Day Seventeen
“All Things Are Possible”
…With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
What impossible situation are you facing? What mountain looms in front of you, casting an intimidating shadow? Today we are going to stare our impossible situations right square in the eye, trusting God to intervene.
The context of this verse takes place in an encounter Jesus had with a rich young ruler. This young man asked Jesus what good thing he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to which the rich young ruler replied that he did. Next Jesus exhorted, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21)
At this point the rich young ruler was grieved because he was wealthy, and he preferred his wealth over God. Jesus then told the disciples that it was extremely difficult for wealthy people to enter the kingdom of God. He was not saying that rich people are not or cannot be saved, he was saying that it is difficult because wealthy people often prefer their wealth or the things their wealth can provide, giving them pseudo comforts and securities and endangering the salvation of their souls.
There are impossible situations all around but today I want to narrow our focus to one. There are people in your life who have either strayed far from God or who have never been saved. The situation might look rather hopeless. You may have prayed for them for decades and have just about resigned yourself to the fact that they will never change. Some seem too far gone, too steeped in sin and destructive behavior to ever come to God in repentance. Several have heard the truth repeatedly but they have never responded to God’s gracious offer of forgiveness and eternal life.
I know you have tried. You have prayed every prayer you know to pray and there is still not one shred of evidence that any of your prayers have worked. You have talked, reasoned, pleaded, and debated, but still that family member or friend resists and rejects the love and mercy of God.
Please let this truth sink into your soul today - with men it is impossible. We cannot bring people to God in our strength and in our ability. We might be trying to do something in the natural realm that can only be accomplished supernaturally. God alone can convict. We might chastise, shame, and guilt people but only the Holy Spirit can convict people. Only He can draw people to the Father in repentance and lead them to salvation.
Here is the hope today - that is exactly what God does. He is convicting, calling, and leading people to repentance, and nothing is impossible with God. Nobody is so far gone that God cannot reach them. NOBODY! I am being tested; I have a list of people that I want to see saved or renewed in their relationship with the Lord. These are people I dearly love, have talked to multiple times, and in whom I have not seen any spiritual breakthroughs yet. Ten different adults who appear not to need God, desire God, or want God. This is an impossible thing if I am trying to do this in my own strength, but nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. No thing. No person. I recently saw two men at Wednesday night Bible study whom people told me would never turn to God. But because with God nothing is impossible, including the transformation of people, those men are now seeking God’s will for their lives.
I urge you to make a list of people you are burdened for. You probably already have such a list. Now, will you keep praying over the next weeks, trusting that God will do the impossible in their lives? Pray this scripture over the lives of those people over and over again. Don’t preach - pray and love. You will know when the time is right to talk, because God will orchestrate it. Be encouraged that if you are deeply burdened for someone, that just might be evidence that God is working in that person’s life as well to bring them to repentance and or salvation.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
List the people you are most burdened for to come to repentance and salvation.
Why do you think these are impossible situations?
What does the scripture speak to you about impossible situations?
Is there some other impossible situation you are facing? Pray over it and for the people on your list in expectation that God will intervene.
What is God speaking to you today and is He leading you to any steps of obedience?
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