Perhaps J.R.R. Tolkien was describing the Western Church when he wrote, “people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected.” What would an adventure with God look like? What would it be like to shake off the safe world we have created for ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us out of our comfort zones and personal preferences? What if this year we removed the bumper rails we’ve put up around our hearts and became a people who lived like nothing is impossible with God?
Jesus is calling His Bride to pull her hair back, lace up her boots and strap on her weapons. It’s time to go all in with His Spirit. Shake off the doubt, skepticism, and unbelief we’ve been hiding behind. Jesus either is who He says he is, or He isn’t worthy of our worship.
Maybe that sounds bold to you, but if it is true, it changes everything. Unbelief and skepticism are dangerous. They warp our perspective of who God is and what He can do. And the price of unbelief is far greater than anything we ever dreamed of. Listen to Jesus’s personal response to unbelief and perversion:
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” – Jesus
Matt 17:17 NIV
Fresh from his transfiguration, Jesus re-enters town to find his disciples brawling in the street with the pharisees over a little boy who is foaming at the mouth and having violent seizures. His reaction is certainly is not what we would expect it to be. Instead of compassion and mercy for their unbelief, He unleashes angry exasperation on the leaders and links the boy’s deaf and mute spirit to the cultural unbelief and perversion of that day.
The word for perverse here is “diastrepho” which means distorted, corrupted, misinterpreted, or perverse. When we see God through a perverted perspective, we are worshipping something distorted. We exchange the true nature of God (with whom nothing is impossible) for something of our own making. This is not just unbelief, it is idolatry.
Unbelief and idolatry are both linked with the deaf and mute spirit. We see in Luke 1:62 that Gabriel did not just strike Zechariah mute because of his unbelief, he also struck him deaf. Unbelief works to maintain the safety of the familiar. Because if we believe that nothing is impossible with God, then we are required to live a supernatural life charged by faith that defies the impossible. Yet, we find unbelief useful because it maintains a god shaped by our personal preferences. Unfortunately, the price we pay is higher than we ever dreamed of.
Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are… made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
Psalms 115:3-8
Eventually, the physical condition reflects the spiritual condition. If we allow our spiritual senses to become deadened by unbelief and a perverted perspective of God, then what is spiritually true will become physically true. Hearing problems, seeing problems, breathing problems, mobility issues are often reflective of the spiritual condition of the heart. The Deaf and Mute spirit, which is how Jesus diagnosed the situation in Matthew 17, found an open door through cultural unbelief and their perverse perspective of God.
In what ways has the unbelief and perverse perspective of our culture muted your ability to believe and perceive spiritual reality? Do you believe that nothing is impossible with God? If you surrender your comfort zones and personal preferences to the Holy Spirit, where will He take you this year? What adventures with the Father await? Faith believes that anything with God is possible and takes action by bringing an inferior reality in submission to heaven’s reality. Nothing is impossible with God.
One thought on “Nothing is Impossible with God”