Matt 9:37-38
“Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Pray for Laborers
It is hard enough going into the fields by yourself, but I still did. I prayed for nearly five years for someone to go with me, so I did earnestly pray to the Lord of the harvest to send to our church more laborers. You know what. He answered my prayer beautifully. Maybe God was waiting to see if I would go into the fields by myself before He would send us another laborer. Just this year God answered that prayer, and now there are two of us going to tell others about the only name that is given to mankind whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). God is so good.
Prayer for the Harvest
Before we go out and do street evangelism or go door to door, we pray to the Lord of the harvest, knowing full well that it is God Who does the saving. Paul wrote that God gives the growth “so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7). We may not ever see the fruit of our labor, but that’s okay because some of us will plant the seed while others will come later and water, but we are all in the same labor for God, as “we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9). Ultimately, whoever is saved is not up to us. It is not our responsibility, but it is their response to His ability, although it is our responsibility to tell them.
Pray before the Labor
We also pray for God to prepare hearts for the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that the Holy Spirit go out ahead of us to make the way open for the message of hope. We also pray for there to be few distractions and that he would soften the hearts and open the ears of those with whom we will speak so that they might be open to receiving the gospel. We know that the power is in the gospel and not in us (Rom 1:16), so that takes off any pressure about who might be saved. God promises that His Word will “not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11), so all we have to do is get His Word out to the people and then leave the results up to God.
A Closing Prayer
Oh Great Father, please bless those who read this to know that it isn’t up to us to save anyone. Salvation is fully a work of Yours, oh Lord, but you do want us to go into all the world, even if it’s right next door. Please help us deal with rejection, knowing that it’s not us or our words that they reject, but it is You. Please help us to trust You and the power of Your Word and to realize we are only laborers in the harvest and that you are the Lord of the harvest. We pray this in the strong and glorious name of Jesus Christ.
Amen
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