Why Did Jesus Command Us to Pray for Laborers?

Jesus commanded His disciples to pray earnestly that God would send out laborers into His harvest. This prayer for laborers should be a common focus of prayer by individual believers and local churches. And yet, so few of God’s people seem to place any real importance upon this prayer. Why might this be?

First, let’s read the command given in Matthew:

“When he (Jesus) 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 9:36-38).

The meaning of this command is clear enough: we must pray for Gospel laborers to go work in God’s spiritual harvest fields. People often choose to focus primarily on the compassion of Jesus in this passage. What gets a lot less press is the command that Jesus gave after He expressed that compassion. Why did Jesus command us to pray for laborers?

Praying for laborers reminds us of spiritual reality.

One reason for such a command is that by praying this way we are made to acknowledge spiritual reality with greater focus. Our sinful hearts are ever drawn toward materialism, living for the moment, this life, for what is visible and seen. That is why Jesus and the apostles give various other commands like “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:1) and “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Keeping our hearts fixed on spiritual and eternal realities requires constant effort. That is one reason why we must “pray without ceasing” (1Thess. 5:17).

By commanding us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest, Jesus commands us to keep eternal realities on our minds. Consider these spiritual realities that this prayer urges us to remember:

1) There is a spiritual harvest.

2) Each of us has a responsibility to labor in that harvest.

3) God will use the prayers of His people to bring in the spiritual harvest.

There is a spiritual harvest!

Yes, there is indeed a spiritual harvest to be reaped! Isn’t it sad that we must be continually reminded to open our spiritual eyes to see the eternal souls of the multitudes around us? We get so incredibly busy with life, so weighed down with surviving, that we often lose focus. Even those whose main business is Gospel ministry can get caught up in its administration and details and lose their heart for the lost!   

We must not get jaded and lose faith about the harvest. Bad experiences with professed believers we’ve poured ourselves into, only to see them fall away, hurts–a lot. Continual rejection from the hardhearted we seek to win can lead us to feel as though there no longer remains a harvest to be reaped. Wrong! Jesus said that the harvest exists, and it is abundant! Refocus! Have faith!

Each of us has a responsibility to labor in that harvest.

By praying this prayer, we are forced to reckon with the fact that Jesus calls each of us to work, to seek a spiritual harvest. Prayer for laborers leads us to an inescapable conclusion—all are laborers; each of us must be working in the harvest. God has work for all of us to do in making disciples for Him.

God will certainly call out some who pray this way to give themselves more fully to the work of the spiritual harvest. Among these will come elders/pastors and missionaries, some full-time. But most will remain in the secular workforce serving Christ from there.

God will use the prayers of His people to bring in the spiritual harvest.

Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for laborers to enter His harvest because it is God’s purpose to use this specific prayer to bring about the reaping. God has in some way bound up His program of the salvation of the nations to the prayers of His people. What a humbling reality! Our prayers are an effective part of what God is doing in building His church, this prayer in particular, by His design.

The fact that Jesus commanded His disciples to pray this way gives us much hope and encouragement in evangelism. While God never guarantees who will come to saving faith or when, He guarantees to work through these prayers to bring in the harvest. God doesn’t command us to pray for things He is unwilling to give. If we pray for laborers, He will thrust them out, leading to more coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Praying for laborers can be convicting, so often avoided.

But it can be so hard to pray this way. Think of how often you have heard earnest prayer for laborers in a worship service, prayer meeting, or small group. Consider your own prayers before the Lord. How often have you prayed, in your entire Christian experience, for God to send laborers into His harvest? Many reading this probably would have to answer very rarely at best.

What about the church prayer list? Is a major prayer need forever present on it the harvest, souls that need saving by the grace of God, and for laborers to pursue them?

Why is this specific prayer so easy to forget?

Why is it so easy to ignore this direct command from Jesus about prayer? Could it be that some don’t pray for laborers to enter the harvest because they don’t want to be reminded about the spiritual needs around them?

Apathy. Maybe some have become apathetic, lulled to a spiritual slumber, to the point they don’t want to think about taking seriously their personal role in fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). These might relegate this prayer to be for pastors and missionaries or those that lead missionary prayer teams. Notice that Jesus did not limit this command to merely some of His disciples.

Fear. Might some fear praying for laborers lest God call them to give their lives full-time to this work? The fear of vocational ministry and foreign missions cause some not to pray.

Selfishness. Some, so self-absorbed, their love for God and man grown so cold, don’t want to be inconvenienced by investing in the lives of others. They know that such a prayer demands selfless love that reaches out in response, so this prayer goes “unprayed.”

Those who learn to pray this prayer for laborers know joy and fulfillment in their service to Jesus Christ. As for those that fear this prayer, no matter what their reason, they deceive themselves away from God’s blessing and eternal reward. Obey Jesus Christ and pray this prayer in faith and see what God will do!

Further reading on this prayer for laborers: A Prayer Straight from God’s Heart that Calibrates Mine.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV® Bible.

Photo of Harvest by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash