By Andrew Wommack
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In case someone hasn't heard or doesn't remember, the Lord spoke to me powerfully in January of this year (2002). He revealed to me that I was limiting what He could do through me because of my small thinking about myself and the ministry He's given me. It's like scales have fallen from my eyes and I'm seeing everything differently.
I've started sharing this publicly. I shared it with my Bible College students and all our guests at the "Expand Your Vision" weekend at the end of February (2002). It was powerful. I had a number of students and guests tell me that the Lord used what I shared to set them free in many areas of their lives. This is causing an excitement and freedom in the people I share it with, similar to the way it has affected me.
In Psalm 78, the psalmist magnified God's faithfulness by recounting Jewish history; specifically, God's mercy on the Jews who came out of Egypt during the forty years in the wilderness. He speaks of how many times they rejected God and doubted His goodness. Psalm 78:40-41 says, "How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel."
That is a powerful passage of scripture, and one that applies to us today. The Lord has spoken that passage to me many times before, but now it's taken on a brand new meaning.
Verse 41 says they limited the Holy One, which is speaking of God. That's an amazing statement! The dictionary defines the verb "limit," as "to confine or restrict within limits." We can confine, restrict, or limit God.
That's a totally foreign concept to many people. Many people think there can be no such thing as a limit on God. They see that as removing His divinity. A god that can be limited isn't really a god in many people's thinking.
I will say this: God isn't personally limited by anything or anyone. But when it comes to us receiving from Him, we can limit what He wants to do through us or for us. God doesn't sovereignly do what He wants with us. We have to co-operate. God Himself is limitless, but what He can accomplish is limited. Not because of any lack of power or ability on His part, but because of the part we have to play.
Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..." Many people stop after the first comma and proclaim God can do anything, but that's not the truth of this verse. God has limited Himself to what we believe Him to do. If there isn't the power of faith working in us, then He can't, or you could say, will not, work independent of us.
God is who He is, regardless of what we think or believe. If we don't believe God is real, that doesn't make Him cease to exist. As far as our experiences go, we won't encounter Him until we change that opinion.
Take salvation for example. Second Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." You can't make it any plainer than that. It is not God's will for people to perish, but they do. Why? Not because God wills it, but because God gave them a free will, and they choose to reject God's provision for their salvation.
That's a very sobering thought! People don't like that truth because it makes them responsible. Most people don't want to be responsible for their lives. They like to think that God just sovereignly makes things happen in their lives. That way, they can blame God for the mess they are in and say, "God is teaching me something or making me a better person." But that's not what God's Word says.
The Lord willed for the Israelites to enter into the promised land in a short period of time. But the generation that came out of Egypt died during the forty years in the wilderness. That wasn't God's will. That was because of their own choices.
In First Samuel 13:13, Samuel told Saul that if he would have believed and obeyed God, the Lord would have established his kingdom over Israel forever. That means that David wasn't God's first choice; Saul was. If Saul wouldn't have limited God, then we would be singing about the sure mercies of Saul instead of David. We have to co-operate with the Lord to see His will fulfilled in our lives.
There are many ways we limit the Lord. In Psalm 78, the scripture mentions they limited God by not remembering His goodness and faithfulness toward them. They lusted for things they didn't have, and rebelled at godly authority. There are other ways we can limit God too.
That brings me to what the Lord has been showing me. I haven't been rebellious, living in sin, or forgetful of what He's done for me. I have been serving the Lord with all I have for thirty- four years. But, I've unknowingly limited the Lord by small thinking about myself and what the Lord can do through me.
We all have images on the inside of us of who we are and what we can do. These images and thoughts are like ceilings, or limits, to what we can do. You will never occupy a place that you haven't already carved out in your thoughts.
What makes one person able to sky dive while another one would never do such a thing? In most cases, it's not some physical ability that makes the difference. It's the way they think on the inside. We can't do something on the inside that we haven't already embraced on the inside. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Prov. 23:7).
Sometimes, these limits come through things that were spoken to us as children, like: "You'll never amount to anything," or, "You never do anything right." If we believe these negative words, they become strongholds which limit what God can do for us. Other times, life shatters our dreams, and we develop negative thoughts on our own which become self-fulfilling prophecies.
Then, there are some limits which just occur naturally, and we have to grow through them, like children learning to sit, then stand, then walk, then run and jump, etc. This is the kind of limit I had placed on God.
When I started in ministry, I had big dreams in my heart from the Lord to reach millions of people with the wonderful truths He used to change my life. But I had to walk before I could run. I started teaching Bible studies, then pastoring, then ministering through tapes, radio, and television. I had to start small. I've learned very valuable lessons through that. But along the way, I got too used to small. I became too comfortable where I was. Then the Lord intervened this last January.
I'm taking the limits I've imposed on God by changing the way I see myself and this ministry. I believe I can do what He put in my heart, and by His grace I will do it. I will take the Gospel Truth throughout this nation and around the world. I firmly believe the message and the messenger are ready.
There are multiplied millions of people waiting to hear the nearly too-good-to-be-true news of Jesus' unconditional love. Traditions and doctrines of men have blinded many people's hearts to the liberating love of God. I know I'm one of the major ones the Lord has anointed to take that message to as many people as possible.
As I shared this message during our CBC "Expand Your Vision" weekend, people got excited. Lives were changed. It built faith and vision in everyone that heard it.
One guest at the "Expand Your Vision" weekend had been a partner with me for about twenty years. He got so excited that he wanted to give us a million dollars. He's blessed, but he doesn't have that kind of money, yet. The Lord told him to do what he could now and the million dollar gift would come later.
As he gave me a large check, he told me he felt many of my partners had similar feelings. They will want to give large gifts they don't yet have. But if they will be faithful to give the best gift they can, the Lord will provide supernatural increase that will lead to larger gifts.
I believe we all tend to think too small. Regardless of how far you think you've come, we have a BIG God who thinks and does BIG. As my good friend Dave Duell says, "if your dreams and visions aren't keeping you up at night, you're thinking too small." Let's not limit God. I don't want to get to heaven and find out that I only did half of what the Lord had planned for me. I'm sure you don't want that either.
Maybe you are playing it too safe, and you, too, need to take the limits off of what the Lord wants to do for you and through you. There's always something more. The Lord has a perfect plan for each of you. If your life isn't fulfilling, then you haven't discovered God's best. God has great thoughts for us all (Jer. 39:11).
I encourage you to take the few things I've shared here and let the Lord stir you up to receive nothing less than His best. You won't accomplish everything all at once. I know there will be more times where the Lord shows me that I'm still thinking too small. We never arrive, but I've left. I pray you're going with me.
