When my wife and I went on an excursion off the coast of Alaska, we were told that the humpback whales there didn't breach out of the water there as they do in Hawaii. The guide said, "I guarantee that you won't see it here." I had a rather brief yearning in my heart to see a whale breach and get a photo of one doing so.  However, less than five minutes later, we spotted a large mother whale and her (15 ton) calf.  Then all of a sudden she did a partial breach out of the water.  Then the calf took the cue and began to breach over and over.  We watched the young whale do this for almost thirty minutes before we left the area.  The water was quite rough, but by resetting my camera to 800 ASA (for my 400 ASA film), then having the developer compensate for my adjustment, I was able to secure the above photo.  Now what are the odds of being in the right spot in the ocean at the right time to see something that we were told didn't happen?  God is good.

    I often see God work what some call impossible miracles during the counseling which I do.  I have heard that Christian counseling can do nothing for manic depressive disorders or paranoid schizophrenia.  However, again I have seen God work miracles in the lives of people.

LOOKING at some answers:

1. Can God do anything within His nature and character?

Job 42:2  "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee."   At the end of the Book of Job we see that Job came to the conclusion that God can do everything.  This happened after his three friends railed upon him, Elihu confronted him with the truth, and God asked him if he was there when He had laid the foundations of the earth.

Luke 1:37  "For with God nothing shall be impossible."  This was the angel's answer to Mary when she asked how it would be possible for her to have a child, not being married.

Romans 8:31-32 "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"  Indeed, God is for us.  However, we must remember this when things seems to be going the wrong way.

Psalm 118:6  "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?"
We need to know that the LORD is on our side when problems come.

Romans 4:20-21  "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."   This was written of Abraham who was one hundred years old when he received word concerning the birth of Isaac.

Psalm 73:1  "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart."  David declared this truth, but also wrestled if God was good to him.

Psalm 84:11  "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."  Will God withhold any good thing from you?

James 1:17  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."  God does not change in character from one day to the next.  We can trust Him to remain good.

Genesis 12:3  "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."  If you are a Believer, then you are the seed of Abraham.  God wants to bless you that you may be a blessing from God to others.

Deuteronomy 23:5  "Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee."   God is even able to change the curse into a blessing!

Genesis 18:14  "Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."  This was the question that God, Himself, raised to Sarah about the birth of a son in her old age.  The obvious answer is that NOTHING is too hard for God.

Jeremiah 32:17  "Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."

Roman 8:28  "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Many people who come for counseling simply want God to take out His magic eraser and erase all the bad things in their past.  However, if you have committed your life to Jesus as your Lord, God has a plan for your life and is well able to take your life and work everything together for your good.

Hebrews 6:18  "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:"   Because of God's nature and character, He is not able to lie.

Numbers 23:19  "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"  God is GOD.

III John 1:2  "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."  This is God's desire for you!

Psalms 103:1-5 "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's."  Look at how the little word "all" is used.

Joel 3:10  "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."  What are you saying?

II Corinthians 12:10  "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."  It is only when we are weak that (in one sense) we need God's strength.

Hebrews 4:16  "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

Hebrews 7:25  "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."  This salvation is complete and final in Jesus.

II Timothy 1:12  "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."  Are you persuaded that God is able to keep your salvation?

John 10:28  "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any anything pluck them out of my hand."  The life that God gives is of such quality that it will never spoil, decay, or rust.  It is of such quality that it will last forever.

I Samuel 14:6  "And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few."  It is God who delivers us and not we ourselves.  Stretch your vision to see what God may do in your life.

I Samuel 17:47  "And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands."  These were David's words to the giant which stood before him.

Isaiah 50:7  "For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."  You don't have to remain in a confused state of mind.  Let God be your help and be determined to obey Him and you will not be embarrassed.

Jeremiah 33:3  "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."  I dare you to call upon the Lord in faith.

Ephesians 3:20  "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."  How big is your imagination about what God can do in your life ... God can do more than that.

Matthew 21:21-22  "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.   And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."  Our faith is not to be directed toward self, others, or in faith itself, but in God.  It is then that we receive.

Mark 9:23  "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."  This was a challenge that Jesus gave to the father of a young man with an evil spirit.   Mark 9:24  "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."   Jesus helped the father's unbelief and delivered the young man from the evil spirit.

Mark 11:23  "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."  What is the mountain that you are facing?  Is God able?

Luke 17:6  "And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."  It is not so important how much faith you have as it is what you do with what you have.