The Impossible Prayer

Louie Giglio brings a strong message into week two of God of the Impossible, highlighting the power of shifting our mindset and prayers toward possibility. Though we may not see a shift happening after we pray, we can believe that something will happen that reflects the power of our Father. We’re encouraged to ask for a miracle, believe that God is working, and surrender it into His hands.

God is able.

Jeremiah 32:17. In the tension of believing God for His ability to do more than we can ask or imagine and yet living in a broken world with loss, we have to be grounded in the knowledge that He created everything with an outstretched arm full of power. Nothing is too hard for Him. This is who we walk with.

Perspective shift:

1) We don't start with the negative. We start with what's possible.

2) We don't pray these low-level prayers. We pray as though we are talking to our God, who can do anything.

We are not limited by known solutions. we walk with Yahweh. So many times, we start our process with "no way" and forget that we walk with Yahweh and nothing is too hard for Him.

God wants us to awaken to who He is so that we can pray with the faith of a child. A child believes their parents can do anything and so they ask for anything. Our Father is pleased when we ask for things that are not limited by known solutions because we believe that He is the God of the impossible.

The Tension

Gethsemane- means "crushing" and that's where Jesus is praying in the last hours of His life. Jesus is praying, asking if it is possible for the cup to pass from Him knowing His betrayer is coming. Very similar to Jeremiah buying a field in a land he knows is about to be overtaken. The enemy is at the door, but they both follow through.

When Jesus was conceived, in Luke 1:37, it is recorded that the angel said to Mary, "Nothing is impossible for the Lord." Divinity is going to conceive in her a miracle because God is the God of the impossible: miraculous possibility in the impossible.

Possible - Dynatos in Greek. Meaning strong, mighty, powerful, where we get our word for dynamite from.

Jesus is saying, "Father, I know you are powerful, strong, and mighty, so I am going to ask for the impossible." He asks three times if there's another option knowing full well that the only way for us to go from spiritual death to spiritual life is through Him, our mediator.

Jesus models this tension for us. He asks already knowing it's impossible, but also knows God is powerful and able. So, He's going to ask even though He already knows the outcome because He cosigned the plan. So what Jesus is really asking is, "Is it possible to do what I planned to do without doing what I planned to do? Could you show me that right now?"

WHAT FAITH! Our Savior, who already knew the outcome of the moment, but yet He believed so much in the miraculous power of God- He still asked!

Every time He said, "Not my will, but your will be done." He started with possible but surrendered in confidence that there was going to be a miracle. It just might not look like what He was hoping it could have looked like that night.

Things shift when we have that kind of faith. When you call on the God of the impossible in faith, things change whether you see it or not.

Now, if you were observing this whole situation and trying to learn about prayer, you'd think it was a useless joke. You see a highly distressed man call out and ask God three times and ask for things to change, but instead, His betrayer shows up with armed guards, and He's arrested—a lot of good that prayer did. BUT GOD was working out everything miraculously.

Praying "not my will, but your will be done" is an opt-in to greater faith. I can have faith in both the God of the impossible and be yielded and surrendered to His sovereign plans at the same time. We can believe that God operates outside of known solutions but also that I know nothing. I am going to trust Him, trust His outcome, and trust that I'm going to see a miracle. I don't know what it's going to look like or when it's going to happen, but I'll be glad I started with "possible."

When it wasn't possible for the cup to pass from Jesus and yet I could still be saved, it became possible for me to do the impossible, which is to breathe the air of forgiveness, mercy, righteous grace, and to be called a son or daughter of the Most High God.

So, buy the field! Start with possibility; you walk with Yahweh. Know God is able to choose to believe. Pray persistently, but yield and surrender your will to Him, knowing He knows best. Be convinced you'll see good in the land of the living. Know that all things are possible with the Lord.