by The Father's House on Nov 05, 2023
In this sermon, I discussed the power of prayer and the importance of faith in overcoming seemingly impossible situations. I emphasized that we are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. I shared my personal experiences and struggles, highlighting how faith and prayer helped me navigate through them. I also stressed the importance of community and partnership in prayer, urging the congregation to fight alongside each other in prayer. I reminded everyone that with God, nothing is impossible, and that every challenge is an opportunity for God to show His glory.
Key Takeaways:
- We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. [ 40:55]
- With God, nothing is impossible. Every challenge is an opportunity for God to show His glory. [ 42:40]
- The importance of community and partnership in prayer. We should fight alongside each other in prayer. [ 35:13]
- Personal experiences can serve as powerful testimonies of faith and the power of prayer. [ 01:06:45]
- God's love is not conditional on our achievements or positions. He asks us, "If you never preach again, will you still love me?" [ 01:07:44]
Bible Reading:
1. Romans 15:30 [35:24
2. Matthew 26 [55:13
Observation Questions:
1. What is the significance of the phrase "fight alongside me in prayer" in Romans 15:30?
2. In Matthew 26, how does Jesus approach prayer and what can we learn from it?
Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the concept of partnership in prayer, as mentioned in Romans 15:30, relate to our relationship with God and with each other?
2. In Matthew 26, Jesus' prayer wasn't answered in the way he initially asked. What does this tell us about God's response to our prayers?
Application Questions:
1. Can you recall a time when you felt like you were fighting alongside someone in prayer? How did that experience impact your understanding of prayer and community?
2. How can you actively become a prayer partner for someone in your life this week?
3. Reflect on a prayer that you feel wasn't answered in the way you expected. How did that experience shape your understanding of God's will and timing?
4. How can you practice trust and surrender in your prayer life this week, especially in situations that seem impossible?
Day 1: The Power of Prayer
Prayer is not just a religious ritual, but a powerful tool that can bring about change in our lives and the world around us. It is through prayer that we can fight against the evils of this world and bring about God's will. We are called to be partners in prayer, fighting alongside each other against the challenges we face ([35:24]).
James 5:16 - "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
Reflection: Reflect on a situation in your life that seems impossible to overcome. How can you use prayer as a tool to fight against this challenge?
Day 2: The Sacrifice of Jesus
Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was not a necessity, but a choice made out of love for us. He chose to drink from the cup of suffering so that we could be saved. This act of love shows us that nothing is impossible with God ([01:04:31]).
Hebrews 9:26 - "Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."
Reflection: How does understanding the depth of Jesus' sacrifice impact your relationship with Him?
Day 3: Facing Impossibilities
We often face situations that seem impossible to overcome. However, these are not dead ends, but opportunities for God to show His glory. With God, nothing is impossible, and every challenge is an opportunity for a miracle ([41:33]).
Luke 1:37 - "For no word from God will ever fail."
Reflection: What is one "impossible" situation in your life that you can start viewing as an opportunity for God to work?
Day 4: The Role of Pastors
Pastors are not just religious leaders, but spiritual mentors who guide us in our walk with God. They are called to raise up the church and mentor others, showing us the importance of community and leadership in our spiritual journey ([33:04]).
Ephesians 4:11-12 - "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up."
Reflection: How can you support and pray for the spiritual leaders in your life?
Day 5: The Prayer of Jabez
The Prayer of Jabez is a powerful prayer that seeks God's blessing and protection. It is a reminder that we should not be content with the status quo, but should always seek God's best for our lives ([34:16]).
1 Chronicles 4:10 - "Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request."
Reflection: How can you incorporate the Prayer of Jabez into your daily prayer life?
Well, we have one more week of this, and we will finish this series and begin going into something else, and we're really excited about that.
Hey, I just want to say, man, I echo what you said about our worship team. Man, I just— and that new flute! Wasn't that great? Awesome!
Wow, hey, just a praise report. Anita and myself and a few other writers from the Father's House went up to Macon, Georgia, last week, and on Sunday morning, we spoke at a motorcycle rally. A lot of bikers, a lot of bikes, a lot of noise, and the church was actually packed. We had 15 men make a first-time confession to Jesus Christ! Isn’t that awesome?
