Note: This is the final part in a series of posts on how to pray for a great spiritual harvest in eastern Kentucky. If you haven’t already done so, you may want to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 first.
In Matthew 9:35-38, we have already examined how Jesus teaches us to pray with the proper motivation and with the proper understanding of the needs. In verse 38, He teaches us how to pray with the proper goal: “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
There it is. The goal of our prayer. More laborers. It’s a pretty simple prayer really. But, it’s a specific type of laborer that we are to pray for: those who are sent out into the harvest. We don’t need more laborers who are content to simply sit in our pews, but we desperately need more laborers who are sent out throughout eastern Kentucky proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s the type of laborers that we should pray for.
And here is an amazing truth: you and I are the answer to our own prayer.
Even as Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for more laborers at the end of Matthew 9, He turns around and sends out those very same disciples at the beginning of Matthew 10. And the same principle still applies today. Even as Jesus commands us to pray for more laborers to be sent out, the truth is that we are the answer to our own prayer. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given the same gospel that the disciples were given. You have been given the same power of the Holy Spirit that the disciples were given. You have been given the same opportunities to share the gospel that the disciples were given. And so you and I have been sent just as the early disciples were sent. Jesus says in John 20:21: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
So, as you and I respond to Christ’s sending call, God will use us to bring in His harvest! This is both an encouraging and humbling truth. We are sent on behalf of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to a lost and dying world. And that certainly includes the 781,903 unchurched people of eastern Kentucky.
So, here’s specifically what I’m praying for. I am praying for God to raise up and send out an army of church planters from among the already established churches in eastern Kentucky. I am also praying for God to send church planters from outside of eastern Kentucky to our region to help us establish new churches. And I’m praying for hundreds of new churches to be planted throughout our area. In other words, I am praying for more laborers that result in more conversions that result in more churches.
The harvest in eastern Kentucky is plentiful, but the laborers are so few. Therefore, let us pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Will you join me in that prayer?
