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                          Our God Can Fix Anything

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By David Wilkerson
February 14, 2000
__________

          You probably remember the story from Genesis in which
          God appeared to Abraham. The patriarch was sitting in
          the door of his tent during the heat of the day, when
          suddenly three men appeared before him, standing under
          a tree. Abraham went out to meet the men, prepared a
          meal for them and visited with them.

          During their conversation, the Lord asked Abraham where
          his wife, Sarah, was. Then God said something
          incredible: "...lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son"
          (Genesis 18:10).

          At the time, Sarah was inside the tent, listening to
          their conversation. And when she heard this, she
          laughed at the idea. Impossible, she thought. She was
          way beyond the age of childbearing, and Abraham was too
          old to sire a child.

          Yet when God heard Sarah's laughter, he said,
          "...Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a
          surety bear a child, which am old? Is anything too hard
          for the Lord?" (verses 13-14).

          I'm writing this message today because God asks the
          same question of his children in these present times:
          Is anything too hard for the Lord? Each of us has to
          face our own difficult situations in life. And in the
          midst of them God asks, "Do you think your problem is
          too hard for me to fix? Or do you believe I can work it
          out for you, even though you think it's impossible?"

          Jesus tells us, "...The things which are impossible
          with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27). Do you
          believe this word from the Lord? Do you accept that he
          can perform the impossible in your marriage, in your
          family, on your job, for your future?

          We're quick to counsel others that he can. When we see
          our loved ones enduring difficult times, we tell them,
          "Hold on, and look up. The Lord is able. Don't stop
          trusting him. He's the God of the impossible."

          Yet, I wonder - do we believe these truths for
          ourselves? Sarah, who doubted the Lord, probably would
          have offered this very counsel to her friends. Imagine
          she heard about a godly couple in a similar situation -
          faithful people who wanted a baby but were too old to
          bear one. The couple believed God had promised them a
          child, but now they were growing older. And little by
          little, they were losing confidence in their dream.

          If you asked Sarah what she would say to them, she
          probably would answer, "Tell them to hold on. They
          can't give up hope for their dream. They serve a God
          who does the impossible. He will fix it for them."

          Yet Sarah had a hard time believing this for herself.
          Any many Christians do likewise today. We boldly
          proclaim God's power to others, but we don't believe
          his word for ourselves.

                      -------------------------------

                        We Do Not Really Believe in
                          God Unless We Believe He
                         Is God of the Impossible.

                      -------------------------------

          It is not enough for us simply to believe in God as
          creator, the maker of all things. We also have to
          believe he's a God who yearns to do the impossible in
          our lives. The Bible makes it very clear: If we don't
          believe this about him, we don't trust him at all.

          In my opinion, no amount of counseling will do a person
          any good if he doubts God for a miracle. Don't
          misunderstand - I am not against Christian counseling.
          But it is useless to counsel someone who isn't fully
          convinced God can fix his problem, no matter what the
          problem may be.

          As a pastor who counsels, I know I can't offer anything
          to a married couple who doesn't believe God can save
          their relationship. Things may appear absolutely
          hopeless to them; they may have built up years of
          resentment and bitterness. But they have to be
          convinced God can do the impossible.

          I tell such couples right away, "Yes, I'll counsel you.
          But first I have to ask - do you truly believe God can
          fix your marriage? Do you have faith that no matter how
          impossible things look to you, he has the power to
          restore your relationship?"

          Some answer, "But you don't know what I've been through
          with my spouse. I've been wounded deeply. My hurt is
          beyond what you could ever imagine." This kind of
          response tells me they have bought the devil's lie. He
          has convinced them their situation is hopeless. Yet
          Jesus has spoken clearly to every one of his children:
          "...The things which are impossible with men are
          possible with God" (Luke 18:27).

          All over this nation, Christians are giving up on their
          marriages. Even some of my minister friends are
          divorcing. When I talk with them about their situation,
          I realize they don't think their marriage can be
          healed. They simply don't trust God to do the
          impossible for them.