You know, it's part of what Anita and I have been called to, is not only to raise this church up, but in the next years, begin mentoring and coaching pastors of other churches from here. Many of you will be involved in that. Our team that we took up, every one of them poured into some of those other people in a tremendous way, and we thank God.
Of course, here at the Father's House, we don't have a pastor; we have pastors. We have an apostolic team here, and of course, I'm the founding lead pastor. The buck stops here, but when people say, "Who's the pastor?" it's hard to pinpoint. It's whoever is speaking on that Sunday because we have a lot of great speakers.
So, I tell you, Andrea did so good last week. That was amazing! I've listened to that a couple of times, and I told her I was going to steal or borrow some of that. Some of the teachings were so very, very good.
Hey, and you don't want to miss next Sunday! Our friend Paula Danielle will be with us, and she's going to be wrapping up this series on The Prayer of Jabez. How many of you love that? Paula has just released her book called "Dear Sister: There's Something Black Women Want You to Know," and on the back it says, "Through a better understanding of each other, we can heal the divide that is between us."
Now, a couple of things: Sunday morning, she's going to talk about the Prayer of Jabez. Wednesday night, she's going to speak to our young people. She'll be with us at our chamber breakfast on Thursday and speaking to our staff, and she's going to do a book signing. I've got my book; I hope you get yours.
Well, she didn't sign it—what's up with that? Oh, there it is! I started saying I'm going to disinvite her! All right, but she signed on the inside, so be there. It's going to be at Panera, I think at nine o'clock, I believe, on Saturday, and you can go to the website and get information about that.
All right, is that cool or what?
Well, Romans 15:30 has been our theme verse that we've been looking at. Would you read it with me on the Sky Bible?
"That's why I plead with you, because of our union with our Lord Jesus Christ, to be partners with me in prayer."
Look at your neighbor and say, "Be my partner! Be my partner in prayer!"
"My dear brothers and sisters, with the love we share in the Holy Spirit," read the last five words with me, "fight alongside me in prayer."
Say it again: "Fight alongside me in prayer."
We're not just going to receive status quo, but what are we going to do? We're going to pray!
I don't believe it's God's will for people to be sick, so what are we going to do? We're going to fight! We're going to pray!
I don't believe it's His will for kids to be molested, so we're going to—what? We're going to fight! We're going to pray!
I don't believe it's His will that we carry around chains. I tell you, some chains are going to fall off of some people today. There were miracles in the first service, and I can't even begin to tell you all of those, but we are not satisfied with status quo. We are fighting alongside each other in prayer.
Well, if you have your Bible with you, hold it up, and let's make our confession today.
"This is my Bible. It is the Word of God. It is life to me today. I receive the Word. I confess..." [Applause]
Father, we come to you today, and our hearts are so full, just running over from just the overflow of the first service. What a miracle! What miracles, Lord, when you helped us to realize that nothing is impossible with you.
So, Lord, now as we approach your Word, our team has done everything they can to plow the field and get us ready for the Word, but Holy Spirit, we need you. Holy Spirit, I need you. Without you, I am nothing. I just have words, but with you, those words become supernatural because you're in them.
Holy Spirit, we need you to help us to understand. Maybe we're sitting, listening to the same passage of Scripture that we've heard over and over. Please today, Holy Spirit, give us enlightenment. Help us to understand what you're saying to us.
We thank you in advance for every life that will be touched and changed today, and by the end of this service, Lord, I pray that you will be glorified. All honor to you, all glory to you, all dominion to you, and Lord, that the saints will be edified, they'll be built up, and the enemy will be terrified. Let's scare the hell out of him today! In Jesus' name, amen!
Amen!
A woman invited some people over for dinner, and she asked her six-year-old daughter, "Would you say the blessing?" The girl said, "I don't know what to say." She said, "Just say what you heard mother say."
The little girl bowed her head and prayed this prayer: "Lord, why on Earth did I invite all these people to dinner?" [Applause]
My favorite is the little boy who prayed, "Dear God, please take care of my daddy, my mommy, my sister, my brother, my doggy, and me. Oh, and by the way, please take care of yourself because if anything happens to you, we're all in a big, big mess." Amen!
A few years ago, there was an advertisement campaign that Adidas did, and it was actually conceived from a quote from Muhammad Ali. Here is the advertisement: "Impossible is a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in a world that they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it."
Could your neighbor say, "You got power to change it"?
You have power to change it!
"Impossible is not a fact; it's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration; it's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary."
And as my t-shirt says, "Impossible is nothing."
Well, I think they got that from the Bible, don't you? Because over and over it talks about—when it talks about impossible, it always says things like, "For with God, nothing is impossible." Through our faith, nothing is impossible.
Now, I'm intrigued at how what Andrea did last week is going to fit into what we're talking about today. She talked about, "Are you sure that you know your place in Jesus, that He set you in heavenly places?" You're here, but in the spiritual realm authority, you're with Him. Your coasts are anchored with Him.
So, I want to review one of the scriptures she used last week, and I'll be using the Passion Translation.
"But God still loved us with such great love. He is so rich in compassion and mercy."
I'm telling you, every verse, every part of the verse, Jen, I read, it's like you couldn't sit behind. It's almost like you could not sit there much longer while they were singing that song, could you? I watched that, and that's sort of how I feel when I read this. I'm thinking I could just stop there; we could just camp out.
"He is so rich in compassion and mercy. Even when we were dead and doomed in our many sins, He united us with the very life of Christ, and He saved us by His wonderful grace."
If you've been saved by His grace, say Amen!
Look at this: "He raised us up with Christ, the exalted one, and we ascended with Him into glorious perfection and authority."
I'm sitting in authority today in the heavenly realm, for we are co-seated. Wouldn't you love that? We are co-seated as one with Christ.
Throughout the coming ages, underline this phrase: "We will be the visible display of the infinite riches of His grace and kindness, which He has showed upon us in Christ Jesus."
So, we've been talking about when the church prays, and we've got the little band outside that says, "When the church prays." Why does the church pray? Because we want to see manifestations of answers to prayer so people can see the visible evidence of a God that is—anything that comes against Him is impossible.
So, I look at that word, and I ask you, has the word "impossible" crossed your lips in the last week or so?
"It's impossible; they'll never change."
"It's impossible for me to lose weight."
"It's impossible for me to do that."
"It's impossible to start this business."
"It's impossible for us to even have a decent conversation because you don't even look at me when I'm talking to you."
Right? She didn't say that this week.
"It's impossible."
So, what is your impossible circumstance? Is it an adult child that's gone away from the Lord? Is it your marriage that you're still married, you're sitting in the same house, but you never talk, you never communicate?
Maybe it's a physical ailment that doctors said there's no hope for you. Maybe it's an infirmity that just won't go away. Maybe it's an addiction. I don't know what the category of impossibilities could be for you, but I know as soon as I talked about impossible, some of you, it came to your mind just like that because you said that lately about something. You said, "Well, that's just impossible."
But here's what I know: you need to write this down, take a picture of it, look at it because you're going to remember this.
"We're all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."
Let's read that again: "We're all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."
Now, I didn't start saying, "We're all faced with impossible situations." That's how we always do it. No, I'm faced with a great opportunity in what is seen as an impossible situation because it's really not impossible because with God, nothing is impossible.
So, it's an opportunity for Him to show His glory in this situation.
Well, if we're going to let that happen, what do we need to do? Here are just three things today I want to give you.
Number one: Change your perspective. Change the way you see things.
Take the limits off!
Take the limits off! The impossibility in your life is an opportunity for God to show out and to show Himself as He really is.
I mean, think about it like this: if you change how you see things, if you change how you see things, you can take the word "impossible" and you can look at it like this: the word itself declares, "I'm possible."
So, just say that to yourself over and over: "I'm possible." Because all things are possible with God.
I'm not too far gone. You know, but I'm possible.
There's always someone in life that lives this out. They see something as it is, but yet they say, "There's more."
Are you familiar with Moore's Law? In 1965, a man by the name of Gordon Moore put forth a hypothesis, and it was eventually known as Moore's Law.
