What’s Your Impossible Prayer?
“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
(Luke 18:27)
Lesson #17 on a Journey to a Water Well
Friday, June 17, 2016
How do you articulate what words are inadequate to express? Our two-and-a-half-year perceived purpose culminated on this day, the dedication of the water well. But you and I know, God’s purpose for this well far exceeded the dedication or the well itself. The Lord works in mysterious ways. But God allowing you the opportunity to unravel the mystery is half the fun.
A couple of weeks before we departed for Uganda, our missionary friend and country director for Amazima Ministries suggested I prepare a few words for the dedication of the well. We discussed using the verses in John 4:13-14 (NIV) as theme verses for the well’s dedication. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Other than the verses, I had not given the dedication much thought. I was overwhelmed by the logistics of securing safe travel, lodging, and an itinerary for a family of six with four children under ten years halfway around the world.
But God used a couple of sleepless nights in Uganda to quiet my heart and prepare my spirit for the dedication.
Before we dedicated the water well, the country director for Amazima and the engineer from EMI led our family on a tour of the campus still under construction. After unsuccessfully stopping our boys from climbing on mounds of red dirt scattered over the campus, it was time.
Thirty to forty Ugandan construction workers gathered around the water well surrounded by a handful of spiritual giants. It was a motley crew of Ugandan men clad with grey denim-like work suits and bright yellow, orange, or white plastic construction hats interspersed between a few oddly placed mzungus (white people). The kids busied themselves with new young friends, sticks, red dirt, or anything else they could find to occupy their minds or bodies.
One at a time, the spiritual giants stepped to the podium to speak of the water that wells up to eternal life. First, the country director spoke, then Katie. But the transformation of the quiet-spoken, unassuming American engineer into a passionate orator for Christ as the Living Water captivated my soul. It was so unexpected. Too much so.
His passion slowly dissipated as he lowered his head and concluded his message, making me the final presenter.
“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27).
How does God take a married mother of four sitting on the side porch of her suburban home and answer her prayer for God to use her to change the world? Now, don’t get me wrong. I know this water well is nothing more than one grain of sand out of all the sand that covers all the beaches over all the world. But there is a bigger truth God is trying to reveal. My prayer to change the world was an impossible prayer. I didn’t know anyone in Africa, I didn’t know anyone who needed a water well and I had never heard of the book Kisses from Katie. But I did genuinely want to know how to love God. And God answered my sincere prayer with an impossibly good adventure with Him.
No single aspect of this journey was impossible. But the culmination of everyday obedience was impossibly good. How does, why would, God give a book, spur repentance, sow a conviction and then tie them all miraculously together? I never conceived of a water well at Amazima Secondary School or sharing a podium with Katie Davis Majors.
But this is part of casting vision. God’s plans and abilities exceed our ability to envision or understand. But if we are willing to say yes in the ordinary, God will unravel the extraordinary. Because God wants us to know Him in all of His glory. We serve a great God, and nothing is impossible with Him.
And maybe this is the truth God wants to cement into our souls.
Instead of focusing on God size problems we should focus on everyday obedience. God can solve our impossible problems using ordinary obedience.
We don’t have to devise the plan or carry the burden. We just need to offer the yes.
Lesson #17 on a Journey to a Water Well
17. We don’t have to devise the plan or carry the burden we just need to offer the yes.
Want more? Start here.
1. Read John 4:13-14 (NIV). “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
2. What do you believe is the water Jesus is offering us and how does it well up to eternal life?
3. God loves a good metaphor. He used a literal water well to offer me spiritual water. The water He offered was passion, purpose, and satisfaction. But His water is not limited to passion, purpose, or satisfaction. What are some other examples of spiritual water that Jesus offers for our souls?
4. What other forms of water (other than the Living Waters) are you looking to to satisfy the thirst in your soul?
5. Consider, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27). What seems impossible right now in life? How can you give God permission to do the impossible?