True story …
“And the angel answered [Mary], ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’
And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”
Luke 1:35-38
We have our Savior today because of Mary’s faith and God’s making the humanly impossible a divine reality.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Where there’s GOD’s will, there’s a way!
Friends, faith does not make things easy. It makes them possible … because the God of all creation, all power, all strength, all love, all glory, all mercy, all grace, all good things—the God of POSSIBLE—is at work in our lives.
The only way forward may be straight through adversity, but He promises to go with us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 46:1-3) and to equip us with everything we need according to His perfect will (Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 12:22-34, Ephesians 4:11-16).
We may not be completely happy about it (that’s fair … we are human), and it may be the hardest thing we’ve ever been up against. BUT … there can also coexist deep and true JOY when believers in Christ Jesus face trials and tribulations of all kinds.
When you hear the word JOY, what do you think of first?
I’m inclined to picture rainbows and sunshine and singing and dancing and broad smiles and laughter, goodness and happiness, but this deeper kind of joy is more than just a feeling. It’s more like a state of mind and heart, like a way of life.
This kind of joy isn’t always a jumping-up-and-down, shouting-from-the-rooftops, exuberant joy. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it’s a quiet, hopeful joy that stirs our hearts to peace and to praising God despite the fallen world around us or the turmoil within us … because we know He is sovereign.
This kind of joy doesn’t go away when our circumstances take a turn for the worse—it’s happiness that does that, and rightfully so. It’s okay to feel sad and disappointed, but this kind of joy sticks around despite our very real emotions of pain and grief and loss, despite weakness and failure, despite hardship and uncertainty about the future.
This joy—our joy—comes from Jesus (John 15:11, Luke 6:23), from faith in Him (Philippians 1:25), from knowing that we serve a risen Savior (Luke 24:6) who loves us and who has overcome the world (John 16:33), from knowing that—whatever happens—He is with us (Deuteronomy 31:6) and works everything for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
Our joy comes from the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) at work within us, not from ourselves or anything we can do of our own might.
Our joy comes from knowing that our ultimate reward is in heaven (Luke 6:22-23), not here on Earth, that we will be made whole and perfect one day when we see Jesus face to face.
The apostle Paul—full of joy though persecuted—wrote, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Romans 5:3-6
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Paul was beyond confident in that statement because His confidence and joy was in Christ. What faith and genuine joy he had!
Paul also said, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) That’s an incredibly bold and tall order but one that is doable with Jesus as Lord of our lives.
We will most likely succeed some and fail some and then fail again because we aren’t perfect … yet. We never will be in our earthly lifetime, but Jesus still wants to make us more and more like Him in the here and now …
… every time we read His Word and apply it to our lives,
… every time we go to Him in earnest prayer,
… every time we obey His calling and go where He leads,
… every time we heed the wisdom of godly people in our lives,
… every time we choose to die to self and live in faith.
God can use the periods of hardship to help refine us to that end if we would draw close to Him.
That’s why faith in Jesus doesn’t come with any guarantees of an easy, idyllic life—no thanks to our ancestors, Granddaddy Adam and Grandmama Eve. In fact Jesus said,
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, emphasis mine)
This world comes with struggle and battles we never expected, but we know the Overcomer … and He has already won the war, friends! We just have to let Him do the fighting for us where we cannot!
That’s why faith in Jesus makes navigating and traveling through difficult, complicated, seemingly impossible circumstances POSSIBLE … because HE makes it so in order to accomplish His will when we abide in Him (John 15:7-11).
Friends, let’s make the decision to place our faith in Him today, no matter what our circumstances may be, and then go where He leads.
This we know—that He is the only Way forward into lasting joy, into possible.
Would you pray with me?
Father God, THANK YOU for your promise to never leave us or forsake us. THANK YOU for going with us through whatever troubles and trials come our way and for equipping us with everything we need to keep moving forward. THANK YOU for refining us and making us more like you. The joy you give us keeps us hopeful and strengthens our faith. Nothing’s impossible for you if it’s your will, so align our heart with yours and our will with yours. We want to seek YOU first! We want to know you more. We want YOUR possible in the midst of our impossible. We trust you and we love you and we pray all these things in your name. Amen.
Feature photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
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“For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
