Nothing is impossible with God. Whether you are 15 or 85, God is still able to create greatness in your life. Building and mending relationships, navigating major life events, and new beginnings are all possible with Him. God not only knows your longings, He provides for them. This is a 5-day reading from “It’s Still Possible” by Karen Moore.
HarperCollins/Zondervan/Thomas Nelson
Day 1
Scripture: Mark 10:27
What Do You Believe?
In the following scene from his book “Through the Looking-Glass,” Lewis Carroll shines a light on one of the biggest issues in the human experience.
Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Alice is like most of us. She sees the reality of the world and cannot grasp how some things are even possible. Her mind is finite, and as she observes the world, she tosses the miraculous aside and quickly declares, “It’s impossible!”
Perhaps the Queen in this tale believes as God would have us believe. She admits that she may not practice it enough, now that she’s older, but somewhere in her younger days, she was able to believe many impossible things before breakfast.
Maybe it would help us if we would return to a more childlike faith, to the times when we believed in all that God can do— without question. Perhaps with a rekindled belief in all that is truly possible, we could focus on what brings us more assurance and more awareness of all God does.
When you are experiencing the bleak moments of life that cause your spirit to sag and your belief to waver, call out to the One who makes all things possible. After all, your life is in His hands, and He has unlimited power for good, for your good. He wants to carry you through each dark moment into His glorious light. Why? Because He knows all that is possible, and He wants you to know it too.
So ask yourself: What do you believe?
Lord God, I often believe I have no choices or no possibilities for success in the situations I face. Rekindle my unwavering belief in You, and remind me to put my life in Your hands every day. I trust You will guide me toward those things that are meant for me. Help me to fully believe You are God of all that is possible! Amen.
Day 2
Scripture: Matthew 8:13
Impossible Faith
The centurion had a faith most of us can admire. He knew his servant was in a life-threatening situation. Local physicians couldn’t heal the man, so he did the one thing that could make a difference. He went straight to Jesus.
As the centurion, an officer of the Roman army, put his request before Jesus, he also did two important things. First, he told Jesus that he was a man who commanded authority. When he ordered others to come or go, they did so. But despite his power and prestige, the centurion felt unworthy for Jesus to come to his home. Second, the centurion believed in Jesus’ power to heal, and he trusted in Him completely. He believed that Jesus could perform the impossible. Jesus only had to say the word and his servant would be healed.
Jesus marveled at the man’s faith. He marveled because this centurion was used to being in charge, the one who was served by others, yet he humbled himself before Jesus on behalf of his servant. He didn’t try to rely on his own strength or order Jesus to do what he wanted. Instead, he surrendered his ego and his heart and believed in what Jesus could do. He also petitioned Jesus for the sake of his servant, not for himself or for a son or father, but for his servant.
Does your belief system support you and bolster your faith? Do you trust that simply believing in Christ with your whole heart and surrendering your title, your position in the world, or your sense of self- worth will make a difference?
That is what God is asking you to do. He wants you to trust Him with your life, with every person you love, and with all the strength you possess, leaving everything to Him. He is asking you to have an impossible faith.
God of All That’s Possible, help me to believe deeply, fully, and unconditionally in what You can do. Bless me with an impossible faith to trust You regardless of the circumstances. I surrender my will and all that I am to Your care and keeping. I trust in You for all that I am yet to be. Amen.
Day 3
Scripture: Isaiah 43:19
Beyond What You See
Life is complicated and sometimes perplexing. Hymn writer Frances Ridley Havergal wrote, “In perplexities, when we cannot tell what to do, when we cannot understand what is going on around us, let us be calmed and steadied and made patient by the thought that what is hidden from us is not hidden from Him.”
Most of us wish we could see around corners, or at least to the end of whatever crisis we’re facing. We want to know the outcome, get over the issues, and move on. In the midst of our troubles, we sometimes imagine that even our prayers are not sufficient to deal with our problems.
Perhaps you’ve resigned yourself to minimal effort because the thing you’re facing is simply not fixable. The problem is beyond your control, and you tell yourself it’s probably too big for God to handle as well. You imagine all is lost and your short-sighted faith only increases your misery.
