Is Anything Impossible for God?

It was during his early days as a missionary to India that E. Stanley Jones experienced the power of God in a way that transformed his life forever. At the beginning of his work, he seemed ill equipped to withstand the stress and strain of working with so many different groups of people in India. Jones later explained that he was having “nervous collapses” because his inner experience of God was not able to sustain what he felt called to do in India. In his autobiography entitled A Song of Ascents he wrote:

“In that dark hour I was in the Central Methodist Church in Lucknow…I was at the back of the church kneeling in prayer…when God said to me: ‘Are you yourself ready for the work to which I have called you?’ My reply, ‘No, Lord, I’m done for. I’ve reached the end of my resources and I can’t go on.’”

The Lord’s reply was: “’If you’ll turn that problem over to me and not worry about it, I’ll take care of it.’ My eager reply: ‘Lord, I close the bargain right here.’ I arose from my knees knowing I was a well man.” “A great peace settled into my heart and pervaded my whole being. I knew it was done! Life – abundant life – had taken possession of me…I seemed possessed by life and peace and rest – by Christ Himself.”

From this short story, we learn a number of things that can be applied to our lives. The first thing is this: God is never intimidated by the challenges we face! The reason for this, of course, is that He is God! "He is present, active, involved, real, here, now. We don’t worship the great I Was; we worship the great I Am.” (David W. Henderson). This means that there is absolutely nothing that is too hard for the Lord to accomplish. In every time and in every place HE IS ABLE to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine. The late Bryn Jones said it well when describing how we should view life:

“Dream your dream. This is the hope that keeps your heart beating from day to day. This comes down to what you ‘see.’ God burns a vision into your life. Dream of possibilities for yourself. Nothing we are in is the end of what it can be. Life roles always have growth potential. Everything you touch in life has growth potential. Believe God for your dream!”

The second thing we learn is that We should never measure God's ability by our own. The task set before us as restorers of the church should never be seen as overwhelming, for the Lord’s reply to such a concern is simply, “It may seem impossible to you, but nothing is impossible for Me.” This means that the limits of our abilities, strategies, thoughts, actions, and so on, are never meant to be the end. The reason: God is able to accomplish infinitely more (see Eph. 3:20).