Encountering the King in Our Workplaces
In June 2022, we are looking at how the Psalms speak to our work and our workplaces. Below, you will find week-by-week guides to help you use the Psalms to pray for the church in China in their work lives.
Week 1: Psalm 104
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man's heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27 These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit,
they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests
May 29 - In the next five weeks, we are praying for Chinese in the workplace. Pray for believers to honor God in their vocations.
May 30 - Pray for Chinese Christians to remember God is Lord of all – of humans, of nature, and of labor.
May 31 - Pray for Chinese Christians to cooperate with God in their labor and to remember who they are as created beings.
June 1 - Pray for believers in China to view their work in proper perspective.
June 2 - Pray for the pressure pastors feel as they care for their flocks. Pray for the increased tension felt by most believers.
June 3 - Pray for lawyers representing difficult and dangerous Chinese human rights cases. Pray for God to be with them.
June 4 - Pray today for those still in lockdown across China to experience God’s care and provision.
Humanity Has Forgotten Who We Are
Read a reflection on Psalm 104 from a Chinese Christian.
Week 2: Psalm 8
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Prayer Requests
June 5 - As we continue to pray for Chinese and workplaces, praise God that he is Lord of all and his name is majestic. (Ps. 8)
June 6 - Pray for God to enable Chinese Christians properly steward their world. (Ps. 8)
June 7 - Thank God for coming to us in weakness as a child. The Lord of all still understands our tears.
June 8 - Pray for Shanghai as the city exits lockdown and workers return to work. Pray for believers to honor God at their job.
June 9 - Pray for Chinese pastors to have wisdom to preach the gospel, disciple, and unceasingly plant churches.
June 10 - Pray for God’s hand to be on an upcoming prayer training camp at the end of June.
June 11 - Pray for Christian parents to have wisdom to build up family worship and relationships with their children.
Praise That Survives Tears
Read a reflection on Psalm 8 from a Chinese Christian.
Week 3: Psalm 127:1-2
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Prayer Requests
June 12 - This week, we continue to pray for the workplace. Pray for believers to honor God as the true builder. (Ps. 127:1-2)
June 13 - Pray for Chinese Christians to experience the rest that comes in knowing God is the one who establishes their work.
June 14 - Pray for Chinese Christians to remember that “everything we hold in our hands…is a result of [God’s] guardianship.”
June 15 - Pray for God to restore and heal sin-torn attitudes Chinese Christians have toward their work.
June 16 - Pray for Chinese Christians to know their worth doesn’t come from work, but rest is in the freedom of the gospel.
June 17 - Today, pray for Chinese pastors. Pray they will hope with confidence and practice repentance with courage.
June 18 - Pray for Chinese Christian educators to look to God in the face of persecution. Pray for the Chinese educational system.
True Rest
Read a reflection on Psalm 127:1-2 from a Chinese Christian.
Week 4: Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
Prayer Requests
June 19 - Pray for Chinese Christians to desire “nothing besides the Lord,” knowing “whom do I have in heaven but you?” (Ps. 73)
June 20 - Pray for an upcoming prayer training in China, that new prayer leaders would be raised up.
June 21 - Pray for an imprisoned church elder in southwestern China, that he would be able to wait on God’s timing.
June 22 - Pray for Chinese Christians to be comforted by the rule of King Jesus when they see the wicked prospering. (Ps. 73)
June 23 - Pray for Chinese Christians to draw near to the Lord, that he would be their refuge in a broken world. (Ps. 73)
June 24 - Pray for church planters in China, that they would know and walk with Christ daily.
June 25 - Pray for Christians in the workplace in China, that they would be examples of integrity and Christlikeness.
Whom Have I?
Read a reflection on Psalm 73 from a Chinese Christian.
Week 5: Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Prayer Requests
June 26 - Pray that the Lord would satisfy Chinese believers “in the morning with [his] steadfast love.”(Ps. 90)
June 27 - Pray for leaders in China who would model prayerful dependance on Christ.
June 28 - Pray for churches in China to be centered in the person of Christ, rather than on “doing things” and accomplishment.
June 29 - Pray for Chinese believers, that the Lord would establish the work of their hands. (Ps. 90)
June 30 - Pray that Chinese believers would have an eternal perspective on their earthly work, being grounded in the gospel. (Ps. 90)
July 1 - Pray for Chinese believers to be examples of your great love to their coworkers, doing their work with excellence.
July 2 - Pray for Chinese churches to be models of Christlike character in their communities.
Life is Short
Read a reflection on Psalm 90 from a Chinese Christian.
In 2022, we are using the Psalms to guide our prayers for China.
When you join our prayer team, you will receive a weekly prayer email with the Psalm for the week and a prayer request for each day. You will also receive a monthly newsletter. Additionally, you can text Text “pray4china” to 33222 to receive the prayer requests by daily text.
