PRAYER REQUESTS
Please continue to pray with us. We use this passage as our prayer focus for the month:
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 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 9:35-38
The Bible teaches us that when Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion for them. Jesus Christ still has compassion for us today – and His heart is for His flock. In the Scripture quoted, it says ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. People who do not know Jesus Christ, who is not in a relationship with Him, who does not have the surety of loving Him as Lord and Savior are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They might, on the surface seem fine, they might even have the coping mechanism of self-assuredness, but if we look at them through God’s eyes, we will see broken people in desperate need of a Savior.
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few: Laboring, includes praying for God’s Kingdom to come, for His will to be done on earth. You might not be able to do missions work, evangelize, or get on a pulpit to preach, but we are all called to pray!
I love how John Piper describes the importance of prayer: ‘God has willed that his miraculous work of harvesting be preceded by prayer. He loves to bless the world. But even more, he loves to bless the world in answer to prayer. It is God’s way before he does a great work to pour a Spirit of supplication upon his people so that they plead for the work. I would press on to labor in the Word and hope that perhaps after another year of humbling me and purifying me, God might be pleased to answer my prayer. But if in his sovereign kindness he pours out upon you the Spirit of compassion and supplication and there is a great movement of prayer, then I would begin to count the days till harvest begins’.
May God stir in our hearts to pray passionately and with perseverance. May we join the great movement of prayer, may we be a part of the harvest. Pray without ceasing, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Please continue to lift Ananias House, the persecuted church, the laborers and the huge harvest-field in your prayers.
