Prayer – The Work of the Kingdom

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"
28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they replied.
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no-one knows about this." 31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
34 But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons."
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Matt 9:27-38

Martin Luther, when once asked what his plans for the following day were, answered, “Work, work, from early until late. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Martin Luther understood that the work of the Kingdom of God begins with intercessory prayer and is only completed through such prayer. In fact, it can well be said that the primary work of the Kingdom of God is prayer – all other is the outworking or result of this time spent apart with God.

Matthew’s account above of part of one of Jesus’ days is fascinating. It contains healing, deliverance, teaching, miracles, meeting new people, travel, persecution and misunderstanding. But Jesus’ instruction to his disciples is to pray (ask the Lord of the Harvest). The subject matter of that prayer is not strength, wisdom, healing power, protection from adversity; but rather for more people to help with the work. As this passage appears immediately before the sending out of the Twelve, apparently Jesus knows that as they pray, they themselves will be enlisted in this work and they will be empowered to do it. The prayer not only prepares the work and the worker, the prayer is also the work itself.

O’Hallesby in his classic book on prayer says, “Prayer is the most important work in the Kingdom of God. It is our Lord’s will that we should enter into this work as soon as we have been won for God. We should by our prayer enter into the work which has been begun by our Christian parents [or predecessors] and for which they have sacrificed, suffered, striven and prayed. We should enter and build upon their work, first and foremost by means of prayer.” Dr A. J. Gordon adds: “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

One way of interceding is to spend the first few minutes of your prayer time asking God to show you what He is doing. This might be His plans for your life, it might be a vision for the The Church Of The Cross, it might be God’s purposes for a particular person or nation. Once you can see the shape of God’s will, then devote the rest of your prayer time towards asking God to accomplish aspects of that plan. Pray for the people involved, for the resources necessary for the environment in which it is to take place and against any interference which might seem possible. In this way you will be engaged with the Master Architect in the building of His Kingdom on earth.

Mike Clarkson