God says to Jacob, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the Earth and you shall spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the South. And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the Earth be blessed.”
– Genesis 28:14
And if you spend much time praying the word through this podcast, I’m guessing, you know where Genesis 28:14 is headed. Let me read it one more time just in case you missed it. God’s saying to Jacob, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the Earth and you shall spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the South. And in you and your offspring shall all the families of the Earth be blessed.”
God’s promise to Jacob points us forward to the Christ, the One who blesses us.
We’ve already prayed this multiple times in Genesis and we pray this over and over again in this podcast because this is over and over and over again evident in God’s Word. And we’re called to pray according to God’s Word, God’s promise to bring his blessing to all the peoples, nations, hear the languages, families of the Earth. Not a picture, families of the Earth. Not just God’s blessing on one family, but God’s desire to bless all the families of the Earth.
The Promises of God for All
We often pray in light of these promises for families, peoples nations, ethnic groups, who right now know nothing about the blessing of God. Don’t even have access to the good news of God’s grace in Jesus. Unreached people in the world who right now are born and live and die, and they never even meet a follower of Jesus who shares the gospel with them. Never once even encounter a Christian or a church. Today, I think about the Jolo Molo people of India. Zero followers of Jesus amongst approximately half a million people.
No follower of Jesus in this people group that’s very low caste in West India. Like the bottom of the social wrong ignored, looked down upon, despised by so many, and they’ve never even heard the good news of Jesus’ love. And God says all throughout his Word, “I bless my people for the spread of the gospel to all peoples.” And so He asked, let’s think about this right where we live. Let’s realize that those of us who are praying right now and who know God’s love in Jesus. We’re surrounded by people today who need to know God’s love in Jesus.
Genesis 28:14 Encourages Faithfulness While Sharing the Gospel
So yes, let’s be faithful to share the gospel today. Let’s pray that God would use our lives, our lips to lead people to Jesus today. Let’s pray for that. At the same time, let’s realize that even if every single one of us wherever we live was sharing the gospel today, working to lead people to Jesus today right around us, the Jolo Molo people would still be unreached by the gospel because they don’t have anyone near them.
And so, we must also pray that God would send people out to places and people where the gospel has not yet gone. If we actually want the blessing of God to be made known among all the families of the Earth, all the nations, all the peoples, all the tribes of the Earth. And so, we pray, Oh God, right now for the Jolo Molo people of West India. God, we pray that your grace and blessing and mercy in Jesus would be made known among them. God, we pray for this half a million people, none of them knowing your love and your grace in Jesus.
Hoping for Laborers in the Harvest
So God, we pray that you would change that, you would cause somebody to go to them. Raise up laborers for the harvest field we pray. Cause your gospel to go to the Jolo Molo people of India, we pray and plead. And God, we pray that you might raise up somebody who’s praying right now to go or you would use our resources to get the gospel to them. You would use our lives, God. Yes, use our lives today to spread the gospel right around us. Help us to be faithful, to share the good news of your love in Jesus today. Help us not to be silent with the greatest news in the world, filled with the power of your Holy Spirit.
God, help us to proclaim, share the gospel today. And God, don’t let us stop with places in the world, including where we live, where the gospel has gone. We pray that you would send us out to places where the gospel hasn’t gone. That you would spend our lives, our resources, and our churches. Getting the gospel to every single family of the Earth. Every single nation of the Earth. Every single people group on the planet. God, we pray use our lives, use your church toward that end and don’t let us rest in a sense.
Genesis 28:14 Prays for Rest in Jesus
Yes, of course, oh God. We pray for daily rest in you for enjoyment of the rest that you’ve made possible for us in Jesus. At the same time, God, we pray for a holy discontentment in your church until the blessing of the gospel is made known among all the nations of the Earth. Just as you have promised you would bring about since Genesis 28, Genesis 26, Genesis 12, Genesis 1. Your glory multiplied throughout the Earth. We pray for the spread of your glory among all the nations. That you would use our lives, our prayers even right now toward that end. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
