“Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26 (NIV)
All my Christian life, I’ve heard a small voice whispering within my spirit, telling me to ask for bigger things from God. That whisper was not a verbal message but something I felt within. It all began during my early twenties, when a gifted and prayerful senior lady in my church came up to me one day and said, “The Lord told me to tell you to ask big of Him.”
At first I thought it was a strange thing to say, but that lady had a lot of wisdom as well as an amazing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, not to mention that her message was compatible with scripture. I thought to myself, maybe I have a tendency to limit my faith in what God can do.
Time passes, life gets busy and I often forget about that day, but the Lord reminds me by something said through a friend, a book, radio or TV show. God wants all of us to keep asking big of Him.
In all the gospel stories, Jesus reacted so positively to any person who came to Him, asking for the miraculous.
The woman who once crawled through a crowd to touch Jesus’ garment wasn’t discouraged by all the years that she suffered with her ailment. She believed that this was her moment to ask big of God, and she was healed after one touch, and Jesus loved it.
The gentile woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter, never let her gentile status inhibit her from asking the Jewish Messiah to heal her sick daughter. Then He tested her faith by telling her that she wasn’t one of His people, but she never backed down, and persisted in asking for her miracle, and her daughter was healed. Jesus loved her persistence.
The Roman Centurion told Jesus that if He would only say the word, his servant would be healed. He didn’t ask Jesus to come and lay His hands on the dying man, but only to “say the word.” He asked for a big miracle, his servant was healed, and Jesus loved his faith.
In all His parables and stories about prayer to God, Jesus encourages persistence in asking, even when dealing with unjust people or corrupt judges. According to Him, knocking, seeking and asking, wins in the end, because asking big of God, is what Jesus loves.
In Jesus’ own words, all things are possible with God. That means it’s possible to change the composition of our body cells, to make tumors disappear, to restore a heart rhythm, to rejuvenate weak and atrophied muscles, and to heal a brain and other mental disorders.
Jesus is in the business of doing the impossible, and He is not only able, but willing, based on His words to the blind men, saying, “I am willing, be healed.”(Luke 5:13) He is the same today as He was yesterday so we can dream bigger, and trust Him for the impossible.
It’s time to visualize the biggest request we could ever ask or pray for, no matter how long we have waited for it. It pleases Jesus when we ask for the big things. We can never ask anything too big, since faith in Him makes Him happy.
“Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Lord, we touch the edge of your garment today, asking you to only say the word, and we thank you for the grace of faith to believe in a bigger way than we ever have before. Amen
