Does it Matter What we Pray?

"Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2)

When you stop and think about it, does it really matter what we pray for? Or is it just important that we pray so that we are talking to God? Surely God is such a needy God for fellowship with us that He is just really thrilled that we would give Him some of our precious time. (Sarcasm, if you couldn't tell).

Jesus had a lot to say about our prayer lives. He gave us the model prayer, "Our Father, who art in heaven..." He said we should always pray and not grow weary. He said not to pray with vain repetitions, and not to pray so much about what we need, because God already knows.

In this passage He observes how big the task of world evangelization really is. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Then He tells us what should be a significant part of our daily prayer life. "Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
The words "pray earnestly" in the original language carry the force of "beg." The words "send out" literally meant to cast out or to thrust out into the harvest. Obviously this is to be intense, heart-felt, and on going prayer in our lives. Yes, it matters what we pray for.

1.6 billion people in our world have no witness to them. They do not have access to the Gospel. "How shall they hear without someone preaching?" asked Paul. Will you today begin to make prayer for laborers in the harvest a part of your daily prayer lives?