The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. “Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.” – Luke 10:2
Maya Chittry*, one of our national directors, recently spoke to a conference in Japan on the topic of intercession. She shared about a group of ladies from her country that regularly gather together for prayer. They often fast and pray for their nation, the communities and families they have, and for other countries. I’ve even experienced them praying for me and my family several times over the years.
She talked about how a Buddhist leader in one village who was stridently anti-Christian came down with boils. It just so happened that Maya’s ladies had been praying for that village for six months. When this Buddhist leader was at his wits end in trying to solve the problem, he called the ladies to pray as a last resort and he got healed. Today his whole family are believers in Jesus.
She also shared about a widow who had lost everything who came to the city with her son to find help. Maya prayed for her and God took care of both her and her son. Through the prayers of people like Maya, she became a Christ-follower. Over time she developed a burden for her hometown so she returned. She bought her own property and planted a church there. Today she’s a generous giver to her community all because of what God did in her life.
Prayer unleashes amazing miracles.
As Maya talked about Japan, she knew that Japan was a country in desperate need of prayer. So she challenged us to pray because as the verse above implies, “The Harvest is Plentiful…” That week happened to be an amazing rice harvest season and the fields were literally ripe for harvest. The same is true for Japan spiritually today.
Maya challenged us all to have a 10:2 prayer thus you see this picture of my phone alarm going off at 10:02. Every morning, my alarm goes off at 10:02 to remind me to “pray to the Lord of the harvest” for Japan. May we see a mighty outpouring of his Spirit for this harvest season.
What about you? Will you join me with a 10:2 prayer… Join me in praying to the Lord of the harvest so that we might see many come to know Christ!
When Maya’s country started prayers like these, there were very few believers. Today, they estimate that 15% of their country is Christian. This all developed under hostile conditions. They said, “Even if they jail us, still we will preach.” Now they have a vision to plant 75,000 churches.
It’s amazing to see what God can do when we pray… I hope you’ll join me in taking on Maya's challenge: the 10:2 prayer!
Joe Handley, President
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- * Note, "Maya Chittry" is not her real name but has been changed for security reasons.