Jesus told us to pray to God, the Lord of the harvest, to send laborers into the field. In our tumultuous times, are the fields still ready for harvest?
In The Power of Prayer, we talked about God’s promise to heal our land in response to our obedience and our prayers. As noted, “God cares about us; individually and corporately. God wants what is best for us.” In other words, God cares about people, even those who are not yet in relationship with Him. God wants our friendship and it is through friendship with God that healing begins.
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. John 4:35
Relationship with Jesus is the way to friendship with God. Jesus is the door! He invites all to come into relationship with him. His vision was for many to come; he spoke of it as a harvest. “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields... they are ready for harvest,” said Jesus to his disciples (John 4:35). Jesus spoke of the need for laborers to bring about a plentiful harvest (Mat 9:37 -38).
Within that context, Jesus asks his followers to pray for God to send laborers to help bring in His harvest. God uses people already in relationship with Him to demonstrate His love and to share His message. While God can and will use all of His followers, throughout history God has chosen to use some people in extraordinary ways in sharing His message.
Let’s join in praying that God will send laborers into the hurting “fields” of our nation. The Bible teaches that if we pray according to God’s will, He will hear us and grant our petitions (1 John 5:14-15). Because Jesus told us to pray for laborers, we can be confident that God will hear our prayers!
Prayer might look different depending on where you're at in your relationship with God:
If you do not understand what it means to have friendship with God, ask Jesus to come into your life and show you the way to a wonderful relationship with God.
If you have come to know friendship with God through Jesus, pray that God will use you to effectively share His message to people who need His friendship. And pray that God will send many effective laborers into our hurting land so that many people can come to know friendship with God.
If you're having trouble finding the words to pray, here's a starting point.
Heavenly Father, Thank you for caring about people. Thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to show us the way to enjoy friendship with you. Help me to truly, and fully, follow Jesus. I want to have a wonderful relationship with you. Help me to be an effective laborer on your behalf. And please send many other effective laborers into our hurting land so that many can come to enjoy friendship with you. Amen
What's Next?
To get to know Jesus better, read the Gospels. Learn what Jesus teaches us about the Father and His love for us.