Is It Wrong to Pay Someone to Pray?

In 2019, marketing guru Perry Marshall suggested I find a paid intercessor for the fledgling prayer challenge I was trying to start.

That seemed … unexpected. I had made no money, and saw no real way forward to make money, but I figured that if I asked an expert a question and didn’t take his advice, I was wasting his time and mine.

I asked four people over several months.

The first said, “The Bible says, ‘Freely you have received, freely give,’ so I’m not comfortable with that.”

But I wanted several hours a week of her time—not just a single sentence. Why would I ask her to donate her time to me so that I could profit?

“Oh! I could never traffic in the Holy Spirit!” said the second.

At that point, my parents had paid their staff to pray for almost thirty years. I always perceived that as an acknowledgement of my parents’ values, not an issue of wrongdoing. Prayer gives oil to creaky situations … I had never considered it as a sin.

Confused, I asked, “How is this different from paying for a worship leader or a pastor?”

“Oh, it absolutely is.”

Full stop.

The third and fourth people were not, perhaps, morally opposed, but they were too busy.

How could I get the prayer coverage I needed?

After watching a conference recording, I found Bob Perry out of Nashville, and my parents hired him.

What a relief!

Soon after, I was privileged to partner with Bob, and we founded Workplace Prayer.

I was eager to do so because I had a visceral sense of my own need for prayer coverage, and the deep frustration—almost desperation—of not being able to find the coverage I wanted.

Now it’s our privilege to pray for businesses. And we always welcome new clients.

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault,

Amy Joy

Does God actually care about our work? Yes! Far more than most of us were ever taught! Get a short, free reflection on why work—the place we spend the most waking hours most weeks—matters to him.

This booklet comes from Workplace Prayer, where we cover businesses in prayer, by name. If you're already longing to be prayed for, you can begin a week of coverage, our treat, at prayercoverage.co.