You ask for prayer that your business may progress and find favor in the market. But consider: do you first seek the favor of God, or only the favor of men? The market is a tempest and a storm, a daily fight where the boat of the soul is constantly struck by rocks. If you rush into it without the arms of prayer and supplication, how will you avoid shipwreck? The weapon you need is not merely a request for income, but a life that makes God propitious. Rise early, meditate on heavenly things, and then go forth. When you have first made God your ally, you will have no true enemy, and even the storms of business will not sink you.
But I fear we often do the opposite. We bring the noise of the market into the church, filling our minds with worldly cares even while God speaks. Then, when we leave, we allow the business of the streets to sweep away every holy impression. What madness! Do not introduce earth into heaven. Instead, carry what you gain from the assembly into your home and your trade. Let the teachings about the soul govern your dealings, and you will find that both body and soul are served. When your leading business is to please God, all other employments fall into their proper place; otherwise, even success turns to dust.
Examine yourself strictly. Do you lament your own sins as much as you lament a slow season in trade? Do you judge your competitors or speak evil of those who seem to prosper unjustly? Stop. There is no such stimulus to virtue as the recollection of our own misdeeds. If you truly search out your faults at home, abroad, and in the market, you will have little energy left for envy or complaint. And nothing is more unbecoming to a soul than to meddle in the affairs of others while neglecting one's own. Attend to your own life, purify your heart, and cease from the disease of calumny.
When you ask for consistent income, ask rather for a consistent faith. The house of the Christian was once a church; now the church risks becoming a house of trade. If you make your business an occasion to practice kindness, honesty, and trust in God, you will find that even in the channel of wickedness you remain known to yourself. Let your prayer be not simply for market favour, but for the grace to seek first the kingdom. Then, going forth with God propitious, you may laugh at the tempest. The refreshment of the Spirit will not be destroyed by the day's labours if you preserve in your business what you gained in prayer. Go now, and make your life a prayer, and God will know what things you have need of.