Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Hudson Taylor asks us to consider: “How often do we attempt work for God to the limit of our incompetence, rather than the limit of God’s omnipotence?”
I am challenged by that today. What is the limit – my incompetence or God’s omnipotence? If all things are possible for God, then impossible situations become wonderful opportunities to point people to him. As Tozer said: “God has called us to do the impossible. What a pity we settle for what we can do ourselves.”
Sometimes it’s helpful to look back and see how far we’ve come rather than getting discouraged by how far we have to go. Over the last decade, God has truly done ‘immeasurably more’ than I could have asked for or imagined (Ephesians 3:20) in our work out here, with over a hundred thousand people coming to faith, a nation-shaking missionary movement mobilized, schools, theological institutions and medical clinics built, and more. Yet despite that, I can easily lose sight of God’s omnipotence by my myopic self-imposed limitations.
It all comes back to the object of our faith, our hope, and our love – the God of the impossible. As Brother Lawrence wrote: “Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues.”
God help us not to be what C.T.Studd called ‘nibblers of the possible instead of grabbers of the impossible’. God help us to see the invisible so we can do the impossible. God help us pray great things, as John Newton wrote:
Thou art coming to a King
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much.
God of the impossible, you see where I am at. Increase my faith. Use me today for your glory. Amen!
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