Refresh: 21 Days of Prayer & FastingSample

Luke 18:27 (NIV) “Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

There's a wonderful story found in Genesis 18:1–15. It's where God promises Abraham a son through his wife Sarah. However, when Sarah first heard that God said she’d have a child, she laughed. Why did she laugh? Because she was one hundred percent sure that what God had said was unscientific, unreasonable, impossible, and flat-out ridiculous.

It was way too hard for her to even imagine that what God said could be true for her. She had come to the point in her life that she absolutely believed she would die childless — without the dream of her heart ever coming to fruition.

Obviously, there were many logical and biological reasons why she couldn't bear children. She was way too old, and so was her husband. Her body couldn’t even function in a way that she could physically bear children. Also, there was the fact that she had never heard of anyone near her age giving birth. So, she laughed on the outside.

Many of us have dreams like Sarah, but we've also created our own "mental list" of objections to God’s promises. We all have our own overwhelming evidence that what God said will happen can't happen!

These things that want to stand in our way are called “obstacle illusions” — obstacles we’ve created as objections in our mind that stand in the way of the Father’s direction. Sarah didn't laugh because she didn't want a child. In fact, she greatly wanted a child — she just couldn't see a path to the promise.

Yet, God’s word did come true; she did have a baby and in Hebrews 11:11 it tells us how the seemingly impossible became possible. “It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed that God would keep his promise.”

Reflection: Look at the grace of God; when her story ends up in the new covenant, there’s no mention of her doubt or laughing at what God said. It’s the same for us; we’re under the new covenant where God never mentions our failures. He only and always reminds us of His plan, protection and promised provision.