I have a number of Spotify playlists. Most of them are from the 70s and 80s era—Chicago … Doobie Brothers … Journey … Dan Fogelberg … Gino Vannelli. But I also have one called “Worship Favorites” with about forty songs on it. Some of the songs are newer. Some have been around for a while. There are some songs that, after I’ve heard them for a while, I’ll remove them from the list and set them aside. But when I come across a new one that ignites a spark, I’ll add it on.
One of my more recent additions is a song from Elevation Worship entitled “More Than Able” which begins with these words:
When did I start to forget all of the great things You did?
When did I throw away faith for the impossible?
How did I start to believe You weren't sufficient for me?
Why do I talk myself out of seeing miracles?”
The song then goes on to talk about how God is more than able and ask, “Who am I to deny what the Lord can do?”. Its basic message is that when we, in faith, reach out to God—when we embrace Him and invite Him into the circumstances of our lives—we’ll be surprised and shocked at what He can do.
This tendency to discount and dismiss God’s miracle working ability is a very real temptation … particularly if we’ve walked with the Lord for a number of years. We can get caught up in the routine—our relationship with God can become so familiar and predictable—that we go through the motions and forget what God is capable of. It’s not that we deny or disavow our faith. Nor is God is some cosmic vending machine that dispenses miracles on demand. He is sovereign, which means He's in charge and does, or refrains from doing, what He wants for reasons of His will and choosing. He’s not a God we can manipulate or cajole into doing eye-opening, awe-inspiring exploits just because it’ll be convenient and beneficial for us. If we could create the circumstances, then His response would no longer be a miracle—it would merely be a consequence. Miracles, by definition, are things we can’t engineer or explain in human terms. But I think we sometimes forget God is in the miracle-working business. Perhaps we convince ourselves that some of the supernatural occurrences we see in the Bible were things that were limited to that day and time but aren’t applicable to ours. We forget the promise that Jesus shared with his disciples in Matt. 19:26 that “With God, all things are possible” or that the writer to the Hebrews used to encourage his audience when he said, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
A question I ask myself, and others from time to time, is: What would you pray for if you knew it was really and truly possible? Or stated another way: What is your anything-is-possible prayer that, perhaps, you’ve given up on praying about because you’ve kind of had the dreamer kicked out of you? The world can kind of do that to us: It can kick us around to where we accept as impossible or unchangeable that which is contrary to God’s longings and desires for us.
There’s a familiar story in John 4 that features a Samaritan woman who approaches a well outside the village of Sychar in the heat of the day. She sees a Jewish rabbi sitting there and she knows, or thinks she knows, what’s going to happen. When she gets close, he’s going to turn his back on her and step away. He won’t look at her or acknowledge her in any way. He’ll pretend she doesn’t exist and she’ll do the same, unobtrusively getting her water before heading back home.
But this time is doesn’t play out according to the script because that rabbi is Jesus. When she got close to the well, he didn’t look away or move. In fact, quite the opposite—he engaged her. He actually talked to her, politely asking her for a drink … a move that caught her totally off guard. She was totally taken by surprise. But that’s Jesus—in fact, he didn’t just ask her for a drink, but he engaged her in conversation.
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:9-10, NIV)
What does Jesus mean when he says he’ll give her “living water”? If we turn over to John 7, we read these words:
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit …”. (John 7:38-39a, NIV)
The idea is that Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will be alive and at work in you.
I grew up with the King James Version which says in v. 38, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” The belly is the deepest part of who you are … the absolute core of your life. So what Jesus is saying is, “In the deepest part of who you are, I will send you as a free gift the Holy Spirit, and He’ll be with you. He’ll comfort you. He’ll give you guidance. He’ll be your counselor and convict you of sin so you can walk more closely with God. He’ll leverage your natural talents and deposit gifts w/in you so you can make a Kingdom difference with your life. He’ll come alongside your prayers and intercede to the Father on your behalf. I’ll give you this gift.”
And the woman says, “I’d like that gift. I’d like this living water.” So Jesus gives it to her, and it changes her life. When the disciples return from going into town to fetch food, they’re shocked. Initially they’re shocked that he would even be talking to this woman, but when they catch on to what has happened, they’re shocked at the transformation that has taken place in her life. She is on fire and decides to go back into town and tells everybody she comes in contact with about this man she just met. In fact, it says …
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:28-29, NIV)
In many ways, this was the very first sermon preached in the movement of Jesus It’s incredibly compelling. It’s incredibly enthusiastic. It’s incredibly vulnerable. It’s incredibly real. And it’s incredibly brief—only 14 words. But it’s incredibly effective, for it says people from all over the town flocked out to see this man she was talking about. Think of it—one of Jesus’ first breakthrough moments was orchestrated by a five-times married, five-times divorced, Samaritan, wrong theology, wrong worshipping, wrong side of the tracks, doesn't have any money, shacking up with a guy she's not even married to, woman. Not exactly the kind of person I’d pick to be my initial spokesperson, nor the credentials you’d look for on a resume if you were taking applicants for the position. It’s amazing!
