I had been at the church for a year and a half. Dena and I spent the first year just getting to know the good people in our little corner of the Southern Appalachians. I had spent the last six months asking God what he wanted us to do with this small church of hard-working, faithful servants of Jesus. Up to this point, though, I hadn’t heard much. 

During a deacons’ meeting, one of the deacons asked, “Well pastor, what are we going to do?” Pushing past feelings of failure, I said, “Danny, I don’t know yet. But I know who does.” Another deacon piped up and said, “You know, I feel like God’s calling us to go up on the mountain and pray.” Others quickly agreed. By the end of the meeting, we had decided that we would spend Friday night in prayer, just before the start of our Fall Revival.

As the date approached, God kept bringing back to mind Psalm 126:5-6, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, caring sheaves with him.” (NIV) My heart carried that verse up the mountain.

The mysterious work of prayer

Eighteen deacons met in that small little cabin on Pisgah Creek. I remember thinking, “Lord, how are we ever going to pray for the next 10 hours?” After supper, men gathered in the small living room. A hush fell over the room;, no one wanted to break the silence. 

Finally, Larry began to pray. As he did, tears began to outrun his words as he confessed his failures as a deacon, a father, and a follower of Christ. For the next 10 hours, men confessed their shortcomings and poured out their requests to God. Every one of us left the cabin that Saturday morning absolutely sure that God was up to something.

Our Fall Revival started that Sunday night. A month later I underlined Psalm 126:5-6 in my Bible. I wrote in the margin, “21 saved, 16 bapt. in 1 mo.”

Over the next 2½ years, this little church baptized more than 50 new believers and sent out 16 men and women into gospel ministry.

I’ve served the church from her heyday in the 1970s to her infancy in East Asia. I’ve never seen any significant harvest that didn’t first begin with fervent prayer.

Pray for an abundant harvest

Do you pray for the harvest? Matthew 9:36-38 assures us that the harvest is plentiful. When praying for an abundant harvest, you pray for something that’s guaranteed. 

In just a few short weeks, the churches of our association will engage in some of the most important evangelistic efforts that we’ll attempt all year. 

Will you pray each day in the month of May for an abundant harvest this summer?

• Pray for your VBS.

• Pray for church mission trips.

• Pray for the outreach efforts of other churches.

• Pray for the work of Mission Centers of Houston as youth and summer interns reach out to children and families in Houston’s underserved communities.

• Pray for ministries in Houston reaching out to immigrants and refugees.

• Pray for workers to have a winsome boldness.

• Pray for the lost to have receptive hearts.

This summer our churches will encounter the urgent needs in every nook and cranny of our broken world. And yet, not one of them will travel so far that they fail to serve under heaven’s promise of an abundant harvest. This harvest is both urgently needed and divinely guaranteed. But by God’s design, we grasp this promise and pull it to earth by prayer. 

So, let’s take the divine promise in one hand and the urgent need in the other and pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10, KJV) 

Join us as we pray each day in the month of May.

As the Senior Consultant for Sending Pathways, Cris Alley helps support the local church in thinking and acting like missionaries.

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash