CALL FOR LABOURERS

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people”. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Matthew 9:35-38 NKJV

“Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. What a huge harvest! he said to his disciples. How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"  Matt. 9:35-38 MSG 

The first question is, if you are of Christ, as you are going about, what are you doing? As Christ gives you access to people, places, what are you doing? Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. So you should be seen as doing what Jesus went about doing because it is what you are doing as you go about that tells who you really are. Where people are pursuing Christ, you will see peace amongst them. Let’s be reminded that what brings joy to heaven is not when you bought a car or built a house, it is when a sinner gets saved. One way to measure your spiritual state is how you feel and what you do when you see others who are not born again. The multitudes Jesus saw during His time cannot be measured with our time -the number is nothing compared to what we have now. Jesus didn’t say to pray for “members”, He said LABOURERS because members come to watch, labourers come to work.

What is this labour and what is the harvest all about?

Jesus told His disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into the harvest. This is the prayer point of Jesus expressing the heartbeat of the Father. Jesus was simply saying the disciples should pray because without them, He cannot do what He ought to do concerning the harvest. There must be harvest hands.

The harvest is all about. SOULS. “On your knees, pray for harvest hands". There are some who do not even bother about this heartbeat of the Father, for others, it was a bother, they started but possibly stopped along the way. The truth is two cannot walk together except there is an agreement. You must ensure that all those you truly love are saved. Anyone who is not born again will go to hell; self-righteousness will not take anyone to heaven.  As disciples of Jesus, in order to bring in the harvest, we must have compassion, but the church in our day lacks compassion. When you are moved with compassion, you will not need human intervention and you can’t be stopped until that vision is accomplished. If the church does not have compassion, it cannot make an impact (Jude 22). 

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise. Jesus has not come because His desire is that all men will be saved and He is not willing that any should perish.  To accomplish this task, LABOURERS must arise. The harvest is all about SOULS-turning men from darkness to light, from the power of satan to the power of God.

The need for the hour is LABOURERS. To send forth means to ENVISION and EMPOWER men for the harvest. That empowerment means when you feel intimidated and threatened, you would be bold and stand for the harvest. When men who are envisioned and empowered go into the harvest, they reap out proper souls/fruit. The reason Jesus left us here with breath in us, kept us alive and has given us strength is so that souls will be won to the Kingdom of God. You do not beg labourers to work; they go looking for work, that’s how they are sustained, it is their livelihood. They make themselves available to work. They are available to work, not coerced or cajoled. All they need to do the work is simply to give them the platform. 

A lot of us believers have still not seen our work for God like that. We give Him our leftovers (of time, resources, strength...) 

There is a definite day and time a man gets saved. Make sure your children are saved. That they grew up in church, does not mean they are saved. It is alright to ask your child over and over again if he/she is born again and they must answer until it gets to such a time whereby it truly dawns on them in whom they have believed. 

A man is only saved through Jesus. Thus it is not a title, denomination that saves a man but JESUS. Romans 10:1-9, 10-15.

The LABOURERS primarily functions in three categories and we can function in all the three.

1. PRAYING LABOURERS

2. PAYING LABOURERS

3.  PREACHING LABOURERS

The enemy’s goal is to wear us out so we would not be able to fulfill these three.

PRAYING LABOURERS. Praying comes first. There will be no power, or resources released if we do not pray. If we do not pray, nothing will happen. Praying labourers are men who have come to the point where praying is now their lifestyle. They enjoy praying, they’ve become prayer addicts.  When you are a praying labourer, you cannot be too rigid to pray. When the Apostles stayed in the upper room waiting for the coming of the Holy Ghost, praying was not a burden for them; they were together in one accord. Those who believed in Jesus were of one accord. They were a praying people birthing a prayer people “… they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine, in fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers”. When you are convinced, it’s not easy to walk out of anything.

Jesus told a parable about the dubious servant who stayed true to what he believed. Here, Jesus was saying that in spite of his dubiousness and though he was going to lose his job, he stayed true to it. (Luke 16:1-13) The result is not a determinant of the actions of these sets of people but their commitment. The response of praying labourers is prayer and the centre of their prayer is the heartbeat of God. The reasons we do not see miracles happening much in our day is because we do not have praying labourers. A praying labourer is not forced or cajoled but rather it is his/her lifestyle to pray. We pray prayers that make it look like God is irresponsible. When the Apostles were threatened and beaten on account of their preaching, that did not deter them because when they gathered together, their prayer points still centred on God giving them boldness to preach the gospel. Acts 4:24-30.

PAYING LABOURER. The most expensive venture on the surface of the earth is the advancement of the gospel. The devil knows this, thus he tries all he can to hinder and stop people from giving to the work of God. A giving labourer is glad giving to the work of God because therein, he finds fulfillment. Paying labourers give with simplicity expecting no recognition. A lot of people believe money is needed for everything except the gospel. Paying labourers see giving as their LIFE’S MISSION and they give willingly without being compelled, cajoled or coerced. After Jesus resurrected from the dead, the Pharisees paid much money to the guards to lie that Jesus’ disciples came to steal His body at night. If this can be done to hinder the spread of the truth how much more do you think is needed for the spread of the gospel? When the Holy Ghost is moving upon our hearts, everyone will know by the Spirit what is expected of them. One key sign that you are a genuine believer is that you do not regard whatever you do as your covenant responsibility as an achievement but a covenant obligation. True believers respond to every covenant obligation willingly. 

 Paying labourers always want to do more. When a man genuinely encounters Jesus, he will be committed to giving as he has proposed in his heart.

The people who brought money for the gospel’s sake were not cajoled, coerced or forced. They did what they did wilfully and willingly. (Acts 2:42-45, 4:32-35) Giving is not about how much you have, it is about vision and commitment. (2 Cor. 9:6-7) We can only make out time and give money to what we believe in. The wealth transfer we talk about is not for all but for paying labourers who have the heart and who are properly positioned.

If the gospel will be preached and men saved, paying labourers must rise to take their place for these to be done.