PRAYER AT WORK

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (Jer 33:3-4).

Julian Watts and Warren Sinclair, who operate an international company called Markets Unlocked in Guildford, England have learned how important intimacy and the presence of God is to fulfilling His purposes for their business.

In 1999, the Lord asked Julian if he would be willing to resign his partnership in a multi-national company, leave the company and walk out into the unknown. Now without a job, he spent the next few months attempting to discover what the Lord wanted him to do. Eventually, he founded an internet company that specialized in connecting businesses that wanted to buy and sell to each other. He set about building the new company, focusing on all the commercial fundamentals and occasionally praying for God's help to get the task done.

The business grew very quickly, riding on the crest of the Internet wave. But the dotcom crash that swiftly followed in the year 2000 was brutal, and the company was all but wiped out. The Christian directors started praying together - monthly at first, then, as things continued to worsen, weekly, and finally, as desperation set in, daily!

The directors' daily routines soon began to change. At first, Julian started having his own personal time with the Lord from 5:00 A.M. to 7:00 A.M. each day. Then, from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M., all the company directors would meet to worship and pray. From 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. every weekday, one director would worship and intercede for the company; and every Tuesday from 10:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., everyone in the company would meet, along with local pastors and intercessors, to worship and intercede.

By late 2001, the company had passed through the wilderness of the dotcom crash. In the process, all the commercial aspects of the company had been completely transformed - including its business strategy, organization structure, people, operational processes, location and everything else.

Today, the directors see that the Lord is increasingly establishing their company's corporate identity and defining characteristic as their corporate intimacy with Him. Markets Unlocked is now expanding rapidly around the world, with customers in over 80 countries.