In 1965, that's a picture of a computer room. Look how big that is!
So, Moore looked at that and he said, "I believe the way that we're going, computers will get smaller and faster every 18 to 24 months, even being able to double their speed."
So think about this: hold up your phone. You got your phone? I'm sure you got it on silent; you come to church, so you always put it on silent, right?
And so what you hold in your hand has more computer power than the computers that were used to send a man to the Moon.
Tim's son works with the astronauts; he's training the astronauts that will go to Mars. If I remember it right, Tim told you that most of the time, we did it with a yellow pad and just a few computers to get a man on the Moon.
But you hold it here in your hand! Unbelievable opportunity!
A minute ago, I forgot what a scripture was; I wrote that scripture, and boom, it just pops up! I mean, it's just amazing what happens, right?
I'll say, "How do you pronounce Saturn?" Boom! It just happens like that!
Steve Jobs, you know Steve? I read—I saw an interview that a woman who worked with him talked about being with him, and she talked about the RDF, the Reality Distortion Field that was coined around Steve Jobs.
She said he would bring brilliant people into the room, and he would say, "This is what we need to do with our company." And they would look at him and say, "Sir, that's impossible to happen."
He said, "Good! I want it done by Thursday."
Why? Because he changed his perspective.
Figuring, "God can do this, but He can't do that. God can do this, but He can't do that."
We pick things that we think God can do, so if we pray about it, we're not embarrassed that we don't get the answer.
But what about a group of people at the Father's House that begin to step out and say, "I'm getting out of the category of what's possible," and say, "Nothing is impossible with God!" Amen! Give Him a hand!
The driving force in Steve's life was the belief that impossible was possible.
Now, have you ever seen this building? It's called the Burj Khalifa; it's in Dubai. There was an architect by the name of Adrian Smith that built this, and it was going to be impossible to build that particular building.
It's the tallest building in the world—2,717 feet tall, 163 floors.
Now, comparatively, the World Trade Center, which was very large, but when they bombed it, now we have the World Trade Center, and they said, "We're going to go higher because what you knocked down, we're going to take higher."
Right? That's a good way for us to see about the devil: "What you take down, you take me down, I'm coming up higher! I'm coming after you, boy!"
So we look at this, and there are only 1,776.93 feet in the One World Trade Center.
On the brochure of Adrian Smith and his architectural company, this is what he says: "We are not limited by known solutions, and we're not limited by knowledge to move forward. We're not limited to develop new methods and technologies."
Not limited! Not limited!
Talk about doing stuff! Just a minute ago, the Lord just really spoke to me, and I really put it in my notes. I said, "Now put in my notes: Begin to see the impossibilities with Spirit eyes."
Because you see, when we look at our natural eyes, we say, "There's no way! There's no way that can be!"
But what if, as we are consumed and baptized with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit begins giving us glimpses—giving us glimpses of what is?
Just imagine what that would be!
So let's change our perspective.
Number two: Invite God into the equation.
You've been saying, "Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible."
How about holding that up to God and saying, "God, does this look like an impossible thing for you to do?"
I think He would just sort of smile and say, "Hey, if you read the Word, nothing is impossible for me that I can do."
All right, I love Jeremiah 32:17.
Ah, Lord Yahweh! Say Yahweh with me: Yahweh!
"Oh, Lord Yahweh, behold, you have made the heavens and you made the Earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm."
Read it with me: "There is nothing too hard for you."
Now, when we translate from one language to another, sometimes it's hard to get the color and the full meaning and the depth of that.
When you look at this phrase, "Lord, nothing is too hard for you," in the Hebrew, let me share with you what it means literally.
Sometimes they change the words so that it flows better so you can get it, but if you took it apart word by word, here's what it says: "No, absolutely nothing for you, Lord, is extraordinary or surpassing."
Don't you love that?
Say it with me: "No, absolutely nothing for you, Lord, is extraordinary or surpassing."
We look at things and say, "Oh, that was an extraordinary miracle," and God says, "No, you haven't even seen that yet."
