Even though I am a Master Certified Coach, I still procrastinate. For whatever reason, I put off reading CS Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy (aka Space Trilogy) until I was in my fifties. Once I finally got around to reading it, I was delighted with the books, and I felt like kicking myself for putting it off for so long.

In addition to being an interesting and entertaining story, the science fiction books describe spiritual reality in a way that only the imaginative and brilliant Lewis could manage. The books opened my eyes to how the spiritual realm influences the material realm. Lewis pulls the curtain back to show what is going on with beings that we typically refer to as angels and demons. I know it’s only Lewis’s imaginative version of this reality, but it still helped me give much greater consideration of what is going on beyond what I can see.

Okay, so what does this have to do with coaching?

As Christian coaches, it’s a good idea to pray for your clients and for yourself. Why? Because there is more going on than meets the eye. Spiritual forces are working overtime (and really all the time) to influence you and your client. So what can we pray when we pray for our clients? Three things.

First, pray that you will see where God is at work.

One of the lessons I learned from Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God is the fact that God is at work around you. When we see things from God’s perspective, instead of from our limited and naturally selfish point of view, our eyes are opened to the activity of God. God is on the move. God is up to something. In fact, God is up to lots of somethings – including in the life of you and your client.

The most important aspect of any coaching conversation is that it is the occasion for recognizing where God is at work so we might join Him in that work. The client has an agenda for the coaching conversation, and God also has an agenda. We should pray to increase our (the coach and the client) sensitivity to God’s agenda.

Second, ask God for His spiritual forces to be at work in the coaching relationship.

CS Lewis also imagines spiritual battle in his more popular book The Screwtape Letters. In this classic, the titular demon passes along this piece of devilish wisdom to his apprentice: “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality, our best work is done by keeping things out.”

Spiritual beings are battling for our attention, focus, attitude, and mood. We are not up to the challenge. We need help. So do our clients. Pray that hellish forces will be matched and outmatched by spiritual beings who have not rebelled against God and who seek to further His will and rule in the world – including in the life of your client.

Imagine the unseen realm. Visualize the spiritual beings going at it because of the potential that is found in each coaching conversation. The coaching session matters. It is an important skirmish in an ongoing conflict that rages between God and those forces who seek to undo and destroy God’s kingdom. I imagine Screwtape would want us to think a coaching session on a Wednesday afternoon to be inconsequential. The opposite is true.

Third, pray for spiritual empowerment.

If coaches have mantras, one of them is “The client is creative, resourceful, and whole.” True enough. But what is also true is that the client can benefit from developing additional resources. God provides resources when we ask.

Ask God to give your client power, resources, vision, and virtue that go beyond the natural. Pray that the client will have more focus than is normal. Pray that your client will be wiser than his nature. Pray for your client to get a boost of courage and be blessed with the strength to do more than is humanly possible.

And pray these same things for yourself as the coach. You are trained, you are competent, and you bring value as a coach. And there’s more possible, but not from your own power.

One more point. Coaching and praying are not the same thing. There are times when it’s appropriate to pray during a coaching session, but the far more typical and appropriate time for prayer is outside the coaching session. Like a soldier praying before a battle, there is a time for prayer and then a time for fighting. Only in the more dire and desperate moment would a soldier drop his weapons, stop fighting, and start praying. The same is true for coaching.