READING: Matthew 9-12
4 billion+ people in the world still have little access to the gospel—and we will not reach them without more workers for the task.
We can teach next generations about those needs and about missionaries who help meet them.
Pastors can “call out the called”—and challenge all members to consider that calling.
We who teach in seminaries can remind students of the opportunities to do gospel work around the world.
Our churches can sponsor short-term trips to preach the gospel and equip the saints.
All of these steps are important ones, and each one can help us get the good news to the nations. At the end of the day, though, Jesus gave us one primary way to raise up workers: “pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest” (Matt 9:38). It is through prayer that God “thrusts out” workers to where the fields are just waiting for the message. In His compassion for the wandering crowds, Jesus calls out the laborers to reap the harvest, and He does so on the wings of the prayers of His people. As one writer put it, “Not all Christians will cross major cultural boundaries or become full-time missionaries, but all of us must be mobilized to pray for the world vision he has summoned us to share with him.”*
Prayer for workers—and a corresponding willingness to be an answer to our own prayers—are simply non-negotiable if we want to make a dent in the darkness around us.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you pray this way for workers?
PRAYER: “God, do raise up more laborers, and let me know what role I must play.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Matthew 13-15
*Keener, C. S. (1997). Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 9:38). InterVarsity Press.