See, some of us have seen God do some amazing things through prayer, but I feel like saying to you today, "You haven't even seen it! You haven't seen the extraordinary! You haven't seen those things yet!"
Don't you feel the Holy Spirit just building up faith in you today? Man, I hope you do because I sure feel it!
And so, "Nothing, absolutely nothing for you, Lord, is extraordinary."
And then God spoke back to him in verse 27, and He said, "Jeremiah, I am the Lord. I am the God of every person on Earth."
You know that! Say it with me: "Nothing is impossible for me!"
In Luke 1, the angel of the Lord came to Mary, and he said, "You're going to be the mother of the Christ child."
And she says, "That's impossible! How is that possible? I'm a virgin! I'm not married, and I've never known a man!"
Three different ways to say, "This is impossible!"
"I'm a virgin! I'm married! I've never slept with a man!"
But the angel said, "Verse 37: But Mary, with God, nothing will be impossible."
Aren't you glad that wasn't impossible for Jesus to be born of a virgin? Wow!
And then later in 18:27, Dr. Luke said, "What is impossible for people is possible with God."
Do you believe that?
Well, I believe that! I believe with that oath all my heart!
Listen, think about this: we're seated with Him; we walk with Him; we walk with Yahweh.
But we often start our prayers like this: "No way, Yahweh! There's no way for you to answer this!"
I just wonder sometimes if God were to say, "Time out!" and interrupt us after we pray something, if He would say, "Do you really believe that?"
Or are you saying, "No way, Yahweh! You can do a lot of things, but you can't change this oh cantankerous heart of my husband, my wife, my son, my employee, whoever it is."
No! We're not going to say, "No way, Yahweh!"
We're going to be like a little child when they come to their father. They don't think through their asks.
Al and Danielle have two beautiful twins. Do you think those twins, when they come up to Al—because he is a sucker, especially for his daughter—do you think they rationalize in their mind, "Well, what can I ask that he could be able to grant?"
No! They say, "Give me! Give me! Give me! Give me! Give me! Give me!"
Right? They never stop to think, "I'm asking something that's impossible."
From this day forward, let's throw our hands up to Abba Father and let's not try to process, "Is this a good ask?"
But if it's according to the Word of God, we say, "Lord, it is your will in your Word that says this, and I ask that! I pray that! I pray your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven!"
It's already your will in heaven, Lord, so now I call it down to you!
We're not limited by known solutions.
So, number one: Change your perspective.
Number two: Take the limits off.
And number three: Learn to trust and surrender.
Say that with me: "Trust and surrender."
Prayer dares to call the impossible into reality. It trusts one that can do anything.
A lot of times, though, what happens when we feel like that God doesn't answer our prayer in the way that we think that He should answer it, we think it's an unanswered prayer.
How many of you have ever had a prayer that you've prayed over and over and over, and that prayer was never answered?
Right? To him honestly, you can raise your hand; that's okay.
All right, there are prayers that I've prayed that God has answered. There are prayers that I've prayed that He hasn't answered, but I keep praying until He answers or He says to me, "No, that's a wrong prayer," or until He says to me, "That's not the correct way to pray this," or until He says, "No, I'm not going to do it."
I want you to look at something in Matthew chapter 26: A Prayer of Jesus.
The prayer of Jesus, because some of us really struggle with this when we don't think that our prayers are answered because they're not answered the way we think they should be answered.
And then we get to the place that we say, "Well, I think what you should do is you should ask for the opposite because it seems like when I pray for some things, God gives me the opposite."
Can we be that real? That honest?
All right, there are times that I've prayed for things. You know, maybe you pray, "Lord, I've given my tithe today, and I'm praying that our money goes farther than ever goes."
And on your way home, the car breaks down.
"God, this is not what I prayed for! This is like the opposite!"
So then we start thinking, "Well, maybe God's sneaky," and so we pray the opposite: "God, give me a broken-down car!"
Then your car breaks down.
"That's what I thought it'd be!" [Applause]
Matthew 26: This is Jesus's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Gethsemane means "place of the oil press," where you put the olives in, and you squeeze the olive until it gives out the olive oil.
Jesus came to a place, verse 37, called Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there."
