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"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18).
"We are taken up with active work while people all round are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord’s time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father’s life, in your brother’s life, are you there as a labourer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ?" – Oswald Chambers
Of all the activities in your daily life, one must seem supremely absurd to the common-sense, practical man — prayer. Was there ever a time when you wondered what good could possibly come from such a bizarre activity? Perhaps you still followed your parents' lead and spoke through the motions, without fully appreciating what was truly going on in those quiet moments. It takes an active faith, a gift of grace, to believe in its power. The extreme opposite view is held by the believer who thirsts for this communion with God (Jer. 29:12). But even the saved Christian can often find himself without a daily plan.
The busyness of our lives can work against us when our minds forget to pray. We must be intentional with our plan to be alone with God (Luke 5:16, Matt. 14:23, Mark 1:35). Without these relationship opportunities, we will go on living our lives with a spontaneous praise or methodical petition, but our ability to glorify God will be severely limited. This makes us ineffective laborers and unprepared for the moments of distress and conviction of sin that produce the harvest in the first place.
The work we fill our lives with blinds us from the neighbor, sister, or mother who is ripe to harvest. How often do we tell ourselves that we don’t know what to do or how to help? We likely care deeply about this soul, but our slightly removed relationship is enough distance between our lives to erroneously justify the blinders around our eyes. "I don’t have enough time to stop by or call. My primary focus must be for those I am most responsible for and know how to help." But we are not the owners of the harvest. When that brother, sister, or friend has been made ripe to ask, we are the workers who must be ready to defend our reason for hope (1 Pet. 3:15).
So how do we get ready? How do we equip ourselves for those moments of harvest when we will accomplish those good works prepared beforehand, and glorify God with more treasures in heaven (Eph. 2:10, Matt. 6:20)? Prayer is one of the short answers, but it’s not the easy, natural solution. For most of us, shaping our lives around time for prayer requires planning. "The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality."1 But a deliberate plan for prayer will escort you from the shallow waters of life to the deep meaning of relationship. That may sound absurd at first. To the world, anything that relies so heavily on faith and not self is folly (1 Cor. 2:14). But our soul thirsts for more than the simple (Prov. 1:22). And our Lord commissions us to do more for the lives He puts in the periphery of our path (Matt. 22:9, Matt. 28:19). Make room for Him today. The more you pray, the more connected you will live to the Spirit of God. Believe that you will be transformed from a perspective of self-reliance to a joyful trust in the power and providence of the Father. Be intentional about your time alone with Him, and He will equip you for those glorious moments of harvest.
1John Piper, solidJOYS podcast, Plan for Prayer: https://www.desiringgod.org/solid-joys/plan-for-prayer
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