THE BEGINNING OF POSSIBILITY

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”  (Psalm 139:13-16 NIV)

A birth brings new possibilities into the world. In this sense, birth is the polar opposite of death, which is the end of possibilities [on this side of heaven]. A birth opens up not only one possibility but a multitude of them… With birth, a new life is launched into the world -- a life filled with possibilities. A newborn baby is filled with potential that will later be realized. As a person grows, possibilities become realities. Birth is the beginning of possibility.  

-- Robert Martin Walker in “Prepare Him Room”

TRANSCENDING PRESENT POSSIBILITY

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."  (1 Peter 1:3)

Of all the mysteries our faith invites us to contemplate, the Resurrection is by far the most astonishing.  Not simply in the sense of being difficult to believe in a logical fashion.  That, in a way, is the very point of it.  The very idea of resurrection shatters all the categories of comprehension with which we make sense of our world. It draws us instead into a reality that transcends present possibility.  

-- Wendy M. Wright in “The Rising”   

#5583

HOLDING ON TO HOPE

Editor’s Note: I shared this quote last fall, but thought that during this time of pandemic crisis it is a good reminder to share again. And if you are finding SOUND BITES to be particularly helpful and hopeful now, please share with your friends and family. -- DW

HOLDING ON TO HOPE

“We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 RSV)

Hope is a necessity for real living, but especially in [times of crisis]. As Christians, we can have the hope and expectation that life will be good again. It may not be the same, but it can be good again. Hope is belief in possibility. It is not unrealistic optimism that everything will work out and things will be like they were before. It is confidence and faith that however things turnout, God will be with us, will see us through, and will bring healing.

Hope comes out of resurrection faith, the faith that no matter how bad things get, God is in the midst working with us for good. That’s what Paul was saying in Romans: “In everything God works for good…”

Hold on to your hope!

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”

#4803

PRAYER POSSIBILITIES

To the Infinite all finites are equal. There is no easy or difficult, big or small, possible or impossible. To an omnipotent God, there are no degrees of difficulty.


Anything is possible. Nothing is impossible.


When I need a miracle, I have a tendency to pray louder and longer. I sometimes even pray in King James English like a Shakespearean playwright. Or I pull out some of the Greek words I learned in seminary. But God is unimpressed with our theological words and oratorical cadence. He hears our heart more than our words. He responds to faith, not vocabulary.


-- Mark Batterson in The Grave Robber




#3881

PRAYER AND IMAGINATION

As we age, either imagination overtakes memory or memory overtakes imagination.  Imagination is the road less taken, but it is the pathway of prayer.  Prayer and imagination are directly proportional: the more you pray the bigger your imagination becomes because the Holy Spirit supersizes it with God-sized dreams.  One litmus test of spiritual maturity is whether your dreams are getting bigger or smaller.  The older you get, the more faith you should have because you've experienced more of God's faithfulness.  And it is God's faithfulness that increases our faith and enlarges our dreams.

There is certainly nothing wrong with an occasional stroll down memory lane, but God wants you to keep dreaming until the day you die.  You're never too old to go after the dreams God has put in your heart.  And for the record, you're never too young either.  Age is never a valid excuse …

If you keep praying, you'll keep dreaming, and conversely, if you keep dreaming, you'll keep praying.  Dreaming is a form of praying, and praying is a form of dreaming.  The more you pray the bigger your dreams will become.  And the bigger your dreams become the more you will have to pray.  In that process of drawing ever-enlarging prayer circles, the sphere of God's glory is expanded.

-- Mark Batterson in The Circle Maker

#3649

SEEING POSSIBILITIES

Jesus said, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities -- always see them, for they're always there.

-- Norman Vincent Peale

#3648

EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…" (Ephesians 3:20 WEB)

Is there such a thing as an "impossible dream"?  One small-minded man living in the nineteenth century believed so.  When asked if he thought it would be possible for men to fly in the air like birds, he responded skeptically, "Flight is strictly reserved for the angels, and I beg you not to repeat your suggestion lest you be guilty of blasphemy!"  Ironically, the man was Milton Wright, father of Orville and Wilbur -- two men who dreamed big dreams.  Only thirty years later near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they made their first flight in a heavier-than-air machine, the prototype for modern airplanes.  They proved that impossible dreams can come true.

The apostle Paul wanted Christians to believe that the impossible is possible with God.  He wanted them to understand that impossible prayers can come true through the ability of a God who can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think.  Go ahead, dream big dreams, then pray impossible prayers.  God can make them soar!

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in Pathway to God's Treasure: Ephesians


#3541

DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE

Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” (Mark 10:27)

Child of God, learn a family secret. God specializes in things we think are totally impossible.

-- Charles Swindoll


#3488

IMPOSSIBILITIES MADE INTO POSSIBILITIES

The whole ministry of Jesus was framed by impossibilities…incarnation and resurrection…a virgin birth and an empty tomb. Someone once said, Jesus came into the world through a door marked “no entrance,” a virgin womb. He left through a door marked “no exit”, a tomb of death. Two great impossibilities made possible in Jesus Christ. Nobody had ever walked through those doors before. In Jesus Christ, the world’s greatest impossibilities are made into possibilities. 

-- Timothy Tennett, President of Asbury Seminary, in his charge to graduates, May 2012


#3171

WAITING TO BE BORN

Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.

-- Dr. Dale Turner


#2622