An M3 Weekly Book Review

You may have noticed several M3 Weekly articles about our need as missional enterprise leaders to cultivate a prayerful life of dependence upon God, including articles such as “First Things First,” “Being Before Doing,” and “A Declaration of Dependence.”

This emphasis is no coincidence.

One of our core values in missional enterprise is Abiding in Christ as we lead our businesses. Convinced by Jesus’s words that “apart from me you can do nothing,”1 we are determined to keep beating the drum of dependence upon God through prayerful surrender and to find and promote resources that echo that theme.

That’s one reason we have been so encouraged to read and engage with the book The Prayer Powered Entrepreneur: 31 Days to Building Your Business with Less Stress and More Joy, by Kim Avery. Prayer Powered Entrepreneur is a 31-day prayer guide, derived from material originally offered by the author in an online Christian entrepreneur community.

The book begins with an introduction, in which the author recounts her own journey to embrace rhythms of prayer as an enterprise leader. She shares a prayer process she discovered to guide her prayer life using the acrostic BRIEF: prayer that is Business-Related, Relevant (focused on the specific situation), Inside-out (shifting from results-only requests to issues of the heart), Expectant, and Frequent. Avery then leads and invites the reader to join in prayer for 31 days, organized around five basic themes:

• You, the Entrepreneur
• Your Relationship with God
• Your Relationship with Others
• Your Relationship with Your Business
• The Impact Your Business Has on the World

Each day, the prayer guide includes some thoughts from scripture, stories from the life of the author and other Christian entrepreneurs, one or more “Prayer In Action” testimonials from other entrepreneurs, and a prayer prompt to launch the reader into personal prayers.

In the colluding chapter, Avery sums up the importance of prayer, not just daily, but moment-by-moment:

It’s all too easy to imagine life with Jesus as a mystical thing set apart from the mundane activities of our daily life. There is no separation of faith and work. We can live moment by moment in his presence, breathing in God and breathing out prayer, having a business and life built on prayer.

Grounded in the Scriptures and the real-life experiences of an entrepreneur, and “field-tested” among other Christian business leaders, we found the prayer prompts insightful and helpful. While the book is written for Christian enterprise leaders in all fields, the author’s work in the business and life coaching industry is apparent, and many of her examples and testimonials come from business leaders in that particular industry. Nonetheless, leaders from any market segment will find helpful and encouraging guidance in this guide, and we highly recommend it.2

Verse of the week

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

Let’s take Jesus at his word, and look for ways this week to abide prayerfully in Him as we lead our enterprises.