We have a cat named Mittens. He’s getting “long in the tooth,” but he is a very loving cat. Because he’s getting older I’ve been concerned about his health. Is he getting enough food? Is he getting good nutrition? I know one day I’ll have to say goodbye to ol’ Mittens and it makes me sad.

So I pray for him. I ask the Lord to make his passing, when it comes, gentle and painless. I sing my cat’s praises: he’s a prince among cats. However, this week the Lord used Mittens to teach me something important.

Marilyn and I have been fasting and praying with some African friends for productivity and success in the second half of 2020. We would meet nightly via a zoom call and hear Pastor David’s encouraging teachings, read some scriptures, and then pray together.

The theme was “Making the Impossible Possible.” We talked a lot about obstacles to success: the Mountains that can hinder our spiritual, physical, and financial progress among other things. This is how the Lord spoke to me about my spiritual progress:

I woke up the day after we completed the fast ready to start my day. Mittens jumped up on the bed to greet me and get a little petting in before I got up. So I stroked him a while, once again noticed how skinny he had become, and once again prayed for him. It was early and I was tired, so after a false start, I came back to bed and fell into a doze.

Then — whether asleep or awake I couldn’t tell — I saw an image of two missionaries we support in Asia. I hadn’t thought of them in a long while because we were giving to their ministries online through an automatic draft (very convenient). One woman took in AIDs orphans many years ago and her ministry has grown into a home for 75 orphans and a school for 100s, the other woman is translating the Bible and runs a hospitality house that takes in families of hospital patients during their procedures.

As I saw this image, especially the image of the school kids, the Lord said to me, “You’re praying for your cat. I called you to be a partner– not a banker — to these women and their ministries. What about these children?”

I feel like stopping right there. Can you imagine the conviction I felt? (That’s a word Christians use for an “Aha!” moment in the sense of: the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth).

I felt compelled to admit the truth that the Lord did call us to more than just sending monthly financial support to these missionaries.

These are hard times for us in the West; imagine how much harder it is for those in the East right now. We can’t supply all of the needs of any one person let alone a whole ministry, but we can do more than throw money at a cause. We can correspond with these ministries and give them encouragement and moral support. We can partner with the Holy Spirit to remove obstacles, ask for protection and favor, petition Heaven for wisdom and good counsel for the leadership, and for understanding from the community.

Prayer is powerful: not bound by time or space. It’s our way of partnering with God’s Spirit to bring the world one step closer to the Kingdom of God.

The Bible says “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16b KJV