Matthew 9:37-38, "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 6:9-10, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
How would you like to have utter confidence that what you pray is going to happen? One of the secrets of prayer is learning to pray the big sweeping prayers of the bible; especially what our Lord Jesus Christ tells us to pray. One of the great discoveries about prayer I have learned is that God ordains that we pray for things that He absolutely wants to do and is going to do. What amazes me is that the means whereby He does what He absolutely wants to do is through prayer.
For example:
Jesus gives the great commission in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" Here Jesus is telling His followers their mission here on earth, yet we read the words of Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." So Jesus calls His disciples to participate in a mission that will not fail.
How? Jesus said in Matthew 9:37-38, "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." It never ceases to amaze me that we, the laborers, should be instructed to ask the owner of the farm, who knows the harvest better than we do, to add on more farm hands. Yet nothing is more certain than that the kingdom of God will triumph (Matthew 16:18; 24:14).
What this means is that God has appointed prayer as a means of finishing the mission that He promised will be finished! Our prayers are God's means to accomplish His own end! What a great privilege it is to pray. What absolute certainty there is to pray the promise of God. We pray because the outcome of our prayers are as certain as the promises God makes. God says the Great Commission will be completed and our prayers are the means by which He will accomplished it.
Another example is the Lord's prayer where Jesus teaches us to pray like this in Matthew 6:9-13, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Notice that this is a petition or a request. It is not a declaration. We are not saying, "Lord, your name is hallowed!" We are saying, "Lord, cause your name to be hallowed!" It is a request to God that he would see to it that His own name be hallowed. It is like just like the other text in Matthew 9:38 where Jesus tells us to pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send out laborers into His own harvest. This is the same thing we have here in the Lord's Prayer—Jesus telling us to ask God, who is infinitely jealous for the honor of his own name, to see to it that his name be hallowed. Well it may amaze us, but there it is.
Prayer does not move God to do things he is disinclined to do, but rather prayer moves God to do things that He is inclined to do. He has every intention to cause His name to be hallowed. Nothing is higher on God's priority list. That God would display the greatness of God. There is no uncertainty about the triumph of God. Nevertheless, in God’s providence, it depends upon human prayer. Amazing! The prayers of God’s followers and the purposes of God will not fail.
God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11). the great promise is that God will not let His word return void but will accomplish what God appoints it for. Yet Paul prays in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, "Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you." So God makes a promise and He uses our prayers to usher it in. So let us pray that the powerful word of God will triumph and triumph it will!
Isn't this wonderful? God wills to make great things the consequence of our prayers when our prayers are the consequence of His great purposes. Let us begin to pray big sweeping biblical prayers. Let us attempt great things in prayer to God and expect great things from God in prayer because God is going to going to answer and do the things that He plans to do. These prayers cannot and will not fail.
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."
Praying for the great things of God,
Pastor Bill
2 comments:
Thank you Bill. As usual a very timely message.
This is really exciting to me, the fact that I can participate in accomplishing God's purposes through prayer. What an honor to see the Kingdom of God (salvation) come to people because I prayed!
Or to see brotherly love come to the church because I prayed. Or, that the blind see because I prayed.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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