Another title: probability vs possibility, potential and promises
Two mornings in a row, my husband sat beside me in bed with a cuppa and proceeded to write in a notebook, ideas connected to his work, that God had given him overnight. The First morning, I was a bit miffed…. why doesn’t God speak as clearly and precisely as that to me? Then when my husband left to start his day, I had a small meltdown in God’s direction regarding my confusion over what, if any, alternative treatments I should pursue. My inbox is currently inundated with information and health summits. I held my Bible upwards and railed at God, “I want to believe what’s written here. I want to show that this Word of Yours is living and active and relevant. I began this cancer journey last year with the claiming of a promise. I want to be able to tell my children and grandkids that You and Your Word can be trusted. I need You to show me it’s true.”
I opened the bible randomly and read……Philippian’s 4:4 in the Passion translation.
It read…” Do not be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude.
Tell Him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic, real, honourable, admirable, beautiful, respectful pure, Holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always.”
Ok then! That was clear, I thought! Thank you, God. Well, that changed my tone. I probably just did not allow for the fact that God speaks to us differently.
This morning then, our second morning of significant revelation where my husband was writing points and plans, he’d woken with, I asked him what it was he did to open himself up for this level of communication. He said he puts all thoughts out of his head, and it has taken years to learn. He may have an idea but instead of running with it he just shelves it until he gets more or confirmation. Ahhh…The old “let go and let God” technique!
It had me thinking…what would it feel like to be that at ease …not something I can say I’ve been able to achieve thus far. What would a life without limits look like? Is that not the way we should be living everyday as Christians? If all things are possible for God and He is the Source of our supply, and all our needs are met in Christ, can we trust Him when He says, “All things are possible through Christ Jesus”?
I have been speaking declarations of God’s favour, health and promises over myself, one of which is “My life cannot be limited. Christ within me is my freeing, forgiving and releasing power. God is the Source of my supply. All my needs are met in Christ, today and every day.” It is pretty much the prayer we all refer to as The Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, who is in heaven, Holy is Your name, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil”.
So, as I’ve declared this, my challenge is do I believe it? I think I need to begin with what I perceive my limitations to be. My walls, my defences, my diagnosis, my past, my present circumstances, my race, my creed…. I’ve heard it said that walls that we build for safety…for self-preservation, actually imprison us. I am imprisoned by my illusion of self-sufficiency because while I insist on staying in this state, feeling that while here I have some element of control over my circumstances, it denies Divine help.
A picture came to mind of a view from space of the earth with its surrounding visible atmosphere, then there’s space, stillness, stars. I place around myself these invisible limits….perceptions of where I believe the boundaries are…boundaries of my capability, boundaries of known experience, boundaries of available information, boundaries of calculated probability…and yet there is beyond all that, a vast unexplored, unrealised potential that needs me to dare to dream its possible…that more can be possible. Just because I have not seen it, experienced it, believed it, doesn’t mean its impossible. I have just limited my experience. And I can be held there in that predictable orbit by others, who are in the same holding pattern. I remain bound…imprisoned by my own lack of imagination and faith. I either Don’t dream or dare to believe there is anything beyond or I am afraid of the unknown so its safer to stay within the known boundaries and accept mediocrity or even worse, convince myself that this is my lot.
I am reminded of the 1998 movie, The Truman Show featuring Jim Carey, a carefully constructed social experiment where a whole community was created around the life of Truman…from birth onwards, televised as a serial in which all of life’s dramas and successes, triumphs and joy was manipulated by script from its creator/director, with Truman being the only reality, the rest actors. The link between his “world” and real life was a bridge and several attempts by him to broach that in his curiosity and longing to know more…be more… were thwarted. Storms, accidents, dramatized threats of all kinds prevent Truman from his discovering the truth and his fulfilment…until one day he defies all odds and despite attempts to destroy his will by the creator of the show, even to the point of destroying him personally, he persists in his belief that there must be more and he battles through and discovers the “set” door…and the truth sets him free.
Could it be that the walls I have constructed around myself…or others have constructed for me and around me, in the name of security are just that…self-made constructs…perceptions?
God has no constraints. He is not bound by our concept of time or space…those things that create and define our physical world and experience. His power knows no bounds. He is not constrained by my limitations, by the limitations of my physical body, by the limitations of medical science.
He wants me to see through His eyes, His perception, His experience, His ability, His potential, His promises. When Solomon says in Proverbs 3: 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”, I believe I am being instructed in the concept of a life without limits. ‘Lean not on your own understanding’, a directive to not hold to my punitive ideas and “wisdom”, acknowledge that God’s thoughts are not my thoughts nor are His ways my ways” Isaiah 55:8-9, and allow Him to take total control.
I heard today that the Greek concept for “Be Still” is “To hand over”. Surrender. God wants me to depend on Him.
I am challenged to extend my vision beyond what I can physically see and experience…beyond my understanding and what’s probable and contemplate no limits…even more…expect excellence, extraordinary, impossible…
But there is more….
While I trust and declare God is the Source of my supply and meets all my needs, Philippians 4:19 there is , in economic terms, a concept of supply and demand. I was praying about how to word this and it came to me so clearly. I have heard this before but today it was my very own “Ah Ha!” moment.
God is our Source. All things come from Him and He has promised to meet all our needs…and God has a warehouse overflowing with abundance and is eagerly waiting to supply us with that abundant blessing. We need to provide Him with our order, asking specifically for what we want …offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude ….arrive with the truck to load up, in eager expectation that the order has been filled ..thanking Him in advance for what we have asked Mark 11:24…..and is waiting for us to pick-up the order.
Once loaded, our task then is to distribute the blessings…. freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8
I heard a challenging talk today, where the premise about our perceived unanswered prayer was our blessing was just a step of faith away. I have been waiting for God but God, is in fact, waiting for me….to believe, to step out in faith, to acknowledge my total dependence on Him, to let go of control…and to be prepared to live beyond my limitations, accepting that God has gone ahead of me into my future, set things in motion for my breakthrough and all I need do is open myself to receive all He has for me, moving forward in eager expectation and hope. Philippians 1 :20