          Yet any Christian couple who throws up their hands and
          quits the battle doesn't truly want their marriage to
          be restored. In fact, many spouses who come to see me
          for counseling have already made up their minds to
          leave the relationship. The only reason they're there
          is to get my approval on the direction they've
          predetermined.

          Beloved, no counselor in the world can help you unless
          you absolutely believe God's word on this matter:
          Nothing in your life is beyond his ability to fix.
          Otherwise, your Christianity is in vain - because you
          believe in God only up to a point. You don't truly
          believe him to be God of the impossible.

          A pastor's wife wrote to us recently about her
          husband's habitual lying. This man's lies are so
          blatant, he has been caught in them time after time.
          And even though people in his church have confronted
          him about his problem, he remains in denial about it.

          His wife wrote, "I'm ashamed of my husband. And our
          children don't trust him. He preaches a powerful
          message, but he can't tell the truth, because he
          doesn't have the truth in him." She closed her letter
          with these words: "I am thinking of leaving him."

          I sympathize with this dear woman. Yet I know she isn't
          convinced God can do the impossible for her. She has
          believed God only up to a point - and then decided to
          run. But divorce is never an option for a Christian,
          unless your spouse abuses you physically. In that case,
          you should definitely leave. In all other cases,
          however, the Lord says very clearly: "I'm your God -
          and I can fix it."

          Here is what I wish this woman would have written: "I
          realize my children have become heirs of my husband's
          dysfunction. And I know he's probably going to lose his
          pulpit because of his continual sin. But I know I serve
          a God who is able to fix any problem. And I believe he
          can save our marriage, restore our family and build up
          our church again. So, I'm going to hold onto my
          husband, no matter what it costs me. I'm going to
          believe what God says is true - that nothing is
          impossible with him."

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                        The Gospel of Mark Describes
                       A Ghastly Situation - One That
                         Seemed Impossible to Fix.

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          In Mark 9, a distraught father brought his
          demon-possessed son to Jesus' disciples seeking
          deliverance. This boy wasn't simply troubled or
          rebellious. He was full of evil spirits, and they
          controlled his every action. His situation was
          well-known all over the region, so that when parents
          saw him approaching, they probably rushed their
          children indoors.

          This poor boy was considered absolutely hopeless. He
          was both deaf and speechless, so he spewed out only
          guttural sounds. He foamed at the mouth like a mad dog,
          and physically he was skin and bone, emaciated by his
          awful struggle. His father had to hold onto him
          continually, because the demons constantly tried to
          cast him into the nearest river, lake or open fire,
          wanting to kill him.

          I wonder how many times this father had to leap into a
          pond and drag out his son to resuscitate him. It had to
          be a full-time job just keeping his child from killing
          himself. Imagine the number of scars and burn marks on
          that boy's torn body. It must have broken his father's
          heart daily to see his son in that condition, with no
          one able to help.

          Now, as the father stood before the disciples, Satan
          began manifesting in the boy. He started foaming at the
          mouth and rolling on the ground, contorting and
          gyrating wildly. Scripture tells us the disciples
          prayed over him - perhaps for a long time - but nothing
          happened.

          It must have seemed like an impossible situation. Soon
          the doubting scribes crowded around, asking, "Why is
          the boy not healed? Is this case too hard for your
          Lord? Is the devil more powerful in this kind of
          situation?"

          But then Jesus came on the scene. When he asked what
          was going on, the father answered, "I brought my son to
          your disciples, but they couldn't heal him. He's a
          hopeless case." Jesus responded simply, "...If thou
          canst believe, all things are possible to him that
          believeth" (Mark 9:23). Christ was telling everyone
          present, "Do you believe I can handle all situations
          except those under the devil's control? I tell you,
          there is no problem, no impossible circumstance, I
          cannot fix."

