Topic: Don’t Limit God

A large portion of the content of this sermon series came from the book by Andrew Wommack entitled, “Don’t Limit God – Imagine Yourself Successful”.

(Psalms 78:41 NKJV) Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

(Psalms 78:41