Impossible Things
In Through the Looking-Glass, Alice in Wonderland told the White Queen “One can’t believe impossible things.” The Queen told Alice, “I daresay you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Through the Looking-Glass is fiction, but the White Queen had a point. Believing impossible things takes practice. The more miracles you see, the easier it is to believe God will give you a miracle the next time.
Here’s what Jesus told us to do:
“Have faith in God. I assure you: If anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for — believe that you have received them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing. Mark 11:22-25 (HCSB)
The more often we see impossible things happen, the stronger our faith becomes. I came to faith in Jesus because I saw the impossible happen--and I saw it happen not just in Kathryn Kuhlman’s services in Pittsburgh in the seventies, but I also saw it happen when what used to be called Jesus People prayed for my mother’s friends and neighbors. Once you’re convinced that miracles happen today, it’s a lot easier to believe your miracle will happen.
One last thing: when you’re praying for a miracle, it’s important to forgive everyone for everything they’ve ever done to hurt you. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15 WEB) Over the years, I’ve seen a number of people instantly healed right after they forgave someone who had hurt them badly.
Think about this:
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven. Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
“But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
“So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due. So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.” (Matthew 18:21-35 WEB)
Margot Armer
