30 Days of Prayer for the Harvest
Day 23 – Tuesday, February 3, 2026
Read Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
This week we are considering this gracious invitation from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yesterday, we noticed that it is a personal invitation from the Lord Himself for people to come to Himself.
Today, notice those to whom Jesus gives this invitation. It’s for all those who “labor and are heavy laden”. Another translation says, “weary and burdened” (CSB). “Labor” comes from a verb meaning “to toil, expend great effort in hard and disagreeable work” making one “weary or tired to the point of exhaustion.”[i] “Heavy-laden” comes from a verb meaning “to place a burden upon; to load”[ii] as when placing a load on a pack animal. Metaphorically, it came to mean “oppress by legal burdens.”
The scribes and Pharisees taught that righteousness before God comes from outward obedience to the law of Moses. Jesus said, “they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders” (Matt. 23:4). It was an impossible burden to bear, because, as the Bible tells us, “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
To all these Jews who were laboring under the heavy load of the law, and the guilt of their sin, Jesus says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is Jesus’ gracious invitation to all men and women who labor under the impossible task of trying to earn God’s favor by trying to be a good person. Jesus invites them to come to Him and find rest! For those who take Him up on His offer, the work is already done; “knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16).
And so, for every man or woman who has ever felt the unbearable guilt of sin—guilt that no amount of good deeds could ever undo or erase—Jesus gives this invitation: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and pow’r.
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.[iii]
Can you think of a more wonderful, more satisfying invitation than this?
Today’s Prayer
(This prayer is just a model for you to pray, make the prayer your own from your heart as the Lord helps you to pray).
Father, thank You for the rest You have given me in Christ. I know that I could never find rest for my soul by trying to keep Your commandments. Your law is good and righteous and true, but I am sinful. No amount of good works, or future obedience could ever erase my willful rebellious sins. This is why I need Jesus Christ. He is the Righteous One who obeyed Your law perfectly for me. He took the burden of the guilt of my sin and paid for it with His own blood. He has done what I could never or would never do. So I have come to Jesus and found rest.
Lord, I know that many of my family, friends, and others are weighed down with the burden of the guilt of their sin. Lord, graciously show them by Your love and Your word that salvation is not about what they do, about what Christ has done. Let the burden of sin and the promise of rest drive them to Christ in repentance and saving faith.
Amen.
Today’s Action
Who do you know who thinks they can be accepted by God by their good works or by promising to keep God’s commandments? Ask God to give you an opportunity to show them why this is impossible without Jesus.
Please take time to share with us a recent opportunity you had to shine Christ’s light in someone’s life. Post a comment on this post below.
Email me at pastor@newcovenantgj.org or text me at 970-462-7729.
[i] Larry Pierce, Outline of Biblical Usage, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2872/nkjv/tr/0-1/
[ii] Larry Pierce, Outline of Biblical Usage, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g5412/nkjv/tr/0-1/
[iii] Joseph Hart, Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy (1759), Public Domain. Baptist Hymnal 2008 #420.
