Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us at the proper time.”

How would you describe your prayers? Are they powerful? Effective? Sporadic? Long? Short? Bottom-line? Bold? Conversational? Repetitive? Do you find yourself praying out of obedience, but not sure if your prayers make much of a difference? Prayer is a mystical practice and as such, it takes some cultivating. My encouragement to you is to take some time to talk to God about your prayer life, and then prepare to take it to the next level.

The PURPOSE of prayer is relational at its core.

God’s desire is for us to align ourselves with God’s heart, mind and will. With His heart – how He feels about things, what He loves and hates; With His mind – how He thinks about things, how He plans, how He accomplishes His heart; With His will – what He is planning, along with all the details. In Matthew 6:7-13, Jesus tells us prayer involves worshiping God for Who He is, asking God to redeem all things that are not as they were designed to be (be specific), asking for God’s provision, for God’s forgiveness (which involves our forgiveness of others), and for God’s protection as we seek to follow Him.

The PROCESS of prayer is extremely important to receiving answers to prayer.

1. Ask – James 4:2 says you do not have, because you do not ask. If you want specific answers, ask for specific things. Perhaps you have not received, simply because you have not asked.
2. Ask with correct motives – James 4:3 says you ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives. Remember, the purpose of prayer is to align yourself with God’s heart, mind and will – not to get what you want.
3. Ask according to God’s will – 1 John 5:14 says if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. If our hearts are aligned with His heart and our minds are aligned with His mind, our desires and prayers will align with His will – and He will answer our prayers according to what we ask.
4. Ask persistently – Jesus tells us in Luke 18 to be like the persistent widow who was petitioning an unjust judge to rule in her favor. She was so persistent in her requests, that the unjust judge ruled in her favor, not because he was just, but because she wore him down with her asking. How much more likely are you to get what you are asking for from the holy and just God who loves you, when you persistently ask Him according to His will?

What about FASTING and prayer? Is fasting necessary? Helpful? Key?

Scripture says a lot about fasting and gives many examples of how fasting and prayer work hand in hand. Fasting is often accompanied by mourning and crying due to being in want (Matthew 9:14,15). Fasting involves humility, viewing ourselves properly in relationship to God (Psalm 35:13). Fasting is to be between you and God, not for show (Matthew 6:16-18). Fasting is part of preparing yourself for what God has next (Matthew 4:1-2). Fasting often accompanies repentance (Joel 2:12), or when making important decisions (Acts 14:23), or when making requests of God (Ezra 8:21-23). Typically we think of fasting as refraining from eating food – but it is possible to take a fast from anything – from TV, radio, Facebook, Twitter, shopping, ice cream, sports, or any other attachment or craving that can distract you from your relationship with God. The idea is that when you are fasting, you choose to fill that craving with Jesus by spending the time with Him and asking Him to fill the void. If fasting is new to you, consider researching the topic and then adding it into your prayer life.

Our INVITATION for you to pray (and fast) for TEAMS for Medical Missions.

Romans 15:30 – Now (we) appeal to you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join with (us) in fervent prayers to God on (our) behalf. Here at T4MM we have some acute needs and are asking you to join us in praying and even fasting to petition God on our behalf. Over the past year, the needs and ministry opportunities have increased in Jamaica while at the same time our funding has decreased. We continued to operate in faith, doing what we believed God was asking us to do, and we now find ourselves at the point of needing to make ministry decisions based on financial realities. God has supplied in the past in amazing ways, and we are expecting Him to do so again. We are inviting you to join us with prayer and fasting to entreat the Lord for His supply. We are praying for $50,000 to get us back to where we were a year ago, and then for an additional $4,000 per month going forward. 2Corinthians 1:10b-12 — We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again 11 while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.

We are also asking you to join us in prayer and fasting for additional full-time personnel in Jamaica. We are looking for an individual or couple who would be able to function as our Field Director in Jamaica. This person or couple will need to be able to work well with our present missionaries and Jamaican ministry team members and partners. In Matthew 9:36-38, Jesus tells His disciples the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. And thirdly, we are asking you to join us in prayer and fasting for the expansion of ministry that God has begun in Jamaica:

1. God has been directing us toward developing an apprenticeship program to train young men and women in the fields of welding, carpentry, masonry, and perhaps other skills. Our plan was to begin this
program sometime in 2024 or beyond, but God chose to supply the funds immediately and quite unexpectedly. While we were sharing our vision for this program we received an offer to jumpstart the program with $20,000. This is allowing us to speed up our timetable – so we ask you to pray with us for wisdom and the necessary personnel to get this program ready for launch. Ephesians 3:20 says, Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory.
2. We have brought on Nickalous Walsh and Kezia Jones to lead our TEAMS Faith Academy (children’s ministry) at $630/month plus travel expenses to/from Kingston at $100/month; additionally we have added to Nickalous’ job description the Director of the Bible Training Center of Jamaica at $500/month. We are looking for individuals and churches to contribute toward this monthly support of $1,230 for them.

God tells us to enter boldly into the throne of grace so we may receive mercy and grace to help us at the proper time. Thank you for entering boldly with us and may you be forever changed as a result.