WORDS IN RED

WHAT TO PRAY

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Matt 9:38 (KJV)

 

            In Matthew 6:9-13 Jesus tells us how to pray.  In Matthew 9:38 he tells us what to pray.  Jesus tells us to pray that God will send laborers into his harvest.  I’m afraid this has been one of my many downfalls.  I haven’t prayed this prayer very much, not that I haven’t desired more workers in the field but I guess I just thought it would happen when God wanted it to.  We have reached a point in time where it is evident that more God-called men and women need to be on fire for Jesus working in his harvest.

            Jesus tells us to pray that God will send laborers into the harvest.  There are multitudes that need workers to come to their field (v36).  The crowds that followed Jesus needed Jesus in their fields.  The blind (v27), the palsied (v2), the sick and distressed (18) need God’s workers in their fields.  We have multitudes that have fallen under the sound of false gospels: i.e. Islam, Buddhism, and Mormonism etc. for lack of workers in the harvest.  If ever there has been a time for us to pray fervently for God to call men into the ministry and people to the mission field, it is today!

            We should also pray that God prepare hearts of our ministry people today.  It seems to me that the greatest challenges of my ministry are coming now.  The world has emboldened itself against the church.  Things that weren’t even thought of being accepted in the United States thirty seven years ago are now being practiced in Alabama and are being forced into our counties.  Never before has the truth been tried as it is today.  Oh God, prepare our hearts!  Strengthen our resolve!

            Oh Lord, as I consider our church here at Pleasant View, I see young men and young women that could be very successful in life according to the world’s standards, but I pray today that their hearts would be seasoned with your Holy Spirit.  Give them an ear to hear your call for their lives.  May they have an eye to see your direction for them?  I pray that they would be led to the person you have chosen for them that might complete them and together they can be fit workers in your field.  Lord, may all of our people realize that they have great potential to work in your harvest whether they be young, old or somewhere in between.  Again Lord, thank you for your precious Words in Red.

 

 

Yours in Christ,

 

Brother Randy Burtram

 

(Originally published February 22, 2015)