“He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.'”
Matthew 9:37-38

Jesus told us several times that we are to pray. He frequently showed us how to pray, but rarely did he mention what we are to pray for.

This is interesting to me: We aren’t to pray for the lost, that’s already taken care of. We are to pray for Christians to join the ranks of the many and get involved in the work of spreading the Gospel. We are to pray that disciples of Christ get the Spirit of Christ and show the love of Christ.

In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd leaves the 99 to seek and rescue the one that is lost. I don’t hear any prayer for the lost sheep to return. I don’t see the shepherd pacing back-and-forth asking God to put it in the sheep’s heart to return. I see a shepherd take action and go after the sheep.

Too often we pray that our lost loved one’s, friends and coworkers would find the love of God, but never take an active role apart from our prayers in pursuing them with that love.

I am the guiltiest of all in this. “God bring that person to the knowledge that you are their Savior!” That prayer is great and I don’t think that God turns a deaf ear to those prayers. But I’m also shying away from showing that person the love of Christ.

A prayer for the church to raise up “laborers” is a prayer “for Your Kingdom come.”

A prayer for “laborers” is a prayer for the lost.

Andrew Murray says this: “How little Christians really feel and mourn the need of laborers in the fields of the world so white to the harvest. And how little they believe that our labor-supply depends on prayer, that prayer will really provide ‘as many as he needeth.’ ” (p.53)

He later states two reasons why we don’t pray for laborers:

  1. We miss the compassion of Jesus.
    Time after time, we see Jesus moved with compassion as He looks on the crowds. To be His disciple, to be Christlike, is to have compassion for people. (Matt. 9:36; 14:14) If you are not compassionate, is it too far across the line to say you are not Christlike?
     
  2. We don’t believe that prayer will bring definite results

My prayers are changing, starting now. How about your’s?


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