That word "prayer" right there, if you just want to underline it or just think about it, it's in the Greek what we call the heiress subjective.
And here's what it means: I'm going over there to pray, and it's not like a prayer that I'm going to be engaged in prayer.
Here's what it literally means: to make a definite prayer and to complete it.
To make a definite prayer and to complete it.
You see, sometimes we just engage in prayer because we think, "I'm supposed to pray."
But sometimes there's something that's so earnest, so real, so life-changing that, I mean, you don't just engage in prayer, but you make a definite prayer, and you're going to complete it.
So He says He's going there to pray, and He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.
Then He said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me."
And He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed, saying—
I mean, I've looked at this verse no telling how many times in my life, but I never saw this until a couple of months ago when the Lord began to unfold this to me.
He went a little farther, fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O my Father!"
That's really just Abba Father—the most infinite word that you could use for whatever it is.
Look at this: you've got to catch this.
"If it is possible..."
If it is possible!
That word "possible" there in this particular phrase is "dinatos," which means strong, mighty, possible.
So He's saying, "God, I realize you're strong. I realize you're mighty. I realize you're possible."
He says, "If there's any way, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
Now, you've got to catch this because sometimes we forget that Jesus was not only 100% God on the Earth, but He was also 100% man.
So when it says that He understands the struggle that you're going through, sometimes we forget that.
But we read a passage like this, and He's got this situation ahead of Him. He knows what He signed up for, and He's not asking to back out of that.
But He knew before the foundation of the earth, before you were created, before I was created, before the Earth was created, He would be the spotless lamb that would die for your sins and my sins.
He knew what He signed up for, but now He's in the garden, and the human part that we can identify with, He's simply saying, "I'm willing to go through this, but nothing is impossible for you. So if there's any other heavenly way that I don't have to drink of this cup..."
And then He says, "Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done."
For someone here today, you're facing a situation that looks so incredibly impossible, and you're struggling so much with it because you've prayed and you've asked God to meet that need and touch that need, and He hasn't done it yet.
And you begin to think, "Well, maybe something's wrong with me."
No! He's just wanting us to get to the place that says, "But Lord, even though I don't understand, even I don't want to have to go through this, not my will, but your will be done."
Now look at this; this is even more intriguing to me.
He says, "If it's possible, let this cup pass from me."
Remember when He was with the disciples? He said, "This is the cup of the New Testament, my blood that I will shed. This is the cup; this is the cup that I will pay the price. I will shed my blood so that you can have your sins forgiven."
And He says, as He's praying to Abba Father, "If it's possible, let this cup pass from me."
The cup—sometimes we forget it—that cup was the wrath of God to be poured out on sin.
That cup carried the wrath of God poured out on my sins.
With all sin comes through the glory of God.
Sin can't enter into the presence of God.
Jesus wasn't sweating or praying against the nails, against the beating, against the crown of thorns.
He just knew as He looked in that cup with His disciples that would be bitter dregs at the bottom of that cup because He knew He was drinking the wrath of how much God hates sin.
When you see how Jesus was humiliated and broken and bruised, that's how much God hates sin.
Somebody has to pay for sin.
We say sometimes, "Nothing is impossible with God," but we have to say one thing is impossible with God: that none of us could be in His presence in our past dead way with sin in our life if it had not been for the mediator, Jesus Christ, that came and said, "I'll take the cup for Terry. I'll take the cup of his sins. I'll take the wrath of that. I'll take that upon me."
There would be no hope for me to get into heaven.
So when I see Him, I'm going to say, "Thank you, Lord, for drinking all the cup! Thank you for drinking what was bitter and unnecessary, Lord!"
And because you knew no sin—then look at this—then He came to His disciples and He found them sleepy, and He said, "Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak."
Again, the second time He went away and prayed, "O my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, then your will be done."
And He came and found them asleep. Their eyes were heavy, and He left them and went again and prayed the third time, saying the same words: "Father, if there's any way, I really would not like to do this, but not my will, but your will be done."
Dr. Luke tells us that during this prayer time, an angel came and ministered to Jesus.
