Pray First! The Power of Prayer in Sharing the Gospel

I re-discovered odb.org via https://twitter.com/ourdailybread, I ordered encouraging booklets for Christmas for my mntc.org friends (who I'm in Alpha series 18). Yesterday I had a wonderful conversation with Joe who miraculously answered the call to help start Alpha at Freedom Works, who then miraculously started Alpha yesterday without our help. So we prayed for them, knowing it's God who makes it all happen, not our efforts. So back to odb, I read this excerpt from Pray First! The Power of Prayer in Sharing the Gospel by James Banks in the article The Power of Prayer in Sharing the Gospel

 Jesus declared His dependence on God in everything He did. He told His disciples, “By myself I can do nothing” (john 5:30). Then He demonstrated that dependence in a practical way by keeping the lines of communication constantly open through prayer, confident that the Father “always” heard Him (john 11:42). The New Testament makes clear that “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (hebrews 5:7). Jesus prayed continually, submitting His life to the Father moment by moment and drawing every strength from Him.

When Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost to “repent and be baptized,” he added, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (acts 2:38–39). Jesus is calling, calling lost souls out of darkness and into His everlasting love and light.

He is also calling us to follow Him into a world which desperately needs the salvation only He can give. Pray and go! The “Lord of the harvest” (luke 10:2) is waiting. He has promised, “We will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (galatians 6:9).