impossible possibly possible
03Jul07
Answer this as if you were totally transparent and could see right through every one of your thoughts, motives, and beliefs:
How much of what you know about God is based on what you think is really possible?
The reason i make this so pointed and so personal is that I’ve bumped into so many people who teach big long involved Christian things that really just boil down to “I personally have never experienced this in my life so it can’t be right…or literal…or for today…or for me.” They have scripture scripture scripture at the beginning, and scripture scripture scripture at the end; but the linchpin of what they’re teaching has absolutely none of the inspiration of the Word, and is simply “I have no way of understanding how this could be possible in my life.”
Over the past 10 days God has challenged me personally like never before to see how pure and childlike I can be in accepting every promise he’s given me - exactly as he gave it.
One thing that gets me about the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is that it is a book of real stories about real people. I you believe the Bible, you need to believe that David did take down Goliath, that Abraham did reason with God, that Jacob did wrestle an angel (or The Angel), etc. Sometimes we think this was so long ago that it is not applicable today - this thinking almost treats the Word of God like Greek mythology, detached, ancient, entirely metaphorical stories. I believe that not only are these stories true and applicable today, but also our circumstances can be applicable to those stories - David, Abraham, Jacob, and others experienced many, if not all, of the anxieties and struggles that we experience.
Therefore, the extent that God has proven Himself to be powerful, gracious, and loving in the Bible should be the only limit to our faith. The same Spirit that raised Messiah from the dead is alive in us…
I know I’ve personally had things happen that I don’t tell people. Things that happened in the Old Testament were things that were written down. I think a lot of similar things happen today but people don’t talk about it or write it down.
Yes for sure. And that their relationships with Father call us into possibilities we would never have opportunity to have faith for otherwise.
Abraham, just like Moses, engaged Father on levels that scare us. They had a depth of relationship out of which they knew his mercy that triumphs over judgment. So they could appeal hard to that mercy for others - so hard that Father was willing to alter what he said he would do for them. God told Jacob to stop wrestling and he wouldn’t; and somehow that was OK! His passion for God’s blessing was so deep that God engaged him on the terms of that passion, and did bless him.
And David’s heart after God’s own heart is better documented than anyone else in the entire Bible. We have half of the book of Psalms to basically read David’s diary. All his secrets between himself and God are ours, and all to dare us to live pouring our hearts out before Father in childlike trust. Obviously if we walk around saying “my God my God why have you forsaken me, i won’t stop wrestling you, shall not the judge of all do right?”…we’re missing something crucial. Jesus as the Pattern Son shows us once and for all how a dynamic relationship with Father really works.
But there definitely is the thrill of the challenge that God throws out in Hebrews 11 and beginning of Hebrews 12. Come find a deep relationship that results in a life lived with F-A-I-T-H written all over it >>
And Melani, that is true. And sometimes there are things that God reveals to you that aren’t really even supposed to be blabbed… The amazing part is that every aspect our lives is being written out as an open letter that can communicate faith to anyone who reads it.
“Abraham, just like Moses, engaged Father on levels that scare us.”
Indeed this is true - as I believe they were just as scared. On a personal note, I’m excited that God always wants to take us into a deeper revelation of Him. May it be so for all of us.