s way. Work by the Book.
Face Shield or Safety Glasses: These protect our spiritual eyesight so that we can see things as they are. We put these on by staying in an attitude of prayer and by using discernment in our relationships and work habits.
Work Gloves: We use these to protect our hands for work and service. Keep your hands clean. Resist sin so that our work will not be hindered.
Shoes: Either steel-toe or just slip-resistant, these are for protecting or feet so that we might be able to stand while doing or work and service. We wear these by knowing what we believe and why we believe it.

These are just a few of the PPEs that I can come up with. You may have others in your line of work. I encourage you to use your psychical PPEs and your Spiritual ones. You can’t be safe without them.

My Basic Thoughts on Spiritual Warfare

I was asked about my thoughts on Spiritual Warfare in the Facebook "Study Group on Spiritual Warfare" group. Thought I would share it here:

Although I am not an expert on the subject, I have had some experience since the early 80s. What I have seen is that there are many books out there on the subject, some good and some bad. The only great book on the subject is the Bible itself. Read all of the rest for insight but do not take any of them as pure truth.
They teach that you must know your enemy. I say, know your Captain "Jesus". Some people study demonology to the extreme. When our Church first started a study of Spiritual Warfare back in the 80s we learned that you become what you focus your study on. So I say study Jesus and draw as close as you can to Him.
The teaching usually starts with a study of our Spiritual Armor. This is good and I have heard many interpretations of the armor, but I lean to the understanding first that the armor is Jesus and His attributes.
Romans 13:4 says," But put on Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lust." and Gal. 3:27, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
Spiritual Warfare may involve two things, and probably more, which is deliverance of our selves or someone else from Satan's control or influence.
As we "put on our armor or strive to be more like Jesus, we do battle with unseen enemies for control of our or someone else’s control of flesh.
Spiritual Warfare is simple, join with Christ to destroy the works of the Devil and advance the Kingdom of God. To do this is very simple, so simple people will not discipline themselves to do it. WE have heard it all our spiritual lives. Read the Word of God, fellowship with God's people (this means spiritual fellowship and not just flesh feeding meetings) and praying God's work (intersession)
This is just my basic thoughts on the subject of Spiritual Warfare and I hope it helps you to get started. If you had more detailed questions, I will try to answer or direct you to someone you can.

Spiritual Warfare Study Part One

I will be taking a little time from the subject of this blog to share from my Facebook discussion group, which at the end I will tie it to our workplace issues.

I have seen lately how Jesus spoke often of Satan, Demons and He actively delivered those oppressed by them. So I have started studying the practice of Spiritual Warfare. The Church I was part of taught and practiced this since the early 80s. We practiced it as we learned. Some things we did were way off base like believing that the little scrubbing pad frogs in our kitchens were demonic, but the Lord centered us. I have read many books on the subject, but have decided to start from scratch.
All post will be approved by me before posting. I will not allow off topic post or discussion of demonology, we know our enemy, we don't need to get in bed with him. And I will adjust rules as needed.
I will be marking each point as Step 1, Step 2, efc... so you can search the group to go back over the steps. REMEMBER that these are just guideline points. I do not presume to say I know what I am saying. I am letting you join in in my study of the practice. At any point in your spiritual develop, you need to Pray, Don;t wait on doing battle.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1808979212666505/

Here is the first post:
Step 1 in coming against an enemy is to be sure you have no allegiance to him.
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:15
And Jesus said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever." John 8:34-35
So if we are giving ourselves over to sin, than we are siding with the enemy.
We need to get free from this bondage first of all.
Read John 6

 ...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us... Hebrews 12:1
Can you think of anyone in the Bible (real person, not parable) that had a secret sin and it cost them everything?
 Hollywood portrays Judas as a poor misunderstood disciple. That he just wanted to help Jesus reveal Himself. That he had no choice in the matter, he had to fulfill prophecy.
Judas had a secret sin, he was a thief. See John 12:6. He spent three years hearing Jesus teach on being a giver and in that whole time he stayed a taker.
And when the time was right Satan entered him. See John 13:27 and Luke 22:3
So here is an example of someone following Jesus, but let the sin that ensnared him kept him bond to the enemy.
Can you think of a book, movie, TV show that illustrates this point?
In Steven King's movie, "Perfect Storm", an evil man/creature chooses a small island town to find his new replacement. He chooses the town because the residents can keep secrets. And he reveals the sins of all the residents as proof. The local minister has a deep secret and when the sheriff quotes scripture to try and get the people to resist the evil man, the minister is held back by unbelief and guilt and because of his sin was unable to combat the enemy. Because of sin evil was aloud it's way.

Become Untangled

"Thou therefore suffer affliction as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth, entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, because he would please him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3 & 4 Geneva Bible 1599

My wife and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. My daughter gave me a copy of Richard Wheeler's Lee's Terrible Swift Sword. I devoured it immensely and greatly enjoyed it. The book chronicles the first victories of the Confederacy and the factors behind them. The blunt of it was that Lee's army was able to out maneuver the Union army because they did not have as many supply wagons to keep up with like the Union did. Johnson and Burnside were very concerned that their troops were comfortable and content. Lee knew that victories made troops comfortable, not food, clothes, shoes, etc… Lee would have supplied his troops better if he could have, but he wasn't going to let the lack of it slow his army down. It wasn't until northern leaders who knew what it took to win came into control, that the South's victories became few and far apart.
When I read this, I thought of the verses above that show that we are a Spiritual Army. And these things we must know:

1. Flesh beings are not our enemies but the fouls in the spirit world.
2. We are chosen and our only pleasure will be in our calling.
3. You will know a good soldier because he will only want to please his Commander.
4. The only way to victory is to focus on our mission and do not become entangled with worldly pursuits.

These are the characteristics of a good soldier of Christ and you may feel that you have no calling in this area of Spiritual life.
Rest assured that a soldier knows when he has been chosen. Most Christian don't see that most of their lives is "Basic Training" and the more we buck the training and fail to enter into our calling, the more dissatisfied we become.
So you can just go abut your life and adjust or join in the Battle for the minds (soul) and spirit of those under attack.

Spiritual Warfare Ref: Eph. 6:14 -17; 1 Thess. 5:8; 1 John 5:4 -5; Romans 16:20;
Gal. 5:24