Havergal reminds us that nothing is hidden from God and nothing surprises the Creator of the universe, the One who remains ever faithful and omniscient. If you believe that in God is endless possibility, that He can make a way through the wilderness of your life and open up springs of living water when you’re lost, then you have the ability to let Jesus fill you with calm. You can move from a place of needing to see what lies ahead to a place of prayerfully closing your eyes and resting in the knowledge that God is already doing His good work.
Let go of needing the answers and simply let God be God. He will help you see the path more clearly in His time because He goes ahead of you and knows every step you must take. Remember that He is the author of new things, the only One who can make streams in the deserts of our lives. What new thing would you have Him do for you today? Close your eyes and trust that God sees beyond what you see.
Lord, thank You for walking ahead of me to clear the path and open the doors to new possibility. Help me to trust so completely in You that I can close my eyes in prayer and peacefully rest in Your grace and mercy. Amen.
Day 4
Scripture: Philippians 4:8
Think Big . . . No, Bigger!
It’s not easy to put on a happy face when it feels as if nothing in your life is coming together. You’ve prayed and believed and acted in all the ways that make sense to you, but nothing has changed. You begin to wonder if God even knows about the mess you’re in, the burdens you bear. Maybe God doesn’t care or He’s too busy with the rest of the world to bother with you and your troubles. Where does that leave you?
When you’re going through a rough patch where everything in life feels upside down, you may be struggling to hold on to hope. When even your friends don’t know how to comfort you, you might slip into negative thinking that tries to convince you that you’re not on God’s list of favorites. But you can change your thoughts!
If you want to step out of the doldrums and move forward into God’s promises and peace, start by changing your heart and mind. Stop counting your miseries and start counting your blessings. That’s a great place to start. You only need to shift your focus so you can see God’s hand at work right now.
The writer of Philippians suggests that we open our minds to new possibilities by thinking new things; we can alter our perspective by thinking about big things— and even bigger things! Recall what you’ve experienced that made you feel joyful and aware of God’s gracious hand at work, and then give God the praise.
Once you start counting your blessings, you’ll have nowhere to go but up. Your face will feel the warmth of the sun, and your heart will be quickened by the knowledge that God is near. You will notice how your thought patterns change, shifting from negativity and disappointment to thankfulness and hope.
Change your thoughts today and reflect on all that brings you genuine joy. Look for God to show up right now and shine His face upon you, ready to make all things new. Keep thinking bigger and bigger— brighter and better— because you serve a great big God, and He makes all things possible!
Lord, I get caught up in the swirling frustrations and miseries noisily bombarding my mind, and I forget how to quiet them again. I know that all I really need is You and the gentle reminder that You have bigger plans for my life. Help me to meditate on the big things that are possible for an even bigger God. Amen.
Day 5
Scripture: Lamentations 3:22-23
He Makes All Things New
Can you remember the last time you really felt excited about getting something new? Maybe as a kid you waited patiently for a new bike on your birthday. Maybe you just graduated, and life beckoned you to your first job or first apartment. It was amazing to have the whole world at your fingertips. The possibilities were endless! You were ready to create the adventure of a lifetime. What an exhilarating feeling! Do you remember?
By now, you’ve experienced more of life in all its fullness, embracing the ups with delight and weathering the downs with prayer and frustration and sadness. You may wonder whether you’ve missed the big adventure you once thought would happen. Maybe you feel that those days of innocent dreams have passed you by. What if the promise of a beautiful life simply isn’t true?
But let’s ask a different question: What if God has been saving some of the best adventures for this moment in time? What if, in His great love for you, He has faithfully and patiently waited for you to have enough life experience to be ready for what He has next?
The One who loves you and sees you right where you are makes things new for you every morning. He knows everything about you and wants you to remember what it’s like to try some-thing so new that it is a little bit scary. God doesn’t care about your age. He doesn’t assign limitations because you’ve blown out a few dozen birthday candles. He’s still working with one incredible human whom He designed for greatness . . . you!
As you begin today, remember that God makes all things new, and there are still possibilities up ahead. Remember the delight of anticipation, embrace the joy of changing obstacles into opportunities, and turn your face toward heaven. Let God know that you believe in all His possibilities, greater things than you’ve ever known before simply because of who He is!
You may find yourself embracing a whole new you.
Lord, help me believe that You have a great plan for my life, that Your compassion and Your mercies are new every morning. Help me anticipate the possibilities of all that can happen as I follow You. Let me trust You and believe with my whole heart that You are not done with me yet. Make my heart and mind new in You today. Amen.