Awakening Our Souls to God

A lot of us look at God’s Word, then we look at our lives and say, “God, you have some really great sounding promises in the Bible, but when I look around, all I see are impossibilities. I don’t see where my life is matching up with your promises.” 

I want to tell you, if you want God to awaken your soul, give him your impossible circumstances. We see this in the Bible. “And [God] brought [Abram] outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:5-6, ESV).  

Now, there have been times over the length of my ministry where I have seen people supernaturally touched and healed. I want to follow that, though, by saying that God does not always work precisely in the way that we ask him to; sometimes the supernatural manifestation of God’s presence or power doesn’t come in the way that we planned for it.  

Too often, we take our impossibilities to God, and then we tell him how he’s supposed to deal with it. 

You have to take what is most precious to you and give it to God, totally hand it over. You can only truly do this if you trust that he is a God who can not only do the impossible but also who loves what you care about even more than you do. We tell people, “Hey, if you want to serve God, you’ve got to let go of things.” Most people don’t let go, though. Most people hold on and try to handle their impossible situations themselves and control their future. Most people take what’s most precious to them and cling to it.  

When you cling to what’s precious to you, you hold up the blessings and power of God in your life.  

If you want your soul to awaken to God, you have to let go of what’s precious to you and give up trying to control your uncertain future. Your impossibilities belong to a God who does the impossible.  

_{John Bailey is the COO of World Challenge Inc. and the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church in Jacksonville, Florida. John has been serving the Lord in pastoral ministry for 35 years, ministering the gospel in over 50 nations, particularly as a pastor and evangelist in Cork, Ireland.}