Praying for People to Do God's Work

I began reading through the book Prayer by Ole Hallesby, which I had read many years ago.  One emphasis popped out at me.  It was that we would pray for God to send us people to do work in the kingdom.  Hallesby referred to Matthew 9:37-38 "Jesus said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore, the Lord of harvest, to send out laborers into his harvest."    He makes the statement that while we may be praying  for workers already in God's kingdom (those doing church work), we also need to pray for God to be sending us new people.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about praying for our missionaries.  We certainly need to pray for them.  I realize now that I also need to be praying for new people to be laborers in doing God's work.  Yes, we might just say a general prayer in this regard to God.  Or we could be praying for someone whom we recognize might have some talent that God could use to further the kingdom..  Or maybe we get an inkling that a person shows an interest in the church and we pray for that person.

I believe that this doesn't necessarily mean we are praying for full-time paid church workers.  It means that we are praying for people to come forward and take up the task of service and of being witnesses to others.  Today, it seems more than ever, we are in need of creative ways of doing ministry in order to reach all kinds of folks.  There are people out there who can help.  Our prayers will help to raise up new people for doing God's work.