Before You GoSample

Migrant Workers For Jesus

Growing up in Northwest Ohio, I saw many migrant workers from Mexico arrive in the summer and help farmers harvest vegetables. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and other crops could never have been brought in without their help.

One of my mission groups was doing evangelistic work with a national pastor. God had done miracles that day, opening more opportunities to share the gospel than any of us expected. Many responded and wanted to be saved. The pastor and the team prayed for hours with spiritually hungry people desiring to follow Jesus. After the day’s ministry, the team celebrated with a stop for ice cream. As the team celebrated, I noticed that the international pastor had difficulty entering into the happiness.

“Pastor, you seem heavy-hearted. What is the matter?” I asked.

“I am thankful and rejoice about today, but many of my people are ready to receive Jesus as their Savior if only they could hear the news. I don’t want any of them to die without hearing the gospel.”

I recalled those farmers back home. If they had plowed, planted, fertilized, weeded, and nurtured their crops, only to have them rot in the field because there weren’t enough hands to bring in the harvest, imagine how sick in heart they would feel!

This pastor was feeling that way, but about eternal souls! He saw that a tremendous harvest was ripe and ready now, and he felt that some might be lost forever without enough hands to help in the labor.

God has sent you like a “spiritual migrant worker” to help local “farmers” in God’s fields. You’re being sent to help because it’s harvest time; stay focused, work hard, and be an encouragement wherever you go.

Go Further: “Ask for laborers,” Jesus said. Have you ever prayed that God would send help to you? Does it resonate in your heart that you may be the answer to someone else’s prayers? What does that image mean to you now as you go to help?

Prayer: God, there is work to be done in another place, and You are sending me there. Make me an encouragement to the national workers. We lend our hands to You and to them in this great harvest field. Use us mightily to ensure that those to whom Your love is reaching out are not lost forever.