Monkey-hunters use a box with an opening at the top, big enough for the monkey to slide its hand in. Inside the box are bananas. The monkey grabs the banana and now its hand becomes a fist. The monkey tries to get its hand out but the opening is big enough for the hand to slide in, but too small for the fist to come out. Now the monkey has a choice, either to let go off the banana and be free forever or hang on to the nuts and get caught. Guess what it picks every time? You guessed it. He hangs on to the banana and gets caught.

We are no different from monkeys. We all hang on to some nuts that keep us from going forward in life. We keep rationalizing by saying, “I cannot do this because…” and whatever comes after “because” are the nuts that we are hanging on to which are holding us back.

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To keep moving forward in your christian life, there are 3 things you need to do:

1. We must make proper preparations

A. Consider the saints – the clouds of witnesses serving as our encouragement and challenge to us who have finished their race and have attested of the faithfulness of the Lord God how He kept them, sustained them, and took care of them.

B. Lay aside weights and sins that only hinders you from moving forward in your christian life. These are just like the nuts to which the monkey hangs on to in the above example. Let the Bible help you examine what are these things that should be laid aside.

2. We must have endurance.

Compare the sufferings you have already encountered to that what Jesus have suffered for you and me. Jesus left heaven, lived on earth, held nothing back, went for it all the way to the cross. He who has given his life for you and me so that we may have eternal life. Have you suffered to that degree? That is why we are told to compare our sufferings with His when we feel like giving up. He endured until the end so that we might be saved. Therefore let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

3. We must guard our priorities.

We must see to it that our first priority is always to know Christ and seek Him in our life. Every accomplishments, every single cent of possessions , every business is all but temporal . The fame, the power , the money all vanishes leaving nothing but a sad legacy of an empty life.

Read more in this sunday sermon.

“He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water…” (Matthew 14:29)

This is one of my favourite verses in the Scriptures. I like it because it contains an essential truth, which when applied, can help you overcome impossibilities.

Peter was a veteran fisherman. He knew how to stay in the boat during turbulent weather. It may be an impossible task for you but not for Peter. However to walk on water was an impossible task for Peter. He has never heard about such a thing!

But all that changed when Peter found Jesus walking on water. He extended Jesus a rather amusing request: “…Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (Matthew 14:28)

Why did Peter ask Jesus to ‘command’ him to walk on the water? The root word used here for ‘command’ is ‘keleuson’ (Greek term). It means to ‘give an order’ or ‘incite by word’.

Peter had a revelation of the power vested in the command given by Jesus. He knew if he ever wanted to walk on water, he needed an ‘order’, a ‘command’, a ‘word’ from Jesus. And once he got it, He began to walk on it!

You see, to the natural eye, Peter was walking on the water. But the truth is, he was walking on the ‘command’ or the ‘word’ of Jesus. It’s his trust and dependence on that word that made him walk on the water.

That’s the key to overcoming your impossibilities. What are you facing today? Debt, loneliness, joblessness, sickness, failure, addiction? Whatever that be, do what Peter did. Ask Jesus to give you a word. Spend time in the Scriptures. And when you sense His ‘command’, take it by faith.

Hold on to that word. Confess that word. Walk on that word.

Then watch and see how your impossibilities become marvellous sights of God’s power and grace!

- – - written by Joe Abraham

1. Listen without interrupting.
Proverbs 18:13 – To answer before listening, that is folly and shame.

2. Speak without accusing.
James 1:19 – My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry

3. Give without sparing.
Proverbs 21:26 – All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing.

4. Pray without ceasing.
Colossians 1:9 – For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.

5. Answer without arguing.
Proverbs 17:1 – Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

6. Share without pretending.
Ephesians 4:15 – Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

7. Enjoy without complaint.
Philippians 2:14 – Do everything without grumbling or arguing

8. Trust without wavering.
Corinthians 13:7 – Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

9. Forgive without punishing.
Colossians 3:13 – Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

10. Promise without forgetting.
Proverbs 13:12 – Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.