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Monday, September 21, 2009

The Power of Impossible Thinking

The worst thing that can happen to a sports team or a company or a church or anyone who is trying to do something great is the thought, "We can't do it!" The action is doomed as soon as people think it is impossible.

Peter had that trouble once he started walking on the water. He looked at the wind and waves and said, "This is impossible." He was literally sunk at that point. The power of impossible thinking stops people from going with God. It stops them from believing in a God who can do anything.

Do we believe that we can't do what God wants us to do or we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us? Of course, the encouraging word of God says we can.

Impossible thinking invades any organization with stealth. It starts with doubt. Are we sure we can do this? It continues until it says that the leadership is wrong in leading us to this place. We should abandon the leadership and go back to where we were safe. We were safe when we weren't trying anything new.

Moses had to live with impossible thinking as he led God's people to the Promised Land. There were those who thought they couldn't. They looked at their circumstances and disbelieved in God who had shown Himself to be for them. They forgot about the plagues and the sea and said, "It's impossible! Let's go home!" This people would never be able to enter the Promised Land as long as they continued to think like this. So, God raised a new generation.

This doesn't mean that you can do anything that you want to do. It does mean that you can do anything that you have been called to do. It does mean that you have been gifted to do amazing things. It does mean that you can do anything that God has called you to do through Christ who strengthens you.

Stay away from impossible thinking people. They will bring doubt which means you no longer expect God to be your strength. You simply cannot continue to listen to them. You must tell yourself how much you know that God has called you. You must continue to believe in the God whose only impossibles are: It is impossible for God to fail. It is impossible for God to tell a lie.

I was called to pastor in March of 1987. Each day and night I prayed that God would call me to a place where I would preach. I was told that I wasn't any good at preaching. I saw many others pastor who were younger than me. I continued to pray for eight years and three months before God called me to a church in Houston. The irony is that I told God that I never wanted to live in Houston. It was one of the greater blessings in my life. I would never have seen that day come if I had believed in impossible thinking. I thought that no one would call a guy to his first pastorate past forty years of age. God is the God who beats what we think is impossible. I was forty-one. He had to show me that my thoughts of possibility did not match His "all things are possible."

Believe in the God who is for you. Do whatever He calls you to do. Know that He will never fail. Amaze people with the God of all things possible.

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