A Prayer for Industry

Last month our congregation hosted a prayer day service attended by our sister churches in the area. One of the men that led in prayer prayed for the industries. Here’s his prayer:

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. We come before you to praise you for who you are and for what you have created. We also come before you to pray for the industries over which you are sovereign.

Our heavenly Father, Thomas Edison tried 1000 times before he produced a practical electric light bulb. You spoke only four words, Let there be light, and instantly there was light. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

It took man 10 years to construct the Panama Canal joining two great oceans together. And you just spoke and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

It took man 5 years to build the great Hoover dam to hold back the waters. And you spoke the words: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

It took man 8 years to design and prove the Apollo space program, and 5 days for man to travel from earth and set foot on the Moon. You spoke the words and made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

For over 400 years, man dreamed of ways to be able to fly like a bird. The Wright Brothers spent 4 years to achieve the first powered flight. And you spoke Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Yes, Father, it was very good and we praise you for that. Yet, we know how we have fallen with our father Adam to whom you spoke these words: cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. And Adam became the first farmer.

You have created us to work and to subdue the earth. Because of our pride, we think we really are able to subdue the earth on our own and have sinned because we worship the creation instead of the Creator. We have not always made good use of the many resources that you have provided. We have polluted the air and the waters. We have become a throw-away society including the fact that we have thrown you and your Word away. We have created and use the internet to bring the world closer together and share with others. Forgive us for making this our modern tower of Babel. You have created us to give glory to you and instead we glorify ourselves. We ask for your forgiveness.

We thank you Father for the gifts you have given us—for your Son Jesus and your Holy Spirit. We thank you for the abundance of resources you have given us. We thank you for your provision of the modern inventions that make our lives easier. We thank you for the industries that have been developed over the years. We thank you for using men like Gutenberg in the creation of the printing press and now since that time over 6 billion Bibles have been printed in over 450 languages. We pray that you will continue blessing this work in spreading your Word to the ends of the earth. We thank you for using men like Marconi and Armstrong for the invention of the radio. And now there are over 1600 Christian radio stations in this country broadcasting the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray that you will continue blessing this work also. We praise you for using unlikely men such as Thomas Watson, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and countless others in the development of the modern computer and communications which are put to good use to spread the gospel.

We pray for those who work in print shops, continuing the work that you began with Gutenberg. We pray for those who work in the radio and TV broadcasting industry to bring the gospel to the world and pray that these means will always be used for your glory. We pray for your blessing on those who labor deep in dangerous mines to dig coal for heating and the generation of electricity to light our homes and our churches. We pray for those who work on oil derricks on the seas drilling to the depths of the earth to bring us oil and gas to fuel our cars. We pray for your blessing for those who work on the assembly lines to build those vehicles which bring us to worship you on the Lord’s day. We ask for your blessing on those who sail on the ships of the seas and for those who build and fly aircrafts which enable missionaries to reach the ends of the earth. We pray for the farmers who grow the crops and for those who operate trains and trucks that bring goods from one place to another. We pray for the builders, bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians who build our homes, businesses, and church buildings. We pray for the scientists, chemists, and engineers that you use to bring us modern medicines and medical devices.

Father, you have given us countless means to make our lives easier and give us more leisure. This is extra time that we have that our parents and grandparents did not have. We ask your Holy Spirit to guide us not to waste that time but to be industrious and engage in systematic labor especially for some useful purpose. That useful purpose is obeying your great commission: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And Jesus added: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Having confidence in that we come before you asking for these things in Jesus’ name. Amen!