Impossible Obedience

I've been reading two very different books in the last two weeks... here are some thoughts they are provoking:

      Ask for the impossible. This is coming from reading Kisses from Katie. I see in the stories that Katie Davis tells, a stubborn insistence to take God at His word. He says we are to care for the poor and the widows and orphans. And so Katie repeatedly sets out to do the impossible because she believes that if God commands something, He will supply what is necessary to do it. And so, as a single woman, she rents a four bedroom house in Uganda because she believes God will use the space for something she knows nothing about. And she ends up adopting fourteen children and the house becomes full. And she accepts more children into her sponsorship program than she has sponsors to pay for, and she trusts that the money will come because God brought her the children. She puts herself in danger from sickness because she remembers Jesus touched even the lepers and she wants to love like he did and so she allows kids with scabies to live in her home and possibly infect her whole house. But they don’t. This girl’s faith can move mountains. Because she believes that God can do anything… and so she asks for everything.

      Be obedient. In the final chapter of Authorityto Heal, Ken Blue talks about the connection between obedience and authority. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost God’s authority to rule. When Jesus remained obedient, even unto death, He was given all authority in heaven and earth. And then he commanded us to go and do what He had done, under his authority. But when we are disobedient, we lost his authority and we become impotent. And so then, life becomes a question of obedience. I see Katie’s life of obedience and God’s movement in her actions. God tells us to care for the least of these, the widows and the orphans. As Katie obeys, I see His authority breaking out of her life and transforming the world around her, one life at a time. And I read Ken Blue’s stories of healing. God told us to ask for healing… and so he asks. And as he asks, God’s healing breaks out, restoring broken lives. "We have faith in what Jesus did 2000 years ago, but we are often crippled with doubt when asked to believe what he might do today." Ken Blue

      And so I am asking myself… what have I written off as impossible? What have I decided it’s not worth asking because it’s not within the realm of reality? And whose reality have I allowed to determine the boundaries of my life? I have a few friends who are sick... am I asking the impossible, believing that nothing is impossible for God? Or am I allowing common sense and modern medicine to tell me what is reasonable to pray for? And am I being obedient to what I’ve been called to? Where am I avoiding following through? Where am I using reasonable limitations to squelch the kingdom? Where have I allowed the boundaries of politely agreed upon reality to stifle my obedience to Christ?