Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” —Matt. 9:37-38
I have several evangelism strategy books on hand, you might also, and one thing I find strange isn’t what is in them. It’s what isn’t.
While most of the ideas are good, helpful, and encouraging, what is lacking is an emphasis on prayer.
Recently I wrote about praying for unbelievers to be born again, suggesting seven prayers to pray. And another about our prayers being a tool Jesus uses to build His church. There have been articles about praying the word of God spread rapidly and be glorified. This is the preaching of the Word, the proclaiming of the Gospel, and asking for open hearts to receive it and be saved.
It’s apparent that God’s strategy to reach the disbelieving all around us involves—to no small degree, our praying. We are ask for the workers (those who labor) to gather in the harvest. In the Bible, these are people devoted to sharing Christ's message and disciple the spiritual growth of others.
The harvest is Gods. Saying"His harvest" highlights His role in gathering souls and His control over the process. This implies a collaboration between His divine sovereignty and our personal responsibility in evangelism.
Here are some prayer insights from Andrew Murray:
Evangelism, with all it’s strategies, plans, classes and material, is often missing the key element of prayer.
We need to be praying for the gospel to spread, for open hearts and doors for the good news, for preaching and teaching, for ears to hear and eyes to see, hearts to soften—and for laborer of the harvest.
This is part of the divine partnership Jesus has with us to do the work—first in prayers, then in the field. Our asking indicates our dependence on God and acknowledges that this mission is beyond our own ability.
If there are few souls being saved by Christ in our day, it is because we are not praying for laborers to harvest them!
