Pray for the Deployment of Harvest Workers
David W Palmer
(Matthew 9:35 DKJV) And Jesus led [his disciples] around all the towns and villages, teaching in their local synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”
This passage reviews for us the first and second phase of Jesus’s apprenticeship program:
Wide-eyed, his new apprentices had followed him and seen firsthand his ministry of preaching, teaching, healing, and setting people free. They had to stare down their fears as they passed through storms, confronted terrifying demoniacs in a graveyard, and debated the intimidating Pharisees. Jesus was training his apprentices to take over his ministry on earth; they had literally to put their hands to the oars, ushering, and catering as they learned on-the-job while yoked to their master.
Today, I encourage you in these first two phases of apprenticeship with Jesus; if you haven’t followed him beyond the church auditorium or easy chair, it’s time to start following him on-the-job 24/7. Watch what he does, how he operates, his responses to challenges, and his love for people. You can follow him by meditating on his word, observing him operating in it and through others, and by following his promptings into live opportunities.
See Jesus work with and through you today. Then make the additional commitment; allow him to put his yoke—which is easy—and his burden—which, thankfully, is light—onto you (Mat. 11:30). Begin alongside the Master to teach, preach, heal, and deal with Pharisees and demons. Maybe you could do this by going into ministry situations with a more experienced follower of Jesus, and doing ministry with them.
In what Jesus said as he concluded Matthew 9, we see that he is getting ready for phase 3 of his apprenticeship program: the “I watch you” of supervised missions:
(Matthew 9:36–38 NKJV) But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. {37} Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. {38} Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
During the time that Jesus was ministering as described in the gospels, he was in his physical two-legged body. (I say this because he is still in a physical body today, the church, but it now has many more legs and arms etc.; and thankfully, it still only has one head—Jesus.) Although Jesus is God, he voluntarily took on human form. During this period, his physical body limited him; he could only be in one place at one time, and he had to stop to eat, rest, and sleep, etc.
In the passage above, we read that when he “saw the multitudes,” he was “moved with compassion” for their desperate condition. Looking through the eyes of a shepherd, he saw sheep that were weary and scattered. He could instantly see the problem; they had no shepherd. Jesus could also see the solution; he needed new “laborers.” Jesus needed a lot more arms, legs, mouths, and hands through which to multiply his practical love and shepherding. This would be the only way to reach out to the burgeoning multitudes of needy, shepherd-less people on earth, who would readily accept his help … if they had access to it.
Moved to action by his love and compassion, Jesus had already begun making 12 protégés through whom he could perpetuate and expand his work. This is why he called them—and us—to follow him. Jesus had offered them a learning contract, and he extends the same offer to us:
(Matthew 4:19 DKJV) And he said to them, “Come on, follow me, and I will make you competent at fishing for men.”
Before beginning phase 3 of this contract, Jesus asked the trainees to join him in praying to the “Lord of the harvest”—Father God. The prayer asked him to “send out laborers into his harvest.” Jesus had multiplied bread and fish, now he needed to multiply his ministry.
Rather than calling for volunteers willing to go into the harvest, Jesus asked his Father to “send out” workers. This is a far superior set up for several reasons:
Today, I encourage you to join Jesus in his prayer that is still alive in his heart: “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Then be ready for him to send you. If and when he does:
Conclusion? Begin today where you are: keep following and watching Jesus; allow him to take you with him in on-the-job training; and keep your eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, the living Word of God. That way you won’t sink in the storms, and you will make it to the other side. And pray for workers to be thrust out into his harvest … including you.
