Prayer and Design
We tend to underestimate the power of prayer within our work. Prayer is not a good luck charm but rather a context to engage our Father who cares about our target audience, team, and mission even more than we do. Praying can help us become more empathetic to what moves His heart. We may have a 1000 ideas rolling in our mind, but it’s important to start by seeking Him to help us see and plan our steps.
A Prayer I Pray
“Lord, give me Your heart. Help me communicate You and the nature of this project. Help me speak their visual language in ways that resonate and compel them to action in response to what is true. Help them connect more with You through it all. Help me grow through all this creative process that I become more of the designer You want me to be.”
My first boss told me to start my day first with praying, then planning, then proceeding. It keeps our ministry work flowing from the right place. Over the years, I added “Process” to the end. It’s good to reflect back on a project or the day to glean things for next time.
Pray
Plan
Proceed
Process
Prayer Ideas
Here are some little ideas of ways to pray that keeps your heart considering those around you, including those you’re reaching. It can keep you viewing people where they are at, and what they may be going through. Ideas can spark from there.
Draw concentric circles of the target audience of your project. The primary target should be in the center. Then the secondary target in the next one. Use this to remind you to pray for them.
Pray for a seat. Look at the open seat in an auditorium before an event and pray for those who will be sitting there. Spot an open seat during an event and pray for those we’re still hoping to reach.
Pick a car and pray for the passengers. If you’re in a high rise building, look at a car passing below on the highway and pray for those in it, thinking what they may be going through realizing they are coming from somewhere and are headed somewhere. Pick out a car in the parking lot and pray for those that fill it.
Look at an office building & pick a window. Pray for those in that office.
Pick a house as you drive by and pray for those who live there and those who live in that region.
Pray for Social Media commenter/liker. Realizing there is a person behind each like and comment, pray for them.
Pray for someone in a crowd
Pray for someone you know who needs to hear the message you’re helping to design.
Pray for design team / staff remembering you are part of a whole Body.
Search for a verse that helps you remember the ministry you are undergirding with your design. When you pull out that project, use that verse as a prayer prompt for you.
Pray with Others
In Communication, you may think “isn’t gathering to pray about a group of tasks and projects like gathering a group to pray about cleaning the kitchen or organizing a closet?” Let me frame it another way that might help. What you do is part of communicating direction, inspiration, encouragement where people have real needs. You’re helping create conducive environments for them to be able to take in words that can change their lives and invite them into a community with believers. When you pray with others, you’re not only seeking the Lord, you’re acknowledging it’s a team sport. Let’s pray for each other and the power of what God is doing through us because He cares so much about who we are reaching. Cultivating a sense of community in a project is just as important in the mission.
All of these are ways to cultivate care for those around you that your design may one day impact. The ministry of what we do is not to make our name great. It’s to care for those who need the message and cultivate their heart toward Him. God wants to do more than use a design. He wants to grow the heart and vision of the designer. All we do is for God’s glory.
Questions
What are some ways that help you cultivate a praying heart as you work?
How have you seen prayer as an important part of your rhythm?
How can you prioritize prayer at the beginning of the day to prepare your heart to engage the day in healthy ways?
What’s one new idea you could incorporate this week?