A firm commitment to faith and obedience to the Scriptures historically results in a passion to fulfill the Great Commission. Prayer for laborers and intercession for the lost express this passion. Obedient prayer becomes a spiritual spark—fuel that ignites and sustains the advance of the Gospel.
God has long blessed Bible-believing churches in the USA with the precious privilege of praying, giving, and going to make disciples of all nations. Many thousands have been sent during the last two centuries, resulting in countless disciples and local churches planted around the globe. Other nations have done the same.
Today, Americans face a harsh reality: far fewer young men and women commit themselves to serve Christ as laborers “separated unto the gospel.”[1] Far fewer now commit themselves to cross-cultural missions. In general, missions agencies have seen a sharp decline in the numbers of those going for the sake of His Name. The present missionary force is aging without many gospel laborers to replace them.
Where does the blame lie? Weak preaching? Cultural shift? Erosion of sound doctrine? A weakening economy? The Last Days? But most of our partnering churches maintain commitment to sound doctrine and the battle against sin and the world. Furthermore, church history teaches that economics does not really affect missions. Why then are so few going out as cross-cultural missionaries?
Recently I sent out a survey to over 100 pastors of independent Baptist and Bible churches. Most of these churches had 75 regular members or less. One of the questions I asked them was whether or not their church held a prayer meeting each week or if they emphasized corporate prayer in any of their services. Most of the pastors confessed that their churches did neither of these. Brothers and sisters, a prayer famine ravages many of our churches! One major consequence of prayer famine is a severe shortage of workers for the harvest.
In His sovereignty, God has in some ways bound His working to the prayers of His people. Jesus commanded us: “Pray earnestly [plead] to the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers [workers] into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38, ESV). How much earnest prayer goes up to God’s throne from your church? How often do you pray for laborers to reach your county or city? How often have you prayed that God would send laborers to those gospel-parched places of the world?
Prayer shortage leads to labor shortage; abundant prayer leads to abundant labor.
Obey the Lord in prayer, and be an instrument of His in seeing laborers enter His harvest!
Praise the Lord for those of you whose churches have regular prayer meetings or have small groups that emphasize prayer! Do you pray in these gatherings for the Lord to send out laborers? Are you earnestly interceding for the lost “to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4, ESV)?
There is no other way to obtain gospel workers. There is no short-cut. This command of Jesus Christ to pray must be obeyed if we are to see the Lord of the harvest send out laborers. Are we simply too distracted from what is eternally important to pray for this? Or are we afraid to pray this prayer, knowing that it requires us to be willing to go?
May it be that those reading this will be a part of the solution to this prayer famine that rages among the churches. If we will do our part in prayer, we will be a part of the solution. God will send out laborers for His harvest. Jesus did not command us to pray this prayer in vain.
“Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38, ESV).
[1] https://the-coming-shortage-of-christian-leaders