Heart Wide Open

These were [Jesus’] instructions . . .: “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.”

Luke 10:2

When the Scriptures instruct us to pray, we can consider that instruction a promise of what God is willing and able to do in response to our prayers. What can we learn from this call to prayer? That the harvest is great.

Everywhere your life takes you, you can be sure there are hearts ripe and ready to be harvested for the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit has already been working. He has plowed the ground, planted the seed, and nurtured and protected it as it took root.

I have discovered, first, that sometimes the one whose heart has ripened may be the last person I would assume to be ready. Where I worked years ago, I sensed the Lord impressing me to start a prayer group. I didn’t want to put myself out there quite that far, so I thought I would privately contact the people I assumed would be interested. But the feeling persisted that I should put the invitation in the office communication, and I hesitantly did so. No one responded. I feared no one would come. When the time came, none of those I thought might be interested showed up, but others I would never have imagined contacting were there. Each had a story about crying out to the Lord and asking for some way of knowing him.

The second thing I’ve learned is that God will send workers in response to prayer. He knows how to call his own and direct them to the very places where he is working. He engineers divine appointments and initiates strategic conversations that lead to harvesting hearts.

You are where God has placed you because the harvest is great and you have been called. Trust the God of the harvest to lead you and to give you wisdom and sensitivity in the field to which you have been appointed. Be prayerfully alert to the Spirit’s nudging, and live with a heart wide open to those around you.

Here I am, Lord. Send me.

The Son of God is spreading His love, His lifestyle, and His life-saving message across this planet and you know what? He has summoned you to join Him in His glorious Administration. Don’t settle for anything less.

Ron Hutchcraft, contemporary Christian communicator and author