Send More Workers

Luke 10:1-2

Jesus Sends Out His Disciples

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

Not sure if I should be punished for this or not, but most of the time I don’t think about those verses. Not because I don’t think they are important, but mostly because I think that in every church in the world they want/need more workers. I guess it comes across as way too obvious to me in a lot of ways. So instead of spending extra time thinking about it, I’ve always kind of read it quickly and not given it a second thought. Then for some reason a few weeks ago I was thinking about how nice it would be to have a few more people who could help with leading the worship songs. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that this has been an issue for years, but I really haven’t spent much time in prayer about it. It gets mentioned, but it really isn’t my area of focus at the church. A perfect scenario might even be that some young people come in and want to help lead for now and then take over later. We are one of those small churches that have age gaps spread throughout. So, for some reason it never crossed my mind to pray for some young people to come in and help lead. I had a passing thought years ago about how I wish we had a Christian college closer to maybe even pay some young people to come and help, but I don’t think I ever prayed that these volunteers would just show up. We also really need some more good, strong men in the church. Again, it’s something that every church in the world probably wants. But I haven't spent time in prayer for God to send them. Why have I never looked at these verses in any other way than the way I originally looked at them. Isn’t that the whole point of having this website? I want us to be able to look at verses that we knew from a long time ago and get a fresh new look at them. The focus always needs to be the great commission. We need to go out and make disciples. We will always need people in that area to help. No matter how many people you have going out and spreading the good news, you can always use more. Maybe they can double up and that would be easier. But we also must realize that we need help inside the church. I believe now more than ever; people are willing to be a part of something. They are just waiting to be asked. We know more now than ever before about personality traits and behaviors, so we know that we must ask certain people and be specific. We also need to understand that we must pray about everything. We must pray that God sends willing people to our church. We also must pray that we know how to ask for help. Let’s look at what it says it Matthew 7:7-8:

Effective Prayer

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

I feel like I have been sitting here looking at a closed door, trying to figure out how I can find a few more people that I need. These are the times that I disappoint myself, I should have known the answer. The answer was always right there, but I was in such a hurry to find the answer on my own that I quickly read over the scripture that God gave me. I need to slow down and ask God for what I need. A key part of those verses above is when it says, “Pray to the Lord who is charge of the harvest”. I need to make sure I never forget who is in charge. I’ve clearly established that it isn’t me. My goal will be to spend extra time in pray and quiet time this week!!