Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for workers in the harvest reflects the very heart of Jesus, and we join you in it. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, and He told us to plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. That is exactly what you are doing, and it is right to keep asking with urgency.
Scripture shows us why this matters so deeply. Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost. He said it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, and He came to call sinners to repentance. When the religious leaders complained that He received sinners and ate with them, He answered with pictures of a lost sheep and a lost coin. In each case something of value was lost and then found, and the response was rejoicing. Friends and neighbors were called together to rejoice because what was lost had been found. That is how heaven responds when a sinner is found. Jesus receives sinners, and there is joy over it.
A coin has no usefulness while it is lost, even if it is valuable. Only when it is found can it be used. In the same way a life apart from Christ is lost to its true purpose until it is found by Him. The shepherd who goes out to seek the sheep pictures the Lord Jesus Himself seeking the lost. The woman searching carefully for the coin pictures the work of the Holy Spirit searching until what is lost is found. And the Father waits to welcome and restore. The whole work of redemption is the work that satisfied Christ, to do the will of the Father in bringing lost people home.
You prayed according to the revealed will of God, that He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that He is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. There is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. With that same humility you expressed, we remember that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we come as those who have needed that same mercy.
You also prayed with a right sense of time. The Scripture says now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation. Jesus told His disciples not to say there are still four months and then the harvest will come, but to lift up their eyes, for the fields are already white for harvest. A harvest does not wait forever. Its readiness passes. We are to do the works of Him who sent us while it is day, for night is coming when no one can work. That is why your prayer for laborers to be called, prepared, provided for, and sent is so needed, and why we ask the Lord to give them intimacy with Christ, love in their hearts, power to know and live and speak the Word, and to hear and obey His voice.
We also pray as you did for those who go. Jesus promised His followers would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We ask for that power and love to rest on every worker and on their families and teams, that the gospel would go forward with clear consciences and open heavens. As ambassadors for Christ we are workers together with Him, calling people to be reconciled to God through the grace that brings salvation. That grace has appeared to all, and we want to carry it without putting unnecessary offense in the way, so that the ministry will not be blamed but the message will be heard clearly.
We join you in asking the Lord for daily provision and for protection, that He would keep workers from sin and from the evil one, from fear and lies and temptation, and guard them from evil people, as He has promised to keep those who are His. May He supply what is needed for the work and keep all who labor in unity and love, so that Christ is seen and sinners find repentance, forgiveness, and new life in Him.
Scripture shows us why this matters so deeply. Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost. He said it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, and He came to call sinners to repentance. When the religious leaders complained that He received sinners and ate with them, He answered with pictures of a lost sheep and a lost coin. In each case something of value was lost and then found, and the response was rejoicing. Friends and neighbors were called together to rejoice because what was lost had been found. That is how heaven responds when a sinner is found. Jesus receives sinners, and there is joy over it.
A coin has no usefulness while it is lost, even if it is valuable. Only when it is found can it be used. In the same way a life apart from Christ is lost to its true purpose until it is found by Him. The shepherd who goes out to seek the sheep pictures the Lord Jesus Himself seeking the lost. The woman searching carefully for the coin pictures the work of the Holy Spirit searching until what is lost is found. And the Father waits to welcome and restore. The whole work of redemption is the work that satisfied Christ, to do the will of the Father in bringing lost people home.
You prayed according to the revealed will of God, that He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that He is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. There is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. With that same humility you expressed, we remember that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we come as those who have needed that same mercy.
You also prayed with a right sense of time. The Scripture says now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation. Jesus told His disciples not to say there are still four months and then the harvest will come, but to lift up their eyes, for the fields are already white for harvest. A harvest does not wait forever. Its readiness passes. We are to do the works of Him who sent us while it is day, for night is coming when no one can work. That is why your prayer for laborers to be called, prepared, provided for, and sent is so needed, and why we ask the Lord to give them intimacy with Christ, love in their hearts, power to know and live and speak the Word, and to hear and obey His voice.
We also pray as you did for those who go. Jesus promised His followers would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We ask for that power and love to rest on every worker and on their families and teams, that the gospel would go forward with clear consciences and open heavens. As ambassadors for Christ we are workers together with Him, calling people to be reconciled to God through the grace that brings salvation. That grace has appeared to all, and we want to carry it without putting unnecessary offense in the way, so that the ministry will not be blamed but the message will be heard clearly.
We join you in asking the Lord for daily provision and for protection, that He would keep workers from sin and from the evil one, from fear and lies and temptation, and guard them from evil people, as He has promised to keep those who are His. May He supply what is needed for the work and keep all who labor in unity and love, so that Christ is seen and sinners find repentance, forgiveness, and new life in Him.
