God of the Impossible

I have been meditating for a month now on two Scriptures. I can't seem to get past them, which I'm completely okay with. They say this, "'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:22-24) and Luke 18:27 "Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.'" It would be so easy to take that first Scripture and adopt a "name it and claim it" philosophy of prayer, but that's not what it's about. It's about having faith in God- which most people seem to skip over when looking at that Scripture. Believe that you have received it and it will be yours- not just because you want it so badly, but because we have faith in a God who can do the impossible. I realized a while ago that I haven't had much faith. My dog, whom i love :), was limping from an old injury that he had before i got him. Well I prayed and asked God to heal him and then i watched and waited for him to limp again. What kind of faith is that? It isn't really. God brought this to my attention so I confessed my lack of faith and i began praying "God I believe, help my unbelief!" My dog hasn't limped since. He increased my faith in Him to do the impossible.
It's not just belief in what we say will happen, because we say it will happen. It's belief in what we say will happen because we have a God of the impossible; we have faith in Him, not ourselves and our ability to wish things into existence.

Yesterday as i was praying for a friend's wife who has been diagnosed with cancer, i realized how scary it can be to hope in our God who can do the impossible. There are so many questions- what if He doesn't heal her in the physical realm? What if it's her time to go? What if what if what if? Yet it's so important to have faith in Him no matter what our circumstances- to have faith in Him, because He is the God of the impossible. It is a scary thing to place our trust in Him, to fully believe in our heart that He will do the impossible for us because we're afraid of the let down. So typically what we do is allow a spot in our heart to doubt just in case, so we won't be totally unprepared for the worst, we won't be totally disappointed should He choose not to answer our requests. But what kind of faith is that in a God of the impossible? Do we not trust His character, His timing, His faithfulness, His desire for our good because maybe He hasn't answered prayers the way we wanted Him to? Do we qualify our prayers with doubt in His power and ability to do the impossible?

Time and time again over the past month or so He has presented me with impossible situations- situations that only He can be the answer to. He has shown me over and over His faithfulness, His power, His loving character. He has shown me that He can heal. He has shown me that He can change the hearts of man. He has shown me we can place our full faith in Him. He has shown me that there is no need for doubt. He has shown Himself to be the God of the impossible.