where the real power lies

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from Romans 10:14-11:12. And in this passage, we hear Paul say something interesting. He's talking about how people need to hear the gospel. And he does the regress thing that you're probably familiar with. "How can they believe if they never hear? And how can they hear if no one tells them?" So you'd think he would stop at "someone needs to go tell them." But he doesn't. He goes one step past that, and asks, "How can anyone go if they're not sent?"

That's a curious thought. Why do they need to be SENT? Why mention that at all? But we see a similar curious idea in what Jesus says to His disciples. He says the fields are ripe for harvest, but the laborers are few. So, you would think His next words would be, "So go out in the fields and reap the harvest!" But He doesn't. He says, "So pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers."

Pray. Sent. There is a step here that we practical people of 2018 skip right past. And it's the most important step. We forget that apart from Him, we can do nothing. We forget that even Jesus spent all night in prayer before He made big decisions. We forget that we have to PRAY before we can go.

Sometimes praying is the most important part. Sometimes we ONLY have to pray, and God does the rest. Sometimes we pray and God sends someone else to do it. And this is good, because the more often we do something and see its effect on the world, the more tempted we are to become proud of what we've done. But when we pray.... we realize where the source really is. Who is really doing it.

And that keeps us humble.

God, thank You for being the power source that we need. Help us remember to pray.