Praying for the Harvest

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV)

When the multitudes gathered and Jesus began to teach, He spoke of things that related to their everyday lives.  They understood when He taught parables about planting seed, types of soil, or gathering the harvest. They lived in an agrarian society, and several of the Jewish feast days were related to times of harvest.

When Jesus told His disciples that there was a bountiful harvest to be gathered but there were few to work in the fields, He was not referring to the seasonal barley, wheat, and fruit harvests. This was a spiritual harvest of souls. The need was—and still is—great, but a labor shortage existed. He then told them to pray for laborers to work in the harvest.

Perhaps the first question we should address is, “Where are the harvest fields?” Often, we think of the them as being “over there somewhere” (a remote area or foreign land). In reality, the harvest is anywhere there are lost souls. We are standing in a harvest field right now.

You may then ask, “How do I fulfill His command to pray for the harvest? Since we’ve already established that we are standing in the field, there are three simple needs we can pray for:

• Compassion for those who do not know the Lord. We should pray to see people through the eyes of Jesus and to feel the same compassion that He felt for them. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36, ESV).

• Opportunities for the lost to hear the gospel. “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14, ESV).
• Boldness for us to personally reach out to the lost. Paul, a mighty soulwinner for the Lord, requested prayer that “. . . words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19, ESV).

Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019) summed it up this way:

“When we pray as He commanded, we will see what He saw, feel what He felt, and do what He did. God will multiply our lives as we share in the great harvest that is already ripe.”

Let me ask a very pointed, but honest, question. Can we sincerely pray for the harvest if we are unwilling to work in the harvest?

The early church faced the enormous task of reaching their then-known world with the gospel. More than 2,000 years later, the task remains the same. Today’s world population has reached 8.1 billion with approximately 31 percent identifying themselves as Christian. Even if each of these faithfully committed to reaching the lost, the task before us—the harvest—is still monumental. Workers are desperately needed. We are desperately needed! It is time to gather the harvest.

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (John 4:35 ESV)

More Ways to Pray for the Lost:

1. Pray that those who do not know God will encounter and become friends with believers.
2. Pray that their hearts will be softened to hear the Word of God.
3. Pray that truth will be shared with love and clarity.
4. Pray that the seed of the Word will not be choked out by the things of the world.
5. Pray for conviction of any sin that may be in their lives.
6. Pray for true repentance and a hunger to be filled with God’s Spirit.

“To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:18, NKJV)

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26, NKJV)