Mission Venture Ministries

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

The angel in Luke 1:36-37 said to Mary, “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

God’s omnipotence is real (Revelation 11:17). Anything which can be done is within His ability (Numbers 11:23). No force or being can override His strength (Job 42:2). His power alone created everything which is or will ever be (Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:5).

Though we know God is sovereign over all, we have trouble maintaining this perspective, just like the disciples could not understand how Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy when they had been unable to do so themselves (Matthew 17:14-21).

When difficulties arise, instead of turning to God, we all too often… 

• Experience a shift in focus. During trials, we tend to take our eyes off the Lord and instead see only our problems. The longer we look at our circumstances, the bigger they seem. As we dwell on our situation, our mindset can become negative, and most of the time it does, since we have taken our focus off of the Lord, like Peter did (Matthew 14:27-31).

• Develop an incorrect assessment of the situation. In doing so, we start taking inventory of our own strength and abilities. The truth is that we don’t have what is needed for life’s trials, Jesus Himself told the disciples that, “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33.)  

We need to remember to always: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

• View obstacles as barriers. The Lord can demonstrate His awesome power through our difficulties, as we see by Paul’s statement in (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away (thorn in my flesh) from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

It is at times as these, when we grow in our faith and learn more about our Father. If we view hardships simply as troubles, then we can miss demonstrations of God’s love, power, wisdom and growth in our life.

We see another example when Abram asked God: “What will You give me, since I am childless?” (Genesis 15:2).  In light of the previous promises of making him a “great nation” with “descendants as the dust of the earth,” Abram knew that he must have an heir but as yet had none.

God did not expect Abraham and Sarah to understand how to have an heir at their advanced ages; all He asked was that they be available so He could accomplish His purposes in and through them. What Abraham and Sarah did not realize was that God was waiting for them to be beyond their fathomable years of having a child, so that God would demonstrate His power and receive the glory.

It is good to share your concerns with the Lord, even if what you say seems to evidence unbelief or impatience in your heart. God is not deaf to your questions or unconcerned about your feelings. He did not rebuke Abraham; instead, He gave him the assurances that he needed.

When we consider all of our heavenly Father’s mighty supernatural works throughout the Bible, we see that He indeed is capable of moving human events along the continuum of time, in spite of things seemingly impossible; everything is always accomplished for His glorious purposes.

May we start each day committed to a Christ-centered focus, be dependent on His resources, and trust that God is in control.

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