Praying for impossible possibilities...

Pray for the Impossible...

Theology in the Trenches/Kathleen Kjolhaug

Guest Columnist: Bruce Hillman

I’ve been struggling as of late with my prayer life. Like a desperate beggar, I want what I want when I want it. Tonight, a friend sent me a blog. Written by Bruce Hillman, a pastor from New Jersey, it took my breath away; I hope it takes yours away as well. 

Speaking on prayer, Pastor Hillman shares, “When Paul says that we can do all things through Christ, Christ makes possible for man what is not possible for man alone. Christ partners with human agency to produce human-divine action.  Karl Barth, the great twentieth century theologian used a phrase that God is the God of ‘impossible-possibilities.’ And we need to pray with this reality in mind.”

He goes on, “Often part of the problem with our prayer life is that it is too possible or shallow.  Rather, a bold prayer life prays for things that are impossible: that workers join into the work of the harvest, that the deaf hear, the blind see, that unbelievers come to faith.”

He says, “These prayers are impossible.  They are not in the realm of human possibilities. But we pray to the God of impossible possibilities.  It is a dare to rely on God’s power and not our own.”

“We may have a loved one or friend who does not believe, or we are so racked with doubts and confusion we think we will never regain our faith. Pray. We may know a great sickness where there is little hope, physical or mental, and the outlook is grim. Pray. We may see a person ruining their life, making back choices and not open to wisdom. Pray. We may feel lonely and unloved, hopeless and depressed assured only that our futures will be grim or worse. Pray. It may be that we cannot do the things we know are right, that we want to repent but we simply cannot give up the destructive behavior. We do not have the power. Pray. It may be that we feel God has abandoned us or that our sin is too great and offensive, despicable or terrible to be forgiven. Pray. We may be so rejected by others or have had an abusive past and have trouble learning to trust, or fear that we cannot be what we want to be for others. Pray."

"Prayer dares to call the impossible into reality. It trusts the One who can do all things to do impossible things. It rests its hope on God’s power and not man’s agency. It finds rest and security in knowing that the stubborn friend who refuses to believe will be met by the God of grace. It means that God will not give up on those who gave up on God. To be a praying Christian is to be a person who knows the impossible becomes possible in Christ.”

“But what about when the prayer does not come true? The power of prayer is not in its effect but in the Giver. If we do not receive the impossible for which we’ve asked it is not because our prayers didn’t ‘work’ but because God has said no. It is impossible for us, who when we want something desperately cannot see why we should not have it, to know what God has hidden from us in the deep of his wisdom. He does not tell us how he makes decisions and so speculation is not helpful. However, he promises to make all things new and restore all things. And so even the ‘no’ is a temporary state of affairs in the grand economy of God. This is true even if this ‘no’ results in a death. For as people of the resurrection we know even death has not the final word. The final word is always and ever God’s alone.”

“Let us live and love with accompanying prayers of expectation. Let us dare to pray for the impossible: for salvation, for conviction, for repentance, for revival, for healing, for restoration, for forgiveness, for rest.”

“If we can begin to pray this way, wouldn’t our prayers give us a type of peace in knowing that what we cannot do, God can?”

Pastor Hillman concludes, “So dare to pray for the impossible. For we love a God who makes a way where there is no way, the God of impossible possibilities.”  Amen.

(Go to https://www.facebook.com/hillman450 to read the complete blog.)