Category — Over Coming...The Impossible!

Genensis Ch 41 marks one of the greatest lessons Joseph would ever learn. In short,  the outcome he longed for had not and never did hindge on the butler.  This man had failed Joseph, forgot about him and literally left him behind.  Despite this in those quiet and final 2 years in prison (Ch. 41:1) Jospeh’s faith in God grew deeper than he ever thought possible. The powerof God within him flourished as he forgave and understood fully that the butler was not in control of his life.  

Have you confided in someone, put your trust in someone and pinned your hopes on someone (Ch. 40:14 & 23) only to have them betray that trust completely? The lesson from Joseph’s experience is simply life changing – even when the worst has actually happened, your last hope has gone and you have been left rejected and forgotten God’s best for you has never been more certain. 

 The clock was ticking in Joseph’s favour from the very moment the Butler forgot about him…from the very moment he was falsely accused…from the very moment his brothers’ sold him. Selah! Don’t get bitter at people and how they have let you down, believe in God and know that He wont!           

Peter learnt that with the Lord the outcome of a financial crisis had nothing to do with his financial reserves (Matthew 17:24 – 27).  He was strapped with a tax bill that there simply was not the money to pay for.  Facing the dyer ministry not to mention personal dangers that would bring, Peter witnessed the power of Christ in a way that he could never have imagined.  Our Saviour controlled timing, circumstance and nature itself to literally create an answer where there was no way out or forward.  

What happens when you have been faithful in walking with your Saviour and suddenly find yourself with a need that you really do not have the ability to meet?  Trust again in the Christ of your salvation for, like a fish swimming with money in its mouth, He had a perfect plan in motion even before you were aware of the problem. 

At some point somebody lost the piece of money in the fish’s mouth.  I wonder if they got angry and bitter against God, not realising that His perfect plan was unfolding and indeed that they were a part of it?  If you love your Lord then trust that He loves you and is making good things and good gifts come your way. This is true despite and even at the point when you feel you have lost out or been  let down. 

Take time and read Romans 8:28, Psalm 31:22; Psalm38:11-15; Matthew 6: 31-34; 7: 7-12.

What do you do when everything that you have experienced to date and every experience of others you have witnessed or read about, dictates the inevitability of the worst possible outcome? The answer is very simple…get a new experience!

There was once a woman with an “issue of blood”.  No physician could heal her. She had suffered at the hands of the genuine and the con-artist alike. This very sick woman had been left pennyless, broken and worse than when she had started to seek help.  But all that changed the day she met Christ. She decided to reach out one more time when everything she had experienced to date screamed that disappointment and failure was inevitable.  This lady chose not to live on her bad experience but act on her new revelation namely…Christ would heal her free of charge. It’s time to believe in a new experience. So says the woman who had the issue of blood. See Mark 5:25-34.

There was once a man full of demons so many in fact that they were called Legion. His experience over a “long time” (Luke 8:27) was that no man could tame him and no man could help him.  But all that changed the day he met Christ for in the Son of Man he found total deliverence. Whenever your experience dictates that you must suffer terribly with and carry your burden believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can and wants to deliver you from it. It’s time to get a new experience. So says the man from the country of the Gadarenes. See Luke 8:27-39.  

There was once a cripple who lay for 38 years wanting desperately to be healed. His experience was a simple but profoundly cruel one…there was no man to help him (John 5:7). Bitterness, anger and eventually despondency had gripped his life and smothered his hopes. Everything about his experience declared that things would never change no matter what he did or who he reached out to. Despite the inevitability of a crushing and unchanging routine he decided to reach out to a stranger who happened to be his Saviour. It’s time to believe for a new experience. So says the impotent man who lay at the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. See John 5: 1 – 15).

Don’t let your past experience dictate your future believe in and reach out to the One who holds the future and whatch Him give you a new one! The testimony of these three people is literally life changing…bad experience must bow the knee to the Christ of Calvary.

The words of Jeremiah 4:19 vividly describe the condition of a broken and tormented heart: “My distress, my distress!  I am pained in my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace…”.   Job’s wife spelled it out for her husband when she advised him to forget his integrity, admit his life was worthless, curse God and die (Job 2:9).  Thankfully, despite the devastation he experienced, Job lived to see how God “turned his captivity” making the latter end of his life much more blessed than the beginning (Job42: 10+12).  Thank God he did not listen to the facts or believe the voice of anger, ridicule and accusation.

Whatever hurt you have experienced it is not beyond God’s power to heal.  Jesus can totally release you from the prison of problems and pain that is in your heart and mind.  The scripture tells us that, “…the Lord turned the captivity of Job…” (v10).  The choice of words is deliberate.  Do you feel as if you are trapped and can see no way out of the hurt and circumstances around you?  The simple truth is that the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to break you free from your captivity taking you not just into a place of relief but to one of blessing beyond anything that you could have hoped for. 

There are times when you have been under so much pressure that you actually cry out to God in anger accusing Him of deserting you.  However, as soon as a heart felt prayer for deliverance reaches His divine ears Jesus will hear you and deliver you (Psalm 31:22).   Our Lord understands the pain of a broken heart and, therefore, will never ignore a heartfelt cry for help when it comes.

A broken heart in the Master’s hands is as clay to the potter’s.  Even when it is shapeless, hopeless and pointless He knows exactly how to mould it, beautify it and recreate, “ For if our heart condemn us He is greater than our heart…” (1 John 3:20).  Did Christ not declare that He has been sent to, “…bind up[and] heal the brokenhearted…” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18).  The Lord Jesus Christ will take you to the place where you have the memory of a bad experience but one that literally cannot touch or torture you anymore.

Read: Psalm 30: 11-12; Psalm 40:2;

THOUGHT:  What cannot be changed God will heal, remove or replace!  God does not just help you to come to terms with your suffering He takes you beyond it.

In Mark 9 there is a marvellous account revealing how a man that everybody had sidelined was actually one through whom, “…the works of God should be made manifest…” (v3).  This thought alone is enough to get excited about however a further look at the passage will truly give hope to all. 

In v3 Jesus openly declares in full earshot of His disciples and the blind man that sin had nothing to do with his illness.  In doing so our lovely Lord and Saviour was declaring that there was nothing holding this man back from being healed.  Because Jesus has the power to forgive, heal and deliver He is declaring the same thing to you today.  Despite what anybody says including yourself in truth there is nothing holding you back from hearing from God, being delivered by God or being used by God.

Verse 4 only serves to reinforce Christ’s position concerning this man and all Christians.  Jesus makes it clear that it is His business to set people free, to deliver them and to heal them.  Christ’s reference to being the Light of the world in the very next verse is a specifically chosen comment to make this blind man believe for a miracle in his very real darkness.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the specific answer to the specific need that you face. 

In verse 2 the disciples fail the blind man i.e. he would not really be expecting a lot of help from those that couldn’t decide what or whose sin had caused his sickness.  The church in verse 8 – 13 failed him not able to get passed his reputation as a beggar and quite literally finding it hard to believe a word that he said.  To make matters worse his parents in verse 20 –21 effectively disown him refusing to stand by their son in his hour of victory for fear of their own reputation. Last but not least the priests fail this man miserably.  Soaked in their own sin, pride and lust for power they reject him, his testimony and his deliverance and in verse 34 throw him out of the synagogue.  

However, the story does not end there.  In verse 11 this man declares that Jesus did not let him down.  And when all others had ridiculed and reviled him it was Christ that found him, revealed His true identity to him and made him His very own.  Be encouraged for no matter how many reject and are against you Jesus Christ is 100% for you 100% of the time in 100% of life’s issues.

In verse 38 despite the attitudes of the disciples, the church folk, his parents and the priests he believes in the Lord and worships Him.  This man overlooked, rejected and stood up against anyone that clouded his vision of Christ. Whether it was family, a stranger or the Church the blind man would not allow anger, bitterness or unforgiveness dominate or dictate. He got his reward and found his Saviour.  Not bad for a blind beggar that literally everyone had failed and written off as a lost cause…everyone accept Christ.  Whilst others rejected Him the Lord Jesus Christ went looking for him.

In John 1: 15; 27 + 30 John the Baptist declares that Christ was his Lord before he even existed.  The reality is we are all His workmanship (Psalm 138:8) and Jesus knows every detail about us (Psalm 139:1-15; Jeremiah 1:8).  No matter who it is, what it is or why it is the Lord Jesus Christ is working, “…all things after the council of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).  In fact Jesus is not only aware of all things in your life he is giving you strength to be victorious in all things, He is perfecting all things to do with you and is literally making all things work together out for your good (Psalm 18:32; Psalm 138:8; Romans 8:28).

A keen rambler braved some thick undergrowth whilst walking through a forested area.  Eventually he came to a section that seemed completely impassable.  He could still see some distance ahead but frustratingly couldn’t see any way through.  Not used to turning back he was annoyed at the thought of his journey ending.  As he stood pondering the inevitable the figures of a man and his dog caught his eye.  They were walking toward him on the other side of this natural barrier.  As he watched he waited for the stranger to eventually stop and turn back.  But he didn’t stop he walked right through the thick bushes and small trees confidently following a hidden route that he obviously had used many times before.  Having watched carefully the hidden track slowly revealed itself amidst the undergrowth. The rambler following this new path continued forward passing easily if not a bit tentatively. 

Christ is not just with you in your problem He is on the other side of it and will lead you through all the impossible and dark times in your life.  Remember even in the darkest of moments God sees clearly (Psalm 139:12).  If you think you have reached a dead end think again, pray again and believe again for God will show you the way through.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again 3 days later He literally went beyond the point of no return and then came the whole way back so that you could never get lost, never be lost and never be beyond His wonderful, saving, healing and delivering touch.