God of the Impossible

We landed at the airport in Lisbon Portugal as young upstart missionaries, and didn’t have a clue. All we had was youthful exuberance, some vision, and a heart for God and His Kingdom. Oh, some years of Bible school and learning about missions from books and the stories of others was helpful. But we knew the moment we got on a plane full of people with a language we didn’t understand, we were in trouble. We were right.

Little by little, mistake after mistake, we learned and began seeing God do some unbelievable things. Then, after purchasing a property to build our youth camp, something extraordinary happened. The property sat high on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, spectacular in itself, but the land was bare. Not one tree, just rock, sand, and wind-swept brush. A friend of the ministry told us the government was giving away some trees for reforestation. We wrote a letter and told them who we were and that we wanted to help the Portuguese young people. Months went by without a word, and we figured that would be the end of that. Then one day, the office phone rang and someone from the Ministry of the Interior was calling. The man said, “we have some trees for your camp”! Wow, that’s awesome, and we figured it might be 200-300 trees or something like that. He said we would like to deliver the first installment on Thursday, which was in two days! Great, how many trees, we asked? 3,000 trees came the answer! 3,000 trees! You must be kidding. Nope, 3,000 trees on Thursday. Today, decades later, it’s like an oasis overlooking the ocean!  

God is the God of the impossible. It’s just part of his character; He dwells in the realm of the impossible. His wonders can scarcely be understood by the finite mind we possess as mortals. There is so much he wants to do, if we just ask. The prophet Jeremiah taught us the following.

 “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’  Jeremiah 33:2-3 NKJV

Meaning he created all things, sustains all things, and wants to show us great and mighty things! The very nature of God proves the miraculously impossible. We call him the Trinitarian God because he exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How? No idea, but it’s still true. God desires to pour out a blessing on his people. He also wants to build his kingdom using the likes of you and me and therefore miracles and wonders are part of us, because it’s part of Him!

The book of Malachi shares this thought.

“And try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Interesting that God said, “try me”. A divine challenge from the heart of God. He wants to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon his people the likes of which we cannot contain. Are we afraid? Do we not believe he will do it? When it comes to a capital campaign and a “faith promise” gift this is what it’s all about! God wants us to experience him in ways we could not imagine.

This thought and promise is given repeatedly in the New Testament when he tells his followers, “ask and shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock, and the door will be opened unto you.” Matt. 7:7-8

The Bible is consistent. Where you find a Biblical precept taught repeatedly in both Testaments, you can believe it and apply it to life. A great example of someone believing God and seeking a blessing is found in the book of I Chronicles, chapter ten. We call it the prayer of Jabez, because it was in fact his prayer. It reads like this.

 And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.”

He boldly asked God to bless him in extraordinary ways. He wanted to see what the Lord God of Heaven would do, and sure enough God granted him his request. So, could there be a formula or outline to unlock the miracle hand of God? We always seem to need a structure or schematic to follow. I know I’m guilty of that. God’s request is that we just ask. Seek God, prayer, and ask. Look at the words of king David in Psalms.

“The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord;And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!You have given him his heart’s desire,And have not withheld the request of his lips” Psalms 21:1-2

God desires that His children unite their hearts with His and make our petitions known. You might be thinking that some of your prayers haven’t always been answered the way you wanted. Yeah, me too. God’s ways are not always our ways. It’s about His will being done on earth not mine. I don’t know the will of God for every moment, but I trust His character and believe all things are for His good.

To conduct a successful capital campaign, the prayers of God’s people are essential. You’ll need the prayer of faith and that God would “open the windows of Heaven” to do great and mighty things. It’s a step “out of the boat” moment in time. A time to believe God for the impossible. Maybe you have never tried it before? A capital campaign gives the body of Christ a

unified effort to ask God to do that which you have never seen before or could imagine.

May God bless your efforts as you learn to trust Him for great things.

Capital Campaigns Unlimited (ccunlimited.org)