About a year ago, I attended a community wide gathering of churches that were meeting to pray for a transforming move of God in West Texas. I appreciate the men who have the vision for such an undertaking and it is always exciting to see the body of Christ come together under the same roof. The worship was stirring and the speakers were dynamic. The heart of the gathering was on target.

Toward the end a special announcement was made about a young woman from one of the leading churches in our area who was in a hospital in another city with a failing heart. She was on a list for a heart transplant but her own heart seemed to be just hours away from collapse. So as the meeting was winding down those who knew her best offered a special prayer. All who prayed cried out to God to provide a heart transplant for this young woman before she died.

It struck me as the prayers were being lifted up that no one was praying for God to heal the heart she had. In essence the prayer required one person, who also had dreams and loved ones, to die so that this young woman who was loved in our city could live. Why not pray for God to make her heart new rather than for a car wreck and a suitable donor? I’m not against heart transplants and I’m not against praying for a heart but it seemed that it never crossed anyone’s mind that God could restore the heart he had given her. With 2000 believers in the room from churches all over the area an amazing opportunity to build faith and launch a significant move of God was handed to us. However, we prayed for her to receive a transplant which any number of people in America received that week without prayer.

I get to hear many prayers offered up by man y sincere believers. The majority of the time it seems that we ask God for the ordinary and receive the ordinary. We ask God to help the doctors do their best work and yet I suspect they will probably do so without the intervention of heaven. We pray for a job and after twelve interviews we get a job. So did a number of other people who never prayed. I’m not against those prayers but what I notice is that we often pray for God to do bring about best outcomes in the natural realm that already have a high probability of occurring if God never acts on our request. Because of that, when its over, by faith we may believe that God answered our prayers but unbelievers wouldn’t be convinced at all. In those moment’s God may get our thanks but he doesn’t get much glory and our faith stays where it was – asking God for the ordinary instead of the impossible.

The model Jesus gave us was to ask God for the impossible – to ask for things that will absolutely not happened unless he shows up. Healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, turning water into wine, feeding 5000 with a box lunch – those are the things Jesus trusted God for and when it was over God was glorified, unbelievers came to faith, the faith of believers multiplied, and the works of the devil were destroyed.

We know that asking for the impossible is the biblical model so why don’t we ask? Some of us have been taught that God doesn’t “do that stuff” anymore but I think most of us don’t ask because we are afraid of disappointment. If we ask and we don’t see God move then what does that say about God, our faith, or our prayers? The truth is that we may not always see God do the impossible when we pray. It’s possible that not everyone will be healed. It’s possible that the miracle check won’t come in the mail. It’s possible that the marriage won’t be saved. Faith has to live with the mystery of why God does not always act when and how we asked. Faith bears the disappointment, takes no offense at God, and then asks for the next impossible thing. We may not see God do the impossible every time we ask but when he does move in that moment, God will be glorified, our faith will multiply, unbelievers will come to faith and the works of the devil will be destroyed.

Faith also says that God did move in response to our prayer. As we sow into prayer there must be a harvest because God has ordained it. We may not perceive what the harvest is our how God moved but we can be assured that something changed in light of our prayer for the impossible.

Sometimes I think God must be offended that we ask so little of him. Our prayers for the ordinary must sometimes seem like us asking a virtuoso pianist to peck out Mary Had a Little Lamb when he is able and willing and wanting to do so much more. I hope as we pray we will begin to ask God to do what is impossible if he doesn’t show up; to ask for more than we can think or imagine; and to draw on the immense power of heaven that is poised to act on behalf of the church. After all, is anything too hard for God? Those who pray for the supernatural moves of God to do the impossible may not see it done every time, but those who don’t pray for the impossible will never see it done.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (Jn.10:10)

For many followers of Jesus this is a familiar passage and yet the two parts are often quoted separately as stand alone passages. We quote one to characterize the devil. Then we quote the other to talk about the great life Jesus wants us to have. But the power is in the contrast between the two and it was the contrast that Jesus wanted to emphasize.

The nature of the enemy is to rob you of every good thing the Lord has purposed for you. His goal is to take away what is rightfully yours, to destroy what he can’t take, and to take your life if he is able. There is no mercy from the kingdom of darkness and there is no good will of any kind. Anything that comes from the enemy that tastes sweet is simply a chocolate covering for the poison pill inside. Anything that comes from the devil that feels like a blessing is simply bait to get you to step further into his trap so that when he springs the trap there is no escape. That’s what he does; that’s who he is. We need to know that because too many of us think we can bargain with him or play on his playground without consequence.

On the other hand we have Jesus. This scripture is in the context of the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep. In the midst of that dialogue he tells us that he came so that we might have life and have it abundantly or have it to the full. The word in the original language means superabundant, excessive, over-the-top, so much more than you need, etc. Notice that the enemy is in it totally for himself, for personal power, and for personal revenge. Jesus is in it totally for you and so totally that he died so that you might inherit everything that was his – so that you might live in super-abundance.