Now, you think if an angel came and ministered to Him, it would alleviate the pain, and you know there'd be joy in the midst of that.
But when you read Luke's comment, it was like after the angel ministered to Him, His prayers became more intense. His blood, His tears became as great drops of blood.
You say, "Why?"
Because I believe the angel came, and I believe the angel came with a word from God: "There's only one way, and you have to drink the cup. You have to take the wrath. There's no other way."
So when I see people saying, "Well, I just live a good life, and God will understand," they don't understand what He took on Himself.
There's no other way!
So the angel ministered to Him, and in that agony, Jesus is praying because He doesn't want to come short of the complete and perfect obedience to God.
Technically, Jesus didn't have to take the cup.
Technically, He could have, but because He loves you and me, and He wanted us to know that nothing is impossible, He drank of that cup.
I think we all have prayers that we pray that haven't been answered the way that we thought they should.
I know I've said this a couple of times, but I know a lot of you are new, and so I just want to share with you.
There are prayers—I'm 73. I've been a believer since I was five. I've been filled with the Spirit since I was about 10 or 11.
And there are prayers that I prayed that boom, God has answered, and there are prayers, to be honest with you, that I'm still praying that He hasn't answered.
There are some prayers that I prayed that He answered, but in a different way than I thought He would answer them.
Some almost 40 years ago now, yeah, I was married to my first wife, and she decided she didn't want to be married anymore.
She said, "I never loved you when we were married. I'm married to get out of the small town that I was in, and I don't want to be married."
And she left and took my two girls.
So I worked for nine months to put the marriage back together because God hates divorce, right? It's not God's will for divorce.
So I prayed, I fasted, I did everything that I could.
Nine months after leaving the first time, she said, "Well, the girls are miserable; we can't make it on our own, so I'll come back. But I want you to know I still don't love you."
She was with me another five years.
I know what it's like to pray and fast and believe.
I know what it's like to start to kiss someone, and they turn their cheek because they don't want to kiss you.
I know what it's like to hug a telephone pole because a telephone pole won't run away from you when you embrace that.
I know what it's like to pray and fast and say, "God, it's not your will for divorce! You can change her heart! You can change her heart! You can change her heart! You can change her heart!"
My friend Rick Godwin became my pastor about that time, and he came to a small church that I was at in Virginia.
After talking with Linda a little while, he said, "Terry, she's going to come down on you like a jumbo 747. She's not going to stay with you."
I said, "Rick, that's not true, man! I've been fasting! I've been praying! I've been believing because God's going to get glory out of this! He's going to bring glory out of this for His glory, not for me, but for His glory!"
Rick said, "Well, I'll pray with you, and I hope that, son, but what I'm seeing is it's not going to happen."
Well, she left again, took a house, took the girls, took everything.
I came to Florida because a pastor friend of mine said, "Come, and we just want to love on you for a while."
And when I came to Florida, I had lost my position with the denomination because of the divorce.
I'd lost everything—had nothing.
I began typing the pastor's sermons for him and washing his car.
The Lord asked me a question; it's just as clear as anything I can remember.
It's not audibly, but I remember it in my spirit, and He said this: "Terry, if you never preach again, will you still love me?"
1. "Impossible is a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world that they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration, it's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." - 37:53
2. "Change your perspective, change the way you see things. Take the limits off. The impossibility in your life is an opportunity for God to show out and to show himself as he really is. If you change how you see things, you can take the word impossible and you can look at it like this: I'm possible." - 43:40
3. "Fight alongside me in prayer. We're not just going to receive status quo, but what are we going to do? We're going to pray. I don't believe it's God's will for people to be sick, so what are we going to do? We're going to fight, we're going to pray." - 35:13
4. "From this day forward, let's throw our hands up to Abba Father and let's not try to process is this a good ask. But if it's according to the word of God, we say Lord it is your will in your word that says this and I ask that, I pray that. I pray your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." - 52:35
5. "Prayer dares to call the impossible into reality. It trusts one that can do anything. A lot of times though, what happens when we feel like that God doesn't answer our prayer in the way that we think that he should answer it, we think it's an unanswered prayer." - 52:35
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