          Then, with just one word, Jesus made the impossible a
          reality: "...he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto
          him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out
          of him, and enter no more into him" (verse 25). At that
          point, the boy fell to the ground as if dead. But,
          Scripture says, "Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted
          him up; and he arose" (verse 27).

          Can you imagine the joy in this scene? That clean,
          freed boy must have run to his father and embraced him.
          And the father's heart leapt with joy. God had fixed it
          all.

          So, why did the Holy Spirit move Mark to include this
          story in his gospel? I believe it was so every parent
          from that moment forward would know God can be trusted
          to do the impossible with their children. The Lord was
          saying, "I can restore anything and anyone. If you'll
          just believe, all things will be possible to you
          through me."

          All over the world today, multitudes of Christian
          parents agonize because their children are under the
          devil's power. In our own congregation, I see the pain
          of mothers who ride buses upstate to visit their sons
          in prison. They know the pain of sitting on one side of
          the thick-glass window, gazing at a boy who once was
          tender in spirit. Somehow he got hooked on drugs and
          then attempted a robbery to support his habit. And now
          he's in prison, becoming even more hardened. She has
          prayed for him for years, but now she's losing hope.
          She doesn't think she'll ever see him change.

          I also see heartbroken fathers who never dreamed their
          daughters would turn to drugs. They saw their little
          girl fall in with the wrong crowd at school and get
          hooked. Soon she was so rebellious, her dad had to ask
          her to leave the house because of her influence on her
          siblings. So now she's on the streets, selling her body
          to support her habit. And her father lies in bed at
          night crying a river of tears. He's convinced he has
          lost her forever.

          I know one father who drove to the slums to try to find
          his drug-addict son. He had to ask around until finally
          a pusher told him the boy was in a crack den. When the
          man walked into the place, he saw a mere shell of the
          son he'd known. The boy's body was skeletal from drug
          use. When the father pleaded with him to come home, the
          young man wouldn't even look at him. He just said, "Get
          out. This is my life now."

          That broken father walked out onto the street in tears.
          He had lost all hope, agonizing, "That's my son in
          there. He's dying, and he won't let me help him."

          The devil has told these parents their children are
          hopeless, that their problems can never be fixed. He
          has convinced them of a powerful lie - that God is
          unable to help them.

          Maybe you think your unsaved husband is hopeless, that
          he'll never come to Jesus. Or, perhaps you've given up
          hope for your wife, who leaves you at night to go out
          partying. But no person is ever too far gone for God to
          fix. I know many Christian spouses who testify today,
          "I prayed for my spouse for years. Then one day, after
          I'd given up hope, God broke through. He saved and
          delivered my loved one."

          We must never give up on anyone - because nothing is
          impossible with our God.

                      -------------------------------

                           God Can Bring Back to
                           Life Anything You Have
                             Given Up as Dead.

                      -------------------------------

          Mark 5 tells the story of Jairus, the desperate
          synagogue ruler who asked Jesus to heal his daughter.
          The twelve-year-old girl was dangerously near death,
          and Jairus pleaded with Christ to come to his house and
          lay hands on her.

          Jesus agreed to go with him. But first he stopped along
          the way to minister to a woman with a blood disease.
          (This was the woman who was healed when she touched the
          hem of his garment.) Yet while Jesus tarried, a
          messenger came with tragic news: Jairus' daughter had
          already died. He told the synagogue ruler, "Thy
          daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any
          further?" (Mark 5:35).

          Jairus' heart was gripped with grief. He thought, "If
          only we had gotten there on time. Now it's too late. My
          daughter is gone." But Jesus assured him, "Be not
          afraid, only believe" (verse 36).

          As they approached Jairus' home, they heard sounds of
          wailing and mourning. It was Jairus' family and
          neighbors, grieving over the girl. Picture the contrast
          in this scene: Here was God in flesh, creator of the
          universe, able to perform any work imaginable - yet
          they were weeping in his presence. In short, they were
          testifying, "God can only help as long as there is some
          sign of hope left. But once all life is gone, there is
          no need to call on him anymore. Even he couldn't
          restore that kind of situation."

