Nothing will be impossible

In a bustling crowd, a father asks Jesus to heal his young son. It must have been such a relief for the disciples when Jesus appeared. They had been struggling to cope with the boy’s illness, the father’s disappointment, the crowd looking on… and then Jesus arrived, and all was well.

But the nagging question for the disciples remained: why couldn’t we sort it out? Jesus’ answer must have been devastating:

‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I put up with you?’

Their fledgling self-confidence must have plummeted.

When disaster strikes, we want to find ways to make a difference. Together, we help to transform lives in crisis and work to overcome long-term difficulties. But there is always more that could be done, always another problem to which we can’t yet quite see the solution. We can sympathise with those disciples!

And, like them, we need to look for ways of growing in faith, through prayer, through the ‘daily bread’ of Scripture, through doing God’s work and recognising God’s power at work through us. We may think that the promise ‘nothing will be impossible for you’ is a long way off, even perhaps raising a wry smile.

But Christian Aid has come a long way since our foundation in 1945, and we are achieving things that would have seemed impossible in those early days. And the faith and prayers of generous people like you have been, and continue to be, vital.

God of power and grace,
it’s hard for us to see ourselves
as mountain-movers or earth-shakers.
Yet in your love for us,
you make it possible for us
to do more than we could dream of.
Help us to remain constant in prayer and grow in faith,
as we recognise your power flowing through us
more and more strongly.
Amen.