Book: With Christ in the School of Prayer
Chapter 9: Pray the Lord of the Harvest; OR Prayer Provides Laborers
“Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is ‘plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Why does He ask His disciples to pray for this? Could He not pray Himself? Would not one prayer of His achieve more than a thousand of theirs? Is God, the Lord of the harvest, not aware of the need? And would He not, in His own good time, send laborers without the disciples’ prayers? Such questions lead us into the deepest mysteries of prayer and its power in the Kingdom of God. The answer to such questions will convince us that prayer is indeed a power on which the gathering of the harvest and the coming of the Kingdom do in very truth depend.
This paragraph, and especially the last sentence, really hit me hard. Somehow, the coming of God’s Kingdom (His reign & rule) depends on my prayer. The words that I release from my mouth wield a supernatural power. In the name of Jesus, I have authority to release the powers of heaven to do the work of the Kingdom on earth. In many ways, I cannot comprehend this mystery!
But since He entrusted them with the work and made it to a large extent dependent on them, He gives them authority to apply to Him for laborers and makes the supply dependent on their prayer.
In every church I have been to, one of the greatest complaints I have heard from leadership is that “20% of the people do 80% of the work”. And it’s true! This problem has several contributing factors, not least of which is a kind of Consumeristic Christianity that has emerged over the past 50 years. I won’t get on that soapbox now!
The point that I do want to make, though, is that Jesus makes a promise. Did you know that God has never broken a promise? He is completely faithful to the covenant that he made with his people; and, he is faithful to all promises that are bound to that covenant. In this passage, Jesus is telling us that we can rightfully invoke this covenantal promise! And, he WILL DO what he says. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be a faithful God. Is it possible that the problem isn’t on God’s end, but on ours?
Why don’t we obey the Master’s instruction more heartily and cry more earnestly for laborers? There are two reasons.
1) We miss the compassion of Jesus which gave rise to this request for prayer. Believers must learn to love their neighbors as themselves and to live entirely for God’s glory in their relationships with fellow-men.
2) We believe too little in the power of prayer to bring about definite results. We do not live close enough to God to be capable of the confidence that He will answer. We have not surrendered entirely to His service and Kingdom. But our lack of faith will be overcome as we plead for help.
Yes, the problem isn’t on God’s end. Two key elements that we, his disciples, are lacking: 1) The compassion of Jesus; and 2) Thinking too little of the power of our prayer.
Let us pray for a life in union with Christ, so that His compassion streams into us and His Spirit assures us that our prayer is heard.
Amen!
Let us set apart time and give all of ourselves to this part of our intercessory work. It will lead us into the fellowship of that compassionate heart of His that led Him to call for our prayers. It will give us the insight of our royal position as children of the King whose will counts for something with the great God in the advancement of His Kingdom.
