Two summers ago I had the opportunity to sit with 50 other pastors and leaders as we asked our questions to Carl Lentz, lead Pastor of Hillsong NYC. One of the things has he said has stuck with me nearly every day since. He said they only do things people think are impossible, "whenever people tell us it is impossible we always say 'Great! This is where God operates.'" I was struck by this. Not because it wasn't true, but because my faith and understanding of God had been so small.
In the past I would ask God for help, for guidance, to do something, but these were always small things; things I feel as though God was saying 'really?' to me. These past 2 years I have started to ask for big things:
To bring an awakening to my neighbourhood.
To restore impossibly broken relationships.
To help me be compassionate when listening to every person I interact with.
To give me peace at all times in a restless world.
Just yesterday I was interacting with a person who I always thought never listened to me, always talked over me; a person I didn't give the time or day because talking just seemed impossible. I spent a total of nearly 2hrs talking to this person. 2hrs talking about struggles, hope, dreaming about the impossible, and trying hard to be compassionate to all people regardless of who they are.
After this conversation I tweeted out to ask God for the impossible because before you know it, the impossible with start to be possible.
We don't really dream. If something seems impossible it is just pushed aside and is decided it won't happen. It's too big, too much money, no one will come, too much change is involved, people will leave. All of these answers are really the same answer, it's impossible and it will never happen.
Whenever I hear people talk about impossible things and say it will never happen I always poke a little bit and say, 'Great! If you want to see God do something amazing, ask for the very thing you think is impossible.' The response I usually get is laughter. SERIOUSLY! We are so afraid to ask for the impossible it's frightening. It's seems as though we don't actually want to see the thing we say we do, or we are too afraid and what will happen once it occurs.
Here's what I know. Nearly every time God does something throughout the Scripture, it is laughable to us because it seems impossible. Most of the popular Bible Stories and miracles are told to us and yet we don't have the courage, or frankly the faith to step in and ask, operate, and believe like some of these people.
God works in the impossible. God has given me faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. The faith I have is the same faith Moses had, Abraham had, Paul had, Jeremiah had, David had, etc. Nothing is different. I know I need to put my faith in places which seem impossible because when I do I know God is going to do something amazing. I just need to always be ready to see it.
Impossible needs to be the thing we are doing. If it's possible to do something we will most often just rely on ourselves, but if it seems impossible there is no where else to run, but to the God who says, through the person of Jesus, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible." (Matthew 19:26)
In the past I would ask God for help, for guidance, to do something, but these were always small things; things I feel as though God was saying 'really?' to me. These past 2 years I have started to ask for big things:
To bring an awakening to my neighbourhood.
To restore impossibly broken relationships.
To help me be compassionate when listening to every person I interact with.
To give me peace at all times in a restless world.
Just yesterday I was interacting with a person who I always thought never listened to me, always talked over me; a person I didn't give the time or day because talking just seemed impossible. I spent a total of nearly 2hrs talking to this person. 2hrs talking about struggles, hope, dreaming about the impossible, and trying hard to be compassionate to all people regardless of who they are.
After this conversation I tweeted out to ask God for the impossible because before you know it, the impossible with start to be possible.
We don't really dream. If something seems impossible it is just pushed aside and is decided it won't happen. It's too big, too much money, no one will come, too much change is involved, people will leave. All of these answers are really the same answer, it's impossible and it will never happen.
Whenever I hear people talk about impossible things and say it will never happen I always poke a little bit and say, 'Great! If you want to see God do something amazing, ask for the very thing you think is impossible.' The response I usually get is laughter. SERIOUSLY! We are so afraid to ask for the impossible it's frightening. It's seems as though we don't actually want to see the thing we say we do, or we are too afraid and what will happen once it occurs.
Here's what I know. Nearly every time God does something throughout the Scripture, it is laughable to us because it seems impossible. Most of the popular Bible Stories and miracles are told to us and yet we don't have the courage, or frankly the faith to step in and ask, operate, and believe like some of these people.
God works in the impossible. God has given me faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. The faith I have is the same faith Moses had, Abraham had, Paul had, Jeremiah had, David had, etc. Nothing is different. I know I need to put my faith in places which seem impossible because when I do I know God is going to do something amazing. I just need to always be ready to see it.
Impossible needs to be the thing we are doing. If it's possible to do something we will most often just rely on ourselves, but if it seems impossible there is no where else to run, but to the God who says, through the person of Jesus, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible." (Matthew 19:26)
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