Week 9: 21 Weeks of Prayer & Fasting
WEEK 9
A Call to Declaration - GOD IS I AM
"Impossible!" That is what the friends of Abraham and Sarah said to that 99 year old man and his 89 year old wife. Impossible, that in their old age they could conceive and bear a child. And yet, Isaac became the proof of God's power and fulfillment of His promise. (Genesis 21:1-5). "Impossible!" That's what scholars said about the fall of Jericho at the hand of the Israelites. No way could walls that thick come down that quickly! And yet, late 20th century archaeological evidence supports that Biblical narrative.1 "I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do. She will die in six months," the doctor said. And yet the woman lives today, four years after that pronouncement. "You will be on a catheter for the rest of your life," the doctor told my friend. "You have MS bladder." And yet, nine years after that pronouncement, you wouldn't know my friend has MS unless she told you. Impossible? With man, yes; with God, no. "Is the Lord's power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not," said the Lord God to Moses. (Numbers 11:23). Jesus put it this way: "What is impossible with man is possible with God." (Luke 18:27). It is well recognized in the English speaking world that "I'm" is the contraction for "I am." When Moses asked God's Name, God replied, "...you are to say to the Israelites: "I AM has sent me to you." "Impossible." "I'm possible." "I AM possible." Next time a circumstance seems impossible, put God into the circumstance. "Impossible" becomes "I AM possible." With God ALL things are possible!
RESPOND
What seems impossible in your life? Is it your finances, your marriage, your children, your career? Is it all that you see happening in the news today? The economy, the weather, the crime--so bad that it doesn't feel safe any longer to go to school or even to the movies? What about your health? Have the doctors pronounced something upon you that you cannot bear? Infertility, cancer, a debilitating disease? Is it your church or what you see happening to Christians everywhere? Does it feel unsafe to even call yourself a Christian?
REPENT
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," prays the Psalmist. (Psalm 139:23-24). Sit before the Lord today, and let Him show you what you have declared "impossible," because you have not invited Him into your circumstances or even taken into consideration His power. Do you believe that His Word is true? Could that be the source of your unbelief? Will you take this as prima facie evidence of the truth of His Word: for thousands of years mankind has striven to disprove the Bible and discredit Jesus. Every single attempt has failed. The more science reveals to us, the more God is proven true.
PRAY
Jesus, I come before you and repent of the attitude that there is anything outside of your control. To say that this world is in an impossible mess or that my personal life and loved ones are beyond Your help is a sin, for it is doubting You and Your omnipotence. Oh Lord, forgive me my unbelief. Help me, Lord, to not be like Peter, who took his eyes off You and slipped into deep, overwhelming waters. Let me not be like the ten faithless spies, who looked not at You and your prior miracles, but instead looked at the fortified city, the numerous gigantic inhabitants, and their own inadequacies and declared that taking the Promised Land was impossible. Oh, Lord, instead make me and make us all in the body of Christ like Caleb who said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13:30).
WORSHIP
Oh, my Lord God, my heart magnifies you! You ARE the God of Possible! With me and in my own strength, this circumstance seems impossible. The mess the world is in seems an impossible mess, with no way to straighten it out. But praise be to God, it is not true. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nothing takes you by surprise. Nothing is impossible for you. And the beauty of it all is, not in my strength, but in Yours, Lord is the victory. You ask me to serve you not in any kind of strength or wisdom of my own, but in complete reliance on You. Your Word to the Israelites is Your word to me today: "You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you... Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you." (2 Chronicles 20:17). Amen and amen!
1"Believers Score in Battle Over the Battle of Jericho," John Noble Wilford, New York Times, February 22, 1990, http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/22/world/believers-score-in-battle-over-the-battle-of-jericho.html.