Impossible

I am sure we have all said it at some time “That’s impossible.” We all come to times in our life where the circumstances surrounding us seem impossible. We may feel like the children of Israel with the Red Sea in front of us and an Egyptian army at our rear. Or the disciples with 5,000 people to feed and only two fish and a few loaves of bread. Whatever we are facing, it feels completely impossible. On a personal level, it could be in our marriage, as a parent, or in our career. It might be an illness in our own life or in the life of someone we care about, or the death of someone so close we can’t imagine life without them. I know I have been there, more times than I want to remember.

There are three words for impossible in the the Greek language:

Strongs G102 adynatos – impossible, what the law could not do (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27), Hebrews 6:4, 18, Hebrews 11:6)

As humans we are bound by the laws of nature and man. God is not, so He is able to do what our laws say can not be done.

Even Jesus, while on earth, did things that were outside of human law.  He turned water into wine, He walked on water, He raised from the dead.  All these things are impossible with the laws of nature.

Yet, the things that are impossible for man, are possible with God.  That is why Peter also walked on water (Matthew 14:28-29).  It is why many in the Bible were raised from the dead.  The widow of Zarephath’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24), the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18-37), the man that was raised out of Elisha’s grave (2 KIngs 13:20-21), the widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17), Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:40-56), Lazarus (John 11), various saints in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:50-53), Tabitha/Dorcas (Acts 9:36-43), Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12).  Moses turned water into blood (Exodus 7:13-21).

Jesus said that the works He did, those who believe in Him will do even greater things than these (John 14:12).  How is this possible?  Because the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the grave, lives in us (Romans 8:11).  With God’s Spirit within us nothing is impossible, even when  the laws of nature and man say otherwise.

Hebrews 11:6 also uses this word impossible setting that without faith it is impossible to please God.  Again tis refers to what the law could not do.  The old testament law was impossible for man to follow (James 2:10).  If man could have obeyed it, there would have been no reason for Jesus to die.  Because we could not, God sent Jesus to die once and for all to fulfill the law (Romans 8:1-4).  It is by placing our faith in Jesus, as the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) that we are able to please God.  

The second word for impossible is defined as Strongs G418 anendektos – that which cannot be admitted, inadmissible, unallowable,improper (Luke 17:1)

It is impossible for us to not be offended.  The versus following( Luke 17:2-4) tell us the importance of forgiveness.  We are to do our best not to cause offense, when we are offended, we need to let the other person know, so they can repent and be forgiven, even when they continue to mess up.

The third is my favorite definition for impossible. Strongs G101 adynateo– a thing that cannot be done; from God, no word shall be without power (Luke 1:37; Matthew 17:20). I don’t know which excites me more “nothing” or “impossible”. There is not a single thing that God finds impossible (Other than lying because He is truth, so when He speaks, things change so that it is true – Hebrews 6:17-18).

I think about the imaginations that God has placed within humans and realize that with God, if we can think it, He can do it! With God there is not a single thing that can not be done.  That is an amazingly freeing idea.  God is not going to bring us to any situation that in and through Him we can not do.  If He brings us to it, He will bring us through it, even the impossible.  

I think about the impossible situations that God has brought me through.

• I was a single teenage mother. God allowed me to graduate a year early at the top of my class. Statistics would say it was impossible for me to walk through that situation, but not only did I, all my children are adults. They each graduated high school and have some college, and none of them had a child as a teenager.
• I was a homeless mother of two, pregnant with a third. Again the world would say it was another impossible situation. God not only brought me out of homelessness, we own two homes and I have be blessed with the opportunity to help others through the same situation I walked through, both one on one and through the transitional housing program that I lived in for six months and later served as the Executive Director of after getting my degree.
• I met my husband when I was fourteen. We married when I was eighteen. The world would say our relationship was impossible to survive. We actually divorced once and I filed for a second divorce after we remarried. But what God brings together, let no one separate, we will celebrate our 23rd anniversary this year.
• I saw God orchestrate an answer to my prayers, on more than one occasion that were humanly impossible.
• I have seen God bring reconciliation three times that seemed impossible.
• I have seen God’s provision and protection time and time again.
• I have seen babies born to women when the doctors said “It’s impossible.”
• I have had a front row healing to physical and emotional healings.

I tell you these, to build your faith to believe God for the impossible. As I thought about some of these impossible situations that God has brought me through, I can’t believe that I am not believing in God for more impossible, bigger things.

One of the names of God is The Great I Am (Exodus 3:14). With God (I Am) all things are possible. The very word declares I’m possible.

God wants to show up and show off because it is for His glory. What impossible thing can you believe in God for?

Prayer: Lord, Thank you that even when things are impossible with the law of nature and man, with You they are still possible. Help me not only to believe for the impossible but to to expect it and to act on it!