          How many Christians today no longer call upon the Lord
          because they think their problem is hopeless?
          Multitudes trust God only to the point that something
          in their life dies. I'm not referring to the death of a
          person; I'm talking about the death of a marriage, a
          relationship, a dream, your hope for an unsaved loved
          one - anything in your life you think is impossible to
          fix, change or restore.

          Jesus rebuked such unbelief. He said to the weeping
          crowd at Jairus' home, "Why make this ado, and weep?
          The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth" (verse 39). He
          was stating, "This situation is not what you see or
          think. You think all hope is gone. But I say there will
          be restoration." He then went to the little girl's room
          - and, speaking a mere word, he brought the child to
          life. "...straightway the damsel arose, and walked..."
          (verse 42).

          Why did the Holy Ghost include this story in Mark's
          gospel? He did it to show us that nothing is too
          "dead," or too far gone, for him to restore to life.
          He's saying, "Put your trust in me to fix your problem.
          It's never too late for me to work."

          Indeed, when we say God can't fix something, we call
          him a liar. John writes, "...he that believeth not God
          hath made him a liar" (1 John 5:10). Are you like
          Jairus' family and friends, who sat around wringing
          their hands and talking about how hopeless things were?
          If you grieve and worry without ever testifying, "My
          God can do the impossible," you're telling the world
          God is a liar.

                      -------------------------------

                          All It Takes Is One Word
                         From Jesus, and That Which
                         Was Dead Springs to Life.

                      -------------------------------

          God can restore whatever has seemed dead in our lives
          with just a single word. Are you having financial
          problems, unable to pay your bills? So it was with the
          Lord's disciples - and he fixed their situation
          supernaturally.

          When tax time came around, Christ and his disciples had
          no money to pay the needed amount. So how did the Lord
          fix the situation? He sent Peter out to catch a fish.
          Jesus told him he would find a coin in the mouth of the
          first fish he caught, and that coin would cover their
          tax bill.

          I can only imagine what Peter must have thought: "Tax
          money in a fish's mouth? This I've got to see. I've
          been a fisherman all my life, and I've seen a lot of
          things inside fish - worms, hooks, seaweed. But I've
          never seen a coin inside one." Yet, when Peter reeled
          in the first flopping fish, he opened its mouth to find
          a gleaming coin. The amount was enough to pay their
          taxes, just as Jesus had said.

          Why did the Spirit move upon the gospel writers to
          record this story? And why did Jesus choose to fix
          their situation through a miracle? Why didn't he just
          take up an offering, or send the disciples out to work
          for a day to bring in wages for the tax?

          I believe Jesus moved supernaturally here because he
          wanted to prove to his children he'll do the impossible
          for us. He can fix any financial problem, any family
          crisis, any overwhelming need.

          He wanted us to know he is the same God who fed Elijah
          with bread delivered by a raven.who kept a widow's
          barrel of meal from dwindling during a drought...who
          saved that widow from her creditors by filling huge
          pots of cooking oil from a little pint jar of oil...who
          fed a crowd of 5,000 - and later another crowd of 4,000
          - with a few fishes and loaves of bread. He knows that
          at certain times in our lives only a miracle will do.
          And he wants to assure us he can do the impossible for
          us, in any situation.

          Of course, we can presume upon God's promise to provide
          miracles for us. I did that years ago, as a young
          pastor in my twenties. I thought I had a good idea for
          ministry - but I didn't consult the Lord before moving
          ahead on it. As a result, I incurred a debt of $5,000
          with no way to pay it back. (In today's economy, that
          amount would equal close to $25,000.)

          In desperation, I started claiming all the Bible
          passages that say, "God shall supply all your needs."
          Then one day, while in prayer, I heard a beautiful
          voice tell me, "David, go down to Chester Street
          tomorrow at noon and walk on the left side of the
          street. A man will come toward you with an envelope
          containing $5,000. This man is my angel, and he's going
          to place that envelope in your hand."

