Everything Is Possible for You (Chapter 4) (First Saturday in Lent)

PAUSE
As I enter prayer now, I pause to be still; to breathe slowly to recenter my scattered senses upon the presence of God.

(pause)
I pray Psalm 62: 11-12, repeating the words slowly, several times:
“One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: ‘Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.”‘

REFLECT
Bible: Today, we continue to explore Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane, recorded in Mark 14: 35-36: Going a little farther, [Jesus] fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you.”

Book passage: In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus recognizes God’s unfailing love but also His power. He addressed His prayers tenderly to “Abba, Father” but also reverently to the One for who “everything is possible.” There’s an old Hebrew saying: “God is not a kindly old uncle; He is an earthquake.” This is great news for those of us struggling with unanswered prayer, because a kindly old uncle can merely smile at things that an earthquake can actually shift. Without an omnipotent, omniscient God, there is neither hope for a miracle, nor meaning in our suffering.

ASK
Ask myself: Am I tempted to downgrade my expectations of God’s power in order to protect myself from disappointment? What attitudes and practices might help me to get the balance right between mountain-moving faith and patient trust?

Ask the Lord: Abba, Father, help me to be a bit more like Abraham who “faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God” (Rom. 4: 19-20). Give me greater faith in Your sovereign power.

YIELD
A prayer of limitless trust from the song “Oceans”:

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.

Amen