The Impossible Demands of Faith

In Mark 3:1-5, Jesus encounters a man with a withered hand. Throughout the scriptures the hand speaks of man’s ability to work and specifically to work the works of God. Jesus laid His hands on many and healed them. This is why the Lord instructs us to use our hands to lay on the sick and pray the prayer of faith for healing. We are instructed to pray that His Kingdom would come and His Will be done in earth as it is in Heaven. The supernatural employs the natural to release the miraculous in this world. God chooses to miraculously move through man’s hands as it were. In essence, God demands the impossible of you and me and it can only be accomplished by faith.

In Mark 3 Jesus, the personification of Faith, places an impossible demand on the afflicted man. His hand was withered and had never opened before. Jesus commanded the man to do something that was impossible for him, to stretch out his hand. That sounds so simple doesn’t it? For the vast majority of humanity it can be done without thinking, but this man could never do it in his own strength. For him, this was an impossible demand.

It is similar to the man born blind that we find in John 9. Jesus took this blind man, spit on the ground, made clay, rubbed it on his eyes and then commanded him to go, find the Pool of Siloam and then wash his eyes. He was blind to begin with and Jesus covered his eyes even further with mud to seemingly complicate the matter. Faith then made an Impossible Demand – “ I am sending you to find the Pool of Siloam, go and wash your eyes”. Jesus uses the natural to usher in the supernatural revealing the will and power of Father God.

These two stories reveal God’s plan for our lives. He has called us to do the impossible and bring forth a supernatural Kingdom which can only be seen with heavenly vision. How do we accomplish this? We accomplish it by simply obeying the impossible demands of faith. Stretch forth your hand, give Him your inability and yield to Him that which is lacking the most! Allow Him to touch you and cover your eyes and depend on His Word to your heart to step out in a realm which cannot be seen, only to experience a miracle of heavenly vision!

Give to Him what you cannot do. Stretch beyond your ability and Walk in a light you cannot see. These Impossible Demands of Faith, if obeyed, will produce the release of Heaven on earth! He has designed His Kingdom to operate this way. He illustrated it for you and me throughout the New Testament. Ordinary men became Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers of a Kingdom that was not of this earth. They employed the glorious gift of faith to bridge a chasm that was impossible to bridge and they accomplished it by responding to the impossible demands of faith. So we have come to the place where the question begs to be voiced –

“ What has God called YOU to do? ”

Perhaps the answer can be found in a hidden place, right in front of your eyes. In what area of your life are you lacking the most? What failures have you endured in your life? What weakness has plagued you daily? What is the most striking inability you possess? Stretch this out to Him, allow Him to accent the obvious. Allow Him to point out your weaknesses and expect that area of your life to glorify God the most. Give Him what you cannot do, yield over to Him the blindness of your heart and the inabilities to work His Works in the common place of every day life! Yield, Surrender and Obey. Respond to The Impossible Demands of Faith and you will discover that He will come through where you cannot. Yes, it is true, you cannot accomplish what He can – but it is equally true that He will not do it without YOU.

There is an old, old song whose words echo in my heart. “Faith the mighty promise sees and looks to God alone; Laughs at impossibilities and Shouts – “ It Shall, It Shall Be Done!” Dear saint, we are called to do the impossible and see the invisible simply by hearing that which cannot be heard by natural hearing alone. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God – the Rhema of God … God breathed, God spoken words will demand us to stretch beyond our natural limitations and discover that we are designed to become the people that manifest The Kingdom Of God on earth!