As I think about that, there are a couple of practical life lessons that we can draw:
(1) There is power in our story. If you’re trying to persuade people about Jesus, it’s good to know some of the philosophical arguments for the existence of God or have a basic understanding of apologetics and some practical handles. But at the end of the day the best tool we have in our tool belt is our story. People can argue theology until they’re blue in the face. They can squabble and bicker about the basic tenets of religion all day long. But the one thing they can’t do is discount your story. For your story is your story and they will never be able to refute what happened to you. For anyone who says, “I don’t have a story” I ask them to consider whether they’ve made the move from religion to relationship. For whenever that transition happens, it always comes with a compelling story.
(2) With God, anything is possible. Look at the response:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:39, NIV)
This improbable and unlikely woman had a spiritual impact the likes of which you’d have never imagined. It is absolutely fascinating what God can do with people who catch fire and say “God, I’m available. Use me.”
At the same time, I know most of us are like this woman in that we’ve been through some tough stuff. We’ve walked some heavy, hurtful roads. We’ve been divorced. We’ve dealt with chemical dependency or an addiction. We’ve been victimized by people we trusted and dealt with brokenness we never should have dealt with. We’ve made some poor choices and experienced deep regret. We lived out your faith in a harsh and excessively strict way to where our adult kids want nothing to do with our church and your God, and if you could go back and do it over again we’d do it in a heartbeat. We’ve messed up, and we’re wondering, “Have I messed up too much? Can God still use me?” The answer is: “No—you have not messed up too many times” and “Yes—God can use you”. In fact, one of the amazing things about God is He has this incredible way of taking our biggest mistakes, wounds, scars, and hurts and uses them to enable us to impact people we never thought we could reach. Because with him, anything is possible!
If you look at the Bible through this lens, you realize people have been offering up anything-is-possible prayers to God for centuries. With Abraham it was, "Can my wife and I become parents to the child of promise when we’re approaching one hundred years old?" With Jacob it was, “Can you do a work in my brother’s heart so we can move past the brokenness brought on by my deceptive choices of the past? With Joseph it was, “Can you redeem this malicious, hurtful thing my brothers did to me and use it for a beneficial purpose?” With Moses it was, "Can you use a stumbling, stuttering guy like me to deliver your people from Pharaoh and Egypt?" With Joshua it was, “Can you bring down the walls of this fortified city so we can occupy this land you’ve called us to occupy? With David it was, "Can I triumph over Goliath?" With Daniel it was, "Can I be saved in a lion's den?" With Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego it was, "Can we be delivered from a fiery furnace?" In every instance, the answer was “Yes!” We serve a God with whom anything is possible!
So with that in mind, lets revisit a key question: What is your anything-is-possible prayer? What would you pray for if you knew it was really possible—something you’ve perhaps let slide and given up praying about? Is there somebody you know and love that’s estranged from God and as much as you’d like to see them find their way to him, it would be nice to see their heart begin to soften a bit? Is there a relationship in your life that is breached and broken and strained and you’d like for it be restored? Maybe there’s some matter relevant to your work and you just need God to step in and do something that you lack the ability or clout to do anything about. Maybe you’re dealing w/ an addiction or habit that’s been wreaking havoc in your life, and you want to be free of the shackles so your life won’t be any more controlled by it than it already has. Maybe there’s somebody you know you need to forgive, but there’s so much hurt and pain there and you need God to give you the courage to start peeling back the layers so you can be free. Maybe you’re living a life characterized by fear and, more times than you care to admit, it has paralyzed you and kept you from embracing some possibilities God is speaking to you about. To find the confidence to move forward and not stay stuck would be a miracle for you! Maybe you experienced some trauma and which has introduced an unrelenting private pain in your life and you need for God to do a deep restorative work. I don’t know the specifics of your situation. But I know this: With God, anything is possible!
So I’d encourage you to identify your impossible situation and start praying about it. Granted—God’s not obligated to respond in a certain way. Not only is He sovereign, but He’s also granted us the gift of free will to where we can thwart or hinder His promptings if we so choose. But we’re inviting Him to respond … believing He wants to respond … and creating an environment of faith and trust to where He can respond in the manner and fashion He chooses. And we’re recognizing that anything is possible with Him.
Lets name our impossibilities, entrust them to Him, and see what happens. Because as my dad says with one of his pet phrases, “This is a break-even-or-win proposition.”