Today I wrap up my series on work as holy war at TGR. The cosmic (God’s war with Satan for the fate the world) and the personal (my experience of my daily work) converge in prayer:

Notice that Willard does not ask us to pray for (that is, have an inward attitude of constant prayer for) the other people involved in our work. He tells us to love those people, and I think it is assumed that loving them includes praying for them. But that is not the prayer he emphasizes.

Willard calls us to pray for the work itself. As important, he calls us to pray not just for our own personal work or even for the work of our own organization or group, but for all work of that type…Hence accountants ought to pray not only for their own accounting and accounting firms but for honest accounting itself. That is the war, or at least the part of it in which accountants are involved through their work.

Dallas Willard begins his two-sentence summary of what we’re called to in our work with resistance to evil, then service, then prayer for the work, and finally:

And what is it a war for? “Genuine love for everyone involved.” That is, simultaneously, a summary statement of what we are each individually called to enact in every daily task, however small, and a summary statement of what God is fighting for against Satan.

Would love to hear your comments, including suggestions for my next TGR series!