Limiting God

Our God is full of love and power, and he wants to bless his children. He wants to do great things in our lives. There is no limit to what God can do. “With God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27). God is all we need, and he is the solution to all our problems.

But we can limit God. We can put boundaries on him that prevent him from blessing us. Psalm 78:41 says that the Israelites “limited the Holy one of Israel.”

How can a finite person limit an infinite God? The reason we can limit God is because we have free will, and God respects our free will. Jesus has all power in heaven and earth, but he’s not going to force his blessings into our lives if we don’t want them.

Jesus told the Israelites that he wanted to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but they didn’t want to be gathered (Matt. 22:37). A hen gathers her chicks to protect them, provide food for them, and lead them to shelter. Why wouldn’t a little chick want that? Even though Jesus wanted to bless Israel, they refused his blessing. They rejected him. They limited God and blocked him from working in their lives.

We can limit God too.

1. We can limit God through lack of faith. This happens with the issue of salvation. God wants every person to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), but most people reject his salvation. God is not going to force people to be saved against their will. He’s not going to force people to spend eternity with him if they don’t want to.

Lack of faith will hinder us after we are born again. Jesus said that he will work in our lives according to our faith (Matt. 8:13; 9:29). Without faith, we will not see miracles. There were times Jesus was unable to do many miracles because of the people’s unbelief (Mark 6:5). 

Solution: Increase our faith. Our faith is built up when we hear God speak. Our ability to hear from God increases as we spend time in his word (Rom. 10:17). Read the Bible and let God speak to you. This will increase your faith. in the meantime be patient. Sometimes God’s word takes a while to happen. God is probably working in your life to bring you to maturity as you wait. Don’t get impatient and run out and birth an Ishmael. Don’t murmur and complain. God will come through at the right time, and his word will never fail.

2. Another way we can limit God is through fear. The Israelites feared the giants, so they didn’t go into the Promised Land (Num. 32:7-9). The Jews feared their enemies, so they stopped building the wall around Jerusalem (Ezra 4:4). Fear blocks us from doing what God has called us to do. It stops us from moving forward. Fear cripples us and then defines our reality. When we are afraid, we won’t see God work in our lives.

Solution: Get rid of fear through love (1 John 4:18). When we recognize God’s love for us and receive it, then we have nothing more to fear because we know God has us in his hands. Then we can love others. Love casts fear out from our lives.

3. We can limit God through disobedience. Once Israel experienced a famine of hearing the word of God (In Amos 8:11). They couldn’t hear God’s voice. This was because they disobeyed God (Amos 8:13). When we refuse to do what God has told us to do, God will not give us more revelation or instructions. God is waiting for us to do what he told us to do, and then he will give us more of his word.

Solution: Do what God has told you to do. Don’t put it off or procrastinate. When we love God, we will obey him (1 John 5:3), and then we will see his blessing in our lives.

4. We can limit God through sin. “Your sins have separated between you and God” (Isa. 59:1-2). God wants to work in our lives, but sometimes sin is a barrier between us and God. In Israel, there was a time when there was no open revelation (1 Sam. 3:1). This was because the priests were all corrupt and they were leading the people into sin. 

Solution: Confess your sins (1 John 1:9). When we confess our sins to God, he takes them away. Then our fellowship with God is restored.

5. We can limit God through self-reliance. God is not going to help us if we don’t want him to. If we think we can handle it all ourselves and don’t need God, then God will step aside and let us try. The Bible says “cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5-8). The Bible tells us not to lean on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5-6). 

Solution: Walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh (Rom. 8:4-5). This means relying on the Holy Spirit to empower us rather than trusting in our own abilities.

6. We can limit God through problems in prayer. Sometimes we don’t pray at all. “You have not because you ask not” (James 4:2). When we don’t pray, we limit God because we don’t open a door for him to work. Other times we pray with doubts (James. 1:6-7), and this limits God because God responds to faith. Other times we pray for our own will to be done rather than God’s will to be done, and this limits God because he works according to his will, not ours.

Solution: Pray for big things, pray in faith, and pray without doubt. Submit to God’s will in prayer; don’t try to force God to do your will.

7. We can limit God by not seeing our identity in Christ. When we understand who we are according to the word of God, then we will be able to live as God has called us to live. But when we don’t recognize who we are in Christ, then we limit God from working in our lives because we are believing lies about ourselves that bring us into bondage.

Solution: Saturate yourself with the word of God so that your image of yourself is defined by God, rather than by Satan.

8. We can also limit God through lack of fellowship. We need each other in order to move forward into all that God has for us. As the days become more evil, we need each other even more. We are a body, and we can each fulfill our full potential in God as we are vibrantly connected to each other in strong fellowship. 

Solution: Seek out fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, both on Sunday mornings and throughout the week.

If you are limiting God, it’s time to remove the limitations. There are practical steps to take in order to experience more of God. God is infinite and all-powerful. When you remove the shackles, you will unleash him to do all the wonderful things that he wants to do, both in your life and in the world around you.