by J. Ervent

When Christ gave the Great Commission, do you really think He intended that a chosen few should take up that responsibility, while the rest of us cozy in and enjoy our ease and comforts? Surely not! God intends that each one of us have a place in the harvest. He has a plan for you personally, not just for a chosen few whom He sends to some remote corner of the globe. You are a part of God’s plan to reach the lost. How, then, can you be involved?

As a child of God, you have full access to the very God of the universe. When you kneel before Him in prayer, you are ushered into His presence, His very throne room. No appointment is needed. God is never too busy to listen or too involved to take the time to answer you. He desires you to come. He gives you not only the wonderful privilege, but also a personal invitation to join with Him and allow Him to accomplish His purposes through you. You do not need special training for this work. You only need a burden.

He has made you a part of His “royal priesthood” (I Peter 2:9). What is the role of a priest? It is to make intercession for the people. We get to share our ministry with Christ, Who is always interceding for us before the throne of God. It has pleased God to make us a part of His eternal plan, and if we do not join it, we are failing God in the special calling He has for us.

The servants of God, whom He has sent out, depend on you too. By failing to pray, you also fail them. They count on your prayers to defeat Satan and advance God’s kingdom work. Your prayers are the channel through which God chooses to pour out grace and strength on them.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Ye also helping together by prayer for us...” (2 Cor. 1:11). He recognized how important their prayers were to his ministry, and what a vital part they were playing as helpers with him when they lifted him up to God’s throne of grace.

As we intercede for our missionaries, we are actually taking a place in the harvest—helping together by our prayers.

J. O. Fraser says it so well in some of his letters to those who were praying for him. He kept in touch with his mother through faithful correspondence and she, in turn, gathered faithful friends around her to join her in earnest prayer. “Instead of worrying she gave herself the more to prayer and getting others to pray.”

In the book Behind the Ranges: The Story of J. O. Fraser by Mrs. Howard Taylor, the author relates: “As the prayer circle grew, Fraser was distinctly conscious of a change both in himself and in his surroundings. A new spirit of expectancy began to stir within him, and there seemed new power with his message. This made him long for more such prayer help, and in his practical way he set to work to obtain it. Writing to thank the members of the circle for their faithful intercessions, he [Fraser] made this plea:

“‘You will know how, sometimes, a passage of Scripture comes to mind with such insistence and such an obvious application to present circumstances that you can hardly doubt its being a direct message from God. It seems as if God’s word to me at present comes in a passage from Isaiah which spoke to me powerfully a few weeks ago and still seems to ring within me: “Enlarge the place of thy tent... spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth [spread abroad] on the right hand and on the left…" (Isaiah 54:2-3).

“‘Knowing as I do the conditions of the work, its potential magnitude, its difficulties, and opposition it meets with, I have definitely resolved, with God’s help, to enlarge the place of my tent, to lengthen my prayer cords and strengthen my intercessory stakes. I have resolved to make a forward movement with regard to the prayer circle.’”

The author continues: “As you can see, Fraser recognized not only the need for prayer, but also the need for those who are praying to be informed so that they can be effective. Up until this point in his ministry, his letters had been forwarded to about 8-10 prayer helpers, each one passing it on to the next. But now he began to send a copy to each of them, separately, and sought also to add others to its membership. He wrote as follows:

“‘I am persuaded that England is rich in godly, quiet, praying people… They may not be a great multitude, but they are rich in faith,” even if many of them be poor and of humble station. It is the prayers of such that I covet more than gold of Ophir—those good old men and good old women (yes, and not necessarily old, either) who know what it is to have power with God and prevail. Will you help me, prayerfully and judiciously, to get some of these to join the circle? The work for which I am asking prayer is preaching and teaching the Word of God, pure and simple. I have no confidence in anything but the Gospel of Calvary to uplift these needy people.’”

At another time, Fraser wrote, “Clouds seem to have lifted considerably—perhaps because the prayer burden was fought right through.”

This is the kind of impact you can have in Christ’s kingdom if you will. You can be the hidden source of many a blessing to those who are laboring in the harvest fields, or, through your neglect, you may cause them to suffer lack and the real oppressing powers of darkness may hinder them from being as effective.

Many people think of praying for missionaries in terms of simply mentioning at their mealtime prayers, “And, Lord, bless our missionaries and save the heathen in Africa.” And God bless you if you do mention them in prayer in this way. But we are called to go deeper than this—to deliberately enter into conflict with the powers of darkness for them.

As it says in Ephesians 6:12, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” These wicked spirits will not be defeated in any other way. These kinds of breakthroughs only come when we get on our knees in real, earnest prayer.

This is the place in the harvest that God is calling you to take. You don’t need to be something special. God uses weak things to show His strength. He says in 2 Cor. 12:9 “…my strength is made perfect in weakness….” You don’t have to be a superb prayer warrior, but you do have to make a conscious choice to begin or it won’t happen. Don’t wait for a better time. Start now!