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In Luke chapter 10, Jesus chooses 72 disciples out of the crowds which had been following Him around. He selects them out of the masses for a task; a mission. The mission was to go into the cities to which He would soon be traveling, and prepare a people to be ready for His coming. | Check out these other articles: Catch the Ten2b Virus Luke 10:2b Prayer 10:2b Prayer | He didn't set them down for hours of preparation lectures. He didn't have any structured Bible classes. There seems to have been no great fan-fare. Rather, He gave them very simple and clear instructions found in verses 2-12. These few verses offer us great insight into the way Jesus intended for His Kingdom to be spread around the world. For the purpose of this article we will focus our attention upon verse 2: |  "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." (NLT) Jesus equipped them with a prayer. Following this prayer, He gives them clear instructions as to what they are to do in each city they come to, but for the sake of our interest at this point, we must focus on the prayer. This is the starting point. It is what must happen throughout the mission. |
When we pray: A few months ago, we decided to set our cell phones to alert us every day to pray for our city and region. We got the idea from Mike Jentes of CMA Resources. We decided to pray at 10:02 am (reference Luke 10:2b) and at 2:01 pm (reference 201 Poplar Street in Memphis). Our hearts long to see a dynamic, organic network rise up in the Memphis metro area. Our prayer is to see thousands of ordinary people standing up for the cause of Jesus Christ in their neighborhoods, apartment complexes, offices, and homes. We have actually begun to find ourselves begging God for workers far more than just these two times a day, because God is radically changing our hearts and our eyes. Join us in this prayer for our city and yours. | This was a specific, focused prayer from the heart of the Father and the Son. It was given as a clear expression of the longing of our Savior. He recognized the need for Kingdom workers. He saw the hundreds and thousands of suffering souls in bondage to sin and the world. He longed for their freedom from the tyranny of oppression at the hands of a corrupt and sinful world system. He knew the need for men and women to stand up and be called people of the Way. On this day, He taught His disciples to look at the world a little bit differently. Rather than seeing crowds of hungry, possessed, and distraught masses, He taught them to see the potential in the harvest. These were not just mobs; these were people in need of the Truth. They needed help. The heart of the Father is to raise up workers from the harvest for the harvest. | This is embodied in the prayer, "Father, Lord of the harvest, I beg you to send more workers into Your harvest fields." This simple, yet profound, prayer recognizes who is in charge of the harvest, who owns the field in which we labor, who does the sending, and who does the going, because in verse 3, Jesus says, "Now go..." It all belongs to him. | | So, out of a conviction that we are to join Jesus in what He is doing rather than inventing our own plans and programs, this is a prayer we have begun taking much more seriously. Why? Because we have been out in the harvest, and we have recognized the obvious: more workers are needed for the harvest. This certainly didn't come as a shock, but it was humbling to come to grips with the fact that God isn't calling us to win the world, but to obey whatever He reveals, and be used by Him to change the world around us. It all belongs to Him. It's time we started following Jesus. | | We need more people praying and more people willing to be answers to this prayer. Will you help us spread the ten2b Virus? | | People all over the world are already praying this prayer for their regions, and they are answering the call to go and make disciples. Will you?
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