When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to his disciples. The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
– Matthew (9:36-38)
We all have comfort zones, those areas of life from which we seldom stray. Some are social, some economic, others political, and still others religious.
- It becomes easy to settle in, get comfortable, and never venture out beyond these boundaries many of us set in life.
- The gospel is a call for us to leave our comfort zones and see “the multitudes” with compassion, through the eyes of Jesus today.
In the passage Jesus emphasizes what he calls “the harvest.” It is full. It is ready.
- It is not a call to plow the fields. It is not a call to plant the crops. It is not a call to prepare and cultivate. He acknowledges there is a major problem – “the laborers are few.” Not the spectators. There are lots of them.
- God’s problem today is not out there in the fields. They are ready. They are plenteous. They are ripe. They are waiting.
- Things haven’t changed much in 2000 years. God’s problem is still with his own people.
Here we are, like the disciples, often just content in our own snug little comfort zones. The multitudes are all around us; they are weary and without spiritual direction; they are ripe to be harvested. But few are willing to go into the fields and bring them in.
- So, what are we to do? Human reasoning says get a plan, enlist the workers, beg, plead, coerce if necessary, strategize, find a catchy theme, pull out all your best motivational techniques, and, if needed even try guilt for motivation.
But God has a better way. Jesus moves prayer to the very top of the priority list when it comes to evangelization and “the harvest.” Prayer was always Jesus’ priority.
Re-source: Refocus
focus (attention or resources) on something new or different
We automatically surmise that it is the poor lost souls needing direction and hope, but it is not. Jesus calls us to focus our prayers on God sending out “the laborers.”
- Behind the Greek words “send out” is the thought of haste and urgency. This is a call to pray for God to move into action, thrusting you and me from our very comfort zones and into the harvest field of personal evangelism.
Jesus had revealed to these disciples that the fields were “already white for harvest” (John 4:35).
- When the wheat starts turning white it is almost too late to get out. You have to move with all urgency before it gets rotted in the field.
- Yes, the harvest fields around us today are “white for harvest”. There will not always be adequate time. This is a time for us to leave our comfort zones and put our priority where Jesus did – pray… to the Lord… to send out laborers into his field.
In all our talk of evangelism and the need to reach those who are lost, let us remember that prayer is our priority always and in all ways.
craving and resource from “The Prayer Code” by O.S. Hawkins
