Matthew 9:37-38 (coworkers of God)

* Welcome God every morning before work by taking ~5 min to read this Living In Faith Exchange (LIFE) Group devotion (life-devotions.blogspot.com), which has snippets from Living Faith (livingfaith.com).

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38.

Living Faith snippets: "You might think that the harvest would be so important to the harvest master that he would take care of it himself without waiting for us to ask. But Jesus looks upon us as coworkers. The harvest is gathered with the help of our prayers, and this illustrates the dignity of our lives. Through our prayers, we are able to have an influence in the lives of others." by Fr. Kenneth E. Grabner

Rich's comments: Last night I watched the movie, The Nativity Story. If you haven't seen this yet, it is a "must see." When I was watching the movie I was thinking about how God is so powerful that He could have chosen any number of ways to fulfill His plan, but He chose to humble Himself and trust in the care of man by becoming a helpless infant. Almighty God can accomplish anything, but out of love He chooses to share in the labor of building His kingdom with us (through prayer and loving others). Though unworthy, thank you Lord for entrusting me to be a coworker in building your kingdom. I pray for the grace required to hold up my end of the labor. Amen.

Like the devotion says, "Through our prayers, we are able to have an influence in the lives of others." Please keep the prayers listed below near your computer today, and everytime you send or receive an email today, send a spiritual email to God through prayer.

Our Prayers: Abortion, our enemies/our troops, China earthquake, Myanmar cyclone, Midwest floods, depression/despair, prisoners, Vicki Miller (her cancer treatment), Joe Castle (11 yr old Devantae paralyzed), Liz Curry (brother Bob broke hip), Kay Castle (cancer treatment for Ms. Nancy Wheeler).

Faith quote: "The measure of love is to love without measure." by Saint Augustine

Through Christ Our Lord,

Rich

Romans 12:12

* Today's Bible readings at www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml.
* Prayer: Prayer connects us with God's will & His miracles, thereby changing us & helping others. Wayne Watson lyrics, “When God's people pray, there is hope reborn, there is sin forgiven, and miracles you can't explain await!” "If you pray that God will move a mountain and He doesn’t, assume Christ wants you to climb it instead & see Him."
* Defend the unborn: 'Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die' (Prov 24:11). 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jer 1:5). 'It is a great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish' Blessed Mother Teresa. Click for Prayer to End Abortion.
* Evangelization: Let's make room for non-believers (be a friend, make a friend, lead friend to Christ) and perpetual re-evangelization of self and those near us, by way of daily prayer (relationship) and following Christ's example of selfless love, mercy, and service.
Let's joyfully live out the Good News and gladly tell others about it (Mark 16:15)!