Jesus said on two occasions, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:38 & Luke 10:2)

    Have you ever prayed that prayer? Or if you have, do you pray it regularly?

    I haven’t.

    And I guess most believers would say the same. It isn’t always at the top of our prayer list.

    I suspect most of us pray occasionally for lost people—especially for family members that we want to see in Heaven.

But Jesus thought, and said, that praying for harvest workers was important, so important that he spelled it out specifically, ”Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.”

If he thought it was so important, I’ll bet he prayed it himself. Often. And with passion.

So, here’s the big question—why don’t we pray more often for the Lord to send workers?

· Maybe we don’t think it’s a life or death issue. Are we reluctant to “change someone’s religion”, believing that most people are going to find God on their own without our help?

· Maybe we don’t believe that hell is real and that people actually go there. The reality of hell is a central doctrine of the Bible. And Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else did. It’s real and people really go there—not because God hates them but because Satan rules human flesh (1st John 5:19) and he’s taking people to hell with him (Rev. 20:10-15).

· Maybe we don’t believe prayer makes much difference. We think God will do what He’s going to do without our input. But the Bible says otherwise; “You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 5:2)

· Maybe we just don’t get around to it. Maybe someone else will do it.

Whatever has caused our prayerlessness, begin now to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send them out (and send us, too)!