Pray
the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest —Matthew 9:38
The key to the missionary’s
difficult task is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer, not work— that
is, not work as the word is commonly used today, which often results in the
shifting of our focus away from God. The key to the missionary’s difficult task
is also not the key of common sense, nor is it the key of medicine,
civilization, education, or even evangelization. The key is in following the
Master’s orders— the key is prayer. “Pray the Lord of the harvest . . . .” In
the natural realm, prayer is not practical but absurd. We have to realize that
prayer is foolish from the commonsense point of view.
From Jesus Christ’s perspective,
there are no nations, but only the world.
How many of us pray without regard to the persons, but with regard to only one
Person— Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced through distress and
through conviction of sin. This is the harvest for which we have to pray that
laborers be sent out to reap. We stay busy at work, while people all around us
are ripe and ready to be harvested; we do not reap even one of them, but simply
waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities and programs. Suppose a crisis
were to come into your father’s or your brother’s life— are you there as a
laborer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? Is your response, “Oh, but I have
a special work to do!” No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is
called to be Jesus Christ’s own, “a servant [who] is not greater than his
master” (John 13:16),
and someone who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our
Lord calls us to no special work— He calls us to Himself. “Pray the Lord of the
harvest,” and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His
laborer.
(Taken
from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost for His Highest” October 16)