September 2023

The Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

-Luke 10:1-2 (CSB)

I used to have my iPhone alarm set to go off at 10:02 AM every day, as a summons to pray that the Lord would send out workers into the harvest fields. Why 10:02? It was a reminder of Luke chapter 10 verse 2, in which Jesus told his followers to pray that the Lord would continue to call people into holy service, to share the good news of God’s kingdom come. It’s a reminder that we cannot “save the world” on our own; we are not to be vigilantes out in the fields, doing Jesus’ work alone. Obviously, we need God’s Holy Spirit to empower us, and we also need plenty of friends to help.

The seeming “randomness” of the time (Who sets an alarm for 10:02?) meant that it would often go off when I was in the midst of some other task. Once I was in the checkout line at the supermarket, and the alarm went off as the cashier was ringing up my groceries. I smiled sheepishly and said a quick prayer, and then explained myself to her. She was not offended, and it gave me the opportunity to (albeit in a brief, small way) share my faith in the power of prayer and the necessity of godly teamwork.

If you feel so led, you can also make this a daily habit, for God knows that we need people who love Jesus and love people out in the field, sharing the good news about God’s mercy for all people. Everyone needs to know that they matter; everyone needs to hear that they are loved. But there seem to be so few who are willing to do that vital work. Prayer is needed. Jesus certainly thought so.

The harvest is plentiful, all around us, dear church. How many souls around us have no church home; have no friend who can guide them to salvation in Jesus? We needed a community of faith to guide us; so do the people around us.

Let’s not neglect our work, but let us not neglect the Jesus-directed command to pray that God will continue to raise up helpers.

God has blessed us! Let’s bless others!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Matthew