Maybe it’s the prayers that you have prayed for years that has not come to pass. Or it is the recent cancer or health scare you found out your parents have. Perhaps it’s waiting for that financial breakthrough in your career.
I can relate…And so could many faith giants in the Bible who have experienced times of impossibility.
The Bible calls us to believe in God who can change the impossible to the possible. He calls us to continue to walk in the path to His promises. Trust me, I know walking is hard when you have not seen the sea parted, your legs gets heavy, and the paths dark. You may even feel you’re near drowning. It was during a sermon I attended in a conference in Singapore, where I was deeply encouraged with this story found in the Book of Joshua. Here is how we can follow the faith fathers’ example:
1.Having the heart to follow
4 So Joshua called together the 12 men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them.
Do you want what He wants for your life? You need to be truly convinced this life that Jesus has for you is the best one. And when you truly believe, you obey.
Would you walk the red sea even before it parted? You cannot just dip your feet in the water, dip in and dip out, and always question, “Part or not? Part or not?”
You need to have the heart to drench yourself in it. It starts with the determination. You have to fully want it—not being half-hearted with it.
2. A faith to Believe
God gives you the God-sized dreams that feels impossible to achieve. You don’t know how to start and how to get there. He calls you to have faith that He will part the Sea. Joshua, as Moses’ successor, just like Moses, led the Israelites to cross on dry ground with the parting of the waters. This time, the waters are not those of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), but of the Jordan River. He has seen the miracle happened, and now He has to be the one leading the charge to believe. This is when his faith is tested——to not just follow others’ faith, but to traverse uncharted waters with his own. Unlike Moses whom from the beginning, with the lifting of his rod, God part the Red Sea. For Joshua, the Jordan river did not part yet and He was already wetting his feet.
And as soon as those bearing the ark were dipped into the brink of the water, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. - Joshua 3:15-16
“God, it hasn’t parted. How many miles should I walk until you part the Sea?” you may ask.
Maybe God will open the doors for you before you need to walk through. Maybe they’ll open as you walk through. Maybe God will part the water to show the way. Maybe He’ll part them as you step out toward what He called you to. But do not walk backwards, believe the breakthrough will come as you keep taking that step of faith.
3. A courage to Act
I told the Lord, “It feels like I have a size 4 feet and you’re telling me to walk with a size 10 shoe.” And somehow in my Spirit I felt God saying, “That’s okay. I will fill the blank spaces for you.”
18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’
The faithfulness of God shone through and the people marvelled for generations to come.
He is building in you a story of how He shows up in your life.
Have faith in your impossible now; that it become a testimony later that bring glory for Him.
How would you act different on a day to day if you know that God has already given you what you have asked for? That the promise is sure and your role is just to walk in it? How much would that lessen your anxiety, enable you to live more joyful during the days,
God give you the calling to give you this life. You did not choose this life. This life chooses you. So keep going. He will walk with you, even when you feel your feet are drowning. Watch Him part the Red Sea. Perhaps it was for such a time like these that He will be glorified as the God of impossible after all.
X,
T.W.
He has taught me to renew my mind, my heart & my strength so that I can live in God’s purpose for me. With a year older, I am a lot less naive and a lot more hopeful still. There’s one thing that never left me, that is wonder. For all this year has to unveil, here is my prayer to the Lord: