I want to talk to somebody this morning who is facing what seems to be impossible odds, either in your life or in the life of somebody you know.

It’s a no-win situation and we all run up against that at one time or another in our lives — that which seems to be impossible. Our faith is severely tested in such a time.

Most of us have an everyday kind of faith, the kind that does well as long as every day is average. For ordinary issues we have a strong type of faith, the kind that is never really tested; the kind that doesn’t ever get exercised. That’s what I call a “comfort zone” faith. But, every now and then, we encounter what seem to be insurmountable situations, the kind that cause us to go beyond the norm. If we don’t really trust in the Lord, this is not a good place to be.

The impossible is something that there is seemingly no hope for; it is something that we think nothing can be done about it; it is something that it seems we can never overcome — something or somebody who will never change. Folks will say that it can’t be done — there is no hope. That it doesn’t make sense. That it can’t happen.

Do we know what we are saying when we say impossible? It has caused men to back down, to become wimps; it has led women to become weaklings and has frozen many a saint in their tracks. The devil said to you “this is impossible” — we all have heard him whisper that in our ears;. Those who are battling cancer or another terminal disease have had to battle this.

Church and community, the word impossible has cause many Christians to back up! And those that did not back up are standing still frozen in time; that word has caused many of us to get stressed out or made sick, and some to give up; when somebody say this to us in any situation, it can cause frustration to build up in you.

You can’t move forward if you think like this, and if we can’t move forward we can’t claim anything. We are people of faith, which means we walk not by what we see, but by what we believe. When it comes to God we have to see the word impossible in a different light. This word cannot define us and we can’t let it cripple us either, because once we let the word impossible define who we are then we will never achieve our full potential in the Lord and it sets limits as to how far we can go. The devil will tell you that certain things are impossible because if you notice, anytime you hear somebody say “it is impossible for me to do a certain thing,” they end up not doing it — not because they can’t, but because they spoke it and they believe it.

When the children of Israel finally arrived to the promised land, if you remember, Moses sent out spies to check out the land (Numbers 13:17a). Now, mind you, God had already promised it to them and according to Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man that He should lie”… so, based on His promise, they should not have had to even check it out! No, God had promised it so based on what God had said they should have just came to the border of the land, said a prayer and went on in and took it by faith.

Sometimes, church and community, God is going to put you in what seem like an impossible situation to test your faith — but it’s to make you and not break you; to make you better and not bitter. If God brought you to it, He will see you through it.

The Rev. George T. Ellis is pastor of Union Grove Baptist Church. Reach him at georgeellis1956@yahoo.com.