That’s great news but most of us don’t feel as if we are living a superabundant, excessive, over-the-top life. There are at least two reasons for that. First of all we hunger after things that have no value in heaven. They are temporary and inferior to everything in the heavenly realm. If we measure abundance by cars, homes, vacations, possessions, power, etc. then we are measuring abundance by the things thrown out in the streets in heaven. Jesus came that we might have true riches – love, acceptance, peace, purpose, his Spirit, communion with the Father, power and authority from on high given to us to invest so that others might also have an abundant life in Christ.

Abundance comes through a state of heavenly blessing resting on us. That blessedness does not come through out achievements but by the grace of God for those whose hope is in Jesus. Remember the beatitudes – blessed are the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, those who mourn, those who are merciful, those who make peace, etc. In the natural realm those qualities are a formula for poverty not abundance. But in the kingdom of heaven they bring favor, peace and a joy that surpasses anything the world can offer. In that state we also are entrusted with spiritual riches, gifts of the Spirit, communion with the Father, his presence and his protection.

The second reason we don’t experience abundance is that we don’t expect it or have faith for it. We continually fall into the trap of believing that God’s blessings are only for those who deserve them – the super-spiritual get the super-abundance. But that is not the nature of God or the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has purchased the abundant life for every believer not just for the over-achievers. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t strive to live for Jesus in extraordinary ways, but the abundant life is what helps us achieve that lofty goal. God is not holding out, he is simply holding on to the riches of heaven until we desire what he has to offer and know that those things, like salvation, come by grace.

If we think money, homes, cars, dream vacations, fame and influence are the abundant life then why do those who have such things line up for rehab centers, live on anti-depressants, and go through marriages like teenagers through pizza? Satan sells snake oil. He promises that all the things above will satisfy your soul once you get them by any means necessary. But that million-dollar feeling that comes from what is temporary by nature is itself temporary and in the morning the pursuit begins all over again.

Jesus offers his abundance for free and his abundance doesn’t leave you thirsty or hungry in the morning. Isn’t what he offers worth pursuing? We begin by giving up our pursuit of worldly things.   Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be given to you. We begin by rethinking what we really want. What every man really wants is love, significance, peace and purpose. We think the things of the world will eventually get us what we truly want and so we pursue while Jesus asks us to simply sit with him and he will give us those things freely. That is the abundant life.

“Don’t be afraid!” How many times was that phrase spoken to believers throughout the Bible? Is it just an absence of faith that God is rebuking or is there something more sinister about fear than just not fully trusting in God? I have often thought that people who tried to minister deliverance with some fear about failure or about the demon were setting themselves up for something more than disappointment. We have always heard the expression that wild animals or big snarling dogs can sense your fear and be emboldened to attack. I believe it is the same in the spiritual realm. I like the way Bill Johnson explains the ramifications of fear.

Fear is faith in the devil…The devil is called Beelzebub, which means lord of the flies. He and his hosts are attracted to decay….Issues such as bitterness, jealousy, and hatred qualify as the decay of the heart that invites the devil to come and give influence – yes, even to Christians. Remember Paul’s admonition to the church of Ephesus, “Neither give place to the devil.” Fear is also the decay of the heart. It attracts the demonic in the same way as bitterness and hatred. (Bill Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, p.50).

Fear in the spiritual atmosphere is like drops of blood in the ocean. Some predator will pick up it’s sent and seek its source. So when we are encouraged not to be afraid it is not just the absence of trust in God but it is a substance in the spiritual realm that emboldens the enemy to come against you. Our fear comes either from the uncertainty that God is actually greater than Satan or it comes from the uncertainty that God will protect us from the enemy. Scripture is full of promises that God is, in fact, much greater than the devil and that he will come to our aid if we are under attack. To not believe God’s word is to come into agreement with the enemy and that agreement gives him a place in our life.

Someone might say, “Well, doesn’t wisdom teach us to be afraid of grizzly bears because they are much bigger and stronger than us and in the same way shouldn’t we have a healthy fear of demons because the spiritual realm is greater than the natural realm?” The answer is that we should be wise but not afraid and I can be within three feet of a grizzly bear without fear. I can be totally fearless if strong walls protect me or if I am positioned inside an M1 Abrams Tank which is currently the army’s largest battle tank. It is highly armored, weighs 64 tons, and has great speed not to mention tremendous firepower. Surrounded by that kind of power and protection a grizzly bear, even though he is only three feet away, is no threat. In that moment, however, I could be a great threat to the bear.

Scripture says that we are in Christ and, therefore, are surrounded by Christ. We are told that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him. If we fear the enemy is it because we are unaware or unconvinced of our position. Should we be cautious not to make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy? Of course, we are not to be presumptuous. We are only vulnerable to the enemy, however, if we have failed to wear our armor or if we have opened a hatch and invited the enemy inside with us. We can correct those mistakes and lay fear aside if it has crept in with the enemy.

We are told to fix our eyes on Jesus and often we should meditate on Jesus not just as the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for the sheep but rather as the Commander of the Armies of Heaven riding out on a white horse with his garments dripping with the blood of his enemies – which are also your enemies. Jesus is not always the meek and gentle King he is also the fierce King who will destroy his enemies with the sword of his mouth and crush the devil under his feet. Don’t be afraid. There is no need and it attracts flies.