As you step out today, here’s a reminder of God’s word to you from Numbers 23:19 and Ephesians 3:20.
Numbers 23:19 MSG says,
“God is not man, one given to lies, and not a son of man changing his mind. Does he speak and not do what he says? Does he promise and not come through”
Ephesians 3:20 AMP,
“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us,”
The MSG Translation of Ephesians 3:20 says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”
Don’t limit me, Don’t cage me, Don’t box me. It’s time to take the Limits off Me because I am the Limitless God! I believe this is God’s word to someone reading this devotional today.
Today’s Bible verses came alive to me in a fresh new way and took a more different meaning as I listened to the song No Limits by Israel Houghton in my car. I have played this song so many times in the car. However as I drove this particular morning through the slow moving traffic, with my children in the car. For a moment I felt everything around me quietened as I listened and soaked in the lyrics of this song. It felt like I was hearing this song for the first time and every line spoke to me but particularly the line “Take the Limits off, release me” jumped out at me.
All of a sudden it felt like the Holyspirit was making a plea on behalf of God, saying we need to take the limits we place on God and to release him of the ‘unconscious’ limits we place on him. As I engaged in this conversation with the Holyspirit, in my mind, I wondered how is it that I have placed a limit on God. And the Holyspirit reminded me that when I elevate a problem and make it bigger than another problem and I think to myself this is the one God will readily answer and doubt if God will answer the other one that feels like a mountain like situation. Then by doing this I have simply placed a limit on God and on what I think he can do and not do.
Are you guilty of this way of thinking sometimes too? Well that is what it means to put a limit on God and today the Holyspirit is making a plea for us to take the limits off and to release God, to not box God into what we think he can do and not do.
We have a limited mindset but in contrast we serve a Limitless God, one with whom nothing is ever impossible so unless we consciously train our minds that with God nothing shall be impossible. We will find ourselves place limits on our Heavenly Father on what we think he can do and not do. God loves and cares for us and his Holyspirit within us is his seal of his love. Which is why one of his responsibility is to teach us God’s truth and to let us know areas we might be falling short so we can make changes.
Listening to this song was all it took the Holyspirit to teach this lesson – to not place a limit on God because as today’s key verses reminds us, God is not man, one given to lies, and not a son of man changing his mind. Does he speak and not do what he says? Does he promise and not come through”. He is the great God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” So does this look like this God can only do some things?
Absolutely not, He is the sovereign God, the one who speaks and it becomes established, the one who calls forth the things that are not as though they were ( Romans 4:17). The God who laid the out the earth and marked off his dimensions (Job 38: 4-5). The one who gives orders to the morning and tells the dawn it’s place (Job 38:12). The one who is God all by Himself.
The great God who controls the affairs of heaven and earth. He is a God that we cannot figure out Job 36:26 says “How great is God–beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.” So, no matter the challenging and difficult situations we go through, we must not let these negative situations make us try to figure God out because we never can and we will not be able to because he is beyond our understanding.
Job in the Bible went through one of the worst and heart wrenching trials that could happen to any human being. He questioned God because he could not make sense of his situation and based on the lesson of today we can say his words placed a limit on God but he came to a point where he understood he needed to take the limits off God, to release God based on his myopic thinking.
And in Job 42:2-3 in response to God he said “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
The truth is, sometimes as believers when we face diverse challenges or find ourselves going through difficult times/seasons, if we are not careful we will find ourselves unconsciously putting a limit on God through what we say and what we think in our hearts and even through our unspoken words. Sometimes we might find that our actions in a way make it seem that our God is limited and like a man has boundaries.
So, I implore you, don’t place a limit on God because 1 Corinthians 2:9 [AMP] says, …” eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”
Therefore, as you go about your daily business and activities today, I want you to take time to think about the lesson from today’s post. Yes you love the Lord, you have faith and trust him wholeheartedly but are there areas too in your life where you have unconsciously without even realising it that you have placed a limit on God?
This could be in the area of your finances, in the life of that child or children that has gone prodigal, in that rocky marriage or relationship, in your business, workplace, education, immigration issue etc. You know that area deep down and today all you need to do is to ask God for his grace to help you, tell him how sorry you are to have placed limits on him.
Tell him you will choose to trust wholeheartedly and not doubt what He is able to do in your life and even in what you consider mountain like situations. Let him know you have released him from every limit and like Job, sincerely say to him “ Heavenly Father I know that you can do all things” particularly in that one area (s) you have struggled to believe he can.
Never forget, the Holyspirit, your senior partner is always there to strengthen you and to give you the grace to trust God always knowing that with him nothing shall be impossible!
Remember you serve a limitless and possibility God, one who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us!
Do have a blessed and fruitful day!
God bless you.
