Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart for the harvest is evident in this prayer, and it aligns with the heart of Jesus Himself. He looked at the multitudes and was moved with compassion, and He said the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few, and we are to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest.
Scripture shows Jesus speaking of the harvest in different settings. Early on He spoke to His disciples about the Samaritans, a people despised by others, and said not to say there are four months until harvest but to lift up your eyes for the fields are already white to harvest. Later He looked with compassion on the crowds in Galilee who were scattered and confused about God, and again He said the harvest is plentiful. And again He looked upon another region beyond the Jordan and gave the same word. In each place He saw people ready to be gathered, and His remedy was prayer for workers.
That prayer is not passive. After telling His disciples to pray for laborers, He then said to go. Praying for the harvest prepares the one who prays to hear the call and to answer, here am I, send me. He sends His workers as lambs among wolves, calling them to go in simple dependence on Him, without trusting in their own provision, and with urgency because the fields are ready now.
It is encouraging to pray as you have for those lands shaken by war, earthquakes, floods, typhoons and volcanic eruptions, and for the famines and persecution that follow. God forewarns His people so they can prepare beforehand, as He did when He revealed coming years of plenty and famine so provision could be made. He also pours out His Spirit on sons and daughters, on young and old, on men and women, that they may prophesy and proclaim His word. We join you in asking the Lord to raise up such men and women of faith to preach and teach, to plant churches, and to establish works that care for widows and orphans as pure religion describes, and schools and ministries that hold to sound doctrine. As Paul wrote, the goal of instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, and those who teach should watch their life and doctrine closely.
You also pray rightly for protection from deception. Jesus warned to take heed that no one deceive us, and the apostles warned of evil people and impostors who grow worse in the last days, of those who profess to know God but deny Him by their deeds, and of those who have a form of godliness but deny its power. The only safeguard is diligent study to rightly handle the word of truth, and the continual washing of the word of Christ which sanctifies and cleanses. The enemy is the father of lies, that ancient serpent who accuses and deceives, and we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, not clinging to this earthly life but resting in the hope of eternal life and resurrection.
We pray with you that the church Jesus builds will not be restrained by the gates of hell, and that His people in every nation will make themselves ready as a bride adorned through the righteous acts that flow from being made holy in Him. We do not ask to be taken out of the world, but to be kept from the evil one, that the gospel would run swiftly and be received, and that believers would be delivered from evil and unbelieving people.
God also shows His heart for the harvest in the law He gave Israel. The firstfruits belonged to Him, not the leftovers, and when they reaped they were not to harvest the corners of the field nor go over it a second time to glean, but to leave that portion for the poor and the stranger. In the same way, those who labor together in the gospel are fellow laborers, whether they serve publicly or in the background, and those who labor faithfully share equally in the reward for the fruit. And while the Lord allows wheat and weeds to grow together until the final harvest when angels will separate them, He is even now gathering a present harvest where the fields are white.
May the Lord answer this burden by raising up many faithful laborers, equipping them in worship, in love, in study and in preaching, guarding them from lies and fear and wrongdoing, and using them to edify the church and to bring in many more. We thank God for your intercession and we ask Him to strengthen you to continue in prayer and in the word, boldly and purely for the sake of Christ, in Jesus name.
Scripture shows Jesus speaking of the harvest in different settings. Early on He spoke to His disciples about the Samaritans, a people despised by others, and said not to say there are four months until harvest but to lift up your eyes for the fields are already white to harvest. Later He looked with compassion on the crowds in Galilee who were scattered and confused about God, and again He said the harvest is plentiful. And again He looked upon another region beyond the Jordan and gave the same word. In each place He saw people ready to be gathered, and His remedy was prayer for workers.
That prayer is not passive. After telling His disciples to pray for laborers, He then said to go. Praying for the harvest prepares the one who prays to hear the call and to answer, here am I, send me. He sends His workers as lambs among wolves, calling them to go in simple dependence on Him, without trusting in their own provision, and with urgency because the fields are ready now.
It is encouraging to pray as you have for those lands shaken by war, earthquakes, floods, typhoons and volcanic eruptions, and for the famines and persecution that follow. God forewarns His people so they can prepare beforehand, as He did when He revealed coming years of plenty and famine so provision could be made. He also pours out His Spirit on sons and daughters, on young and old, on men and women, that they may prophesy and proclaim His word. We join you in asking the Lord to raise up such men and women of faith to preach and teach, to plant churches, and to establish works that care for widows and orphans as pure religion describes, and schools and ministries that hold to sound doctrine. As Paul wrote, the goal of instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith, and those who teach should watch their life and doctrine closely.
You also pray rightly for protection from deception. Jesus warned to take heed that no one deceive us, and the apostles warned of evil people and impostors who grow worse in the last days, of those who profess to know God but deny Him by their deeds, and of those who have a form of godliness but deny its power. The only safeguard is diligent study to rightly handle the word of truth, and the continual washing of the word of Christ which sanctifies and cleanses. The enemy is the father of lies, that ancient serpent who accuses and deceives, and we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, not clinging to this earthly life but resting in the hope of eternal life and resurrection.
We pray with you that the church Jesus builds will not be restrained by the gates of hell, and that His people in every nation will make themselves ready as a bride adorned through the righteous acts that flow from being made holy in Him. We do not ask to be taken out of the world, but to be kept from the evil one, that the gospel would run swiftly and be received, and that believers would be delivered from evil and unbelieving people.
God also shows His heart for the harvest in the law He gave Israel. The firstfruits belonged to Him, not the leftovers, and when they reaped they were not to harvest the corners of the field nor go over it a second time to glean, but to leave that portion for the poor and the stranger. In the same way, those who labor together in the gospel are fellow laborers, whether they serve publicly or in the background, and those who labor faithfully share equally in the reward for the fruit. And while the Lord allows wheat and weeds to grow together until the final harvest when angels will separate them, He is even now gathering a present harvest where the fields are white.
May the Lord answer this burden by raising up many faithful laborers, equipping them in worship, in love, in study and in preaching, guarding them from lies and fear and wrongdoing, and using them to edify the church and to bring in many more. We thank God for your intercession and we ask Him to strengthen you to continue in prayer and in the word, boldly and purely for the sake of Christ, in Jesus name.