          I thought, "Thank you, Lord - you truly are faithful."
          And the next day at noon, I walked down to Chester
          Street and waited for the man to appear. Now, this was
          a town of 1,200 people, and no one ever walked the
          streets during the day, because everybody was at work.
          So, for a long time, I didn't see a single soul in
          sight. I paced up and down for almost an hour,
          wondering, "Lord, where is he?" Eventually, a man did
          come by - but I knew he wasn't an angel, because he was
          puffing away on a cigarette.

          Finally, I went home in despair. I prayed, "Lord, how
          could I have been so deceived? What am I going to do
          now? Please, father - forgive me for not trusting you.
          I put this whole matter into your hands."

          A few days later, a man in our church called me. He
          said, "I heard about your need, and I know someone who
          might be able to help. He's a Christian banker who
          lives in another town. Why don't you give him a call?"

          I contacted the banker, and he did something for me
          that was unheard of in those days: He gave me an
          unsecured loan for $5,000. He told me, "You can pay it
          back with $50 a month."

          God fixed my situation. And through it all he taught me
          this lesson: "David, I could have sent an angel to give
          you that money. But I wanted you to learn something,
          because I love you. If I hadn't taught you this, you'd
          still be making foolish decisions - and you'd be
          $100,000 in debt."

          I learned that even though I am to trust the Lord to do
          the impossible, I can't expect an angel to suddenly
          show up and deliver me from my irresponsible choices.

                      -------------------------------

                        Here Is God's Greatest Work:
                          He Can Fix Not Only Your
                        Difficult Situation But Your
                               Sin Problem.

                      -------------------------------

          Recently, our ministry received a heartbreaking letter
          from a prisoner. He wrote:

          "Pastor Dave, I'm a sexual pervert, and I'm in prison
          because of my addiction. I know I wasn't born this way,
          but it's what I've become. I have been married three
          times and I have four children.

          "The truth is, I like anything when it comes to
          perversion. If you can think of it, I've probably tried
          it. I want to stop, yet I don't. I quit smoking cold
          turkey - that was no problem. I've even been able to
          stay away from pornography a little at a time. I truly
          believe in the healing power of God. I've pleaded,
          cried and begged him for help. But I just can't seem to
          find the door to escape from my perversion problem.

          "My desire to do the Lord's will is ever with me, yet I
          constantly push that desire aside and fall back into my
          lust. I've lied to God, promising never to do it again,
          but I always go back to it.

          "I hurt because I know I've made the Lord sick. When I
          go to chapel, I feel two-faced. There are men here who
          respect me because I've given them good advice, but I
          haven't kept it myself. I play the piano and sing in
          chapel, but I don't feel right because I'm not right.

          "I'd rather die and go to hell than ever bother another
          innocent person again. But I don't want to go to hell.
          I want to serve God, and I want his love. I'm trapped
          because I hate what I do, yet somehow I love it. I
          don't know what to do."

          I say to this young man: Don't give up hope. God can
          fix your perverted mind. He wants to bring healing to
          you.

          At one time I gave up on homosexuals being able to
          change, because I saw so little of God's healing with
          them. Our ministry once had a home for homosexuals, but
          it ended in disaster. All our drug and alcohol programs
          worked, but I saw very few victories with homosexuals.

          Then the Lord began to send me testimonies of
          homosexuals who had been delivered from their bondage.
          I also received reports of other people who had been
          freed from the worst sexual perversions on earth.
          Today, I say to every person in deep, heartfelt love -
          if you want freedom, God is able to provide it, no
          matter what your struggle. He can break your habit and
          set you free.

          Yet, you have to believe that nothing in your life is
          impossible with God. There is no clutch of the devil he
          can't break.

          So, dear saint, get hold of faith - believe God to
          absolutely change and transform your life. If he
          provided for the destitute widow, for the
          demon-possessed boy, and for Jairus' daughter, he can
          provide for you. Our God can fix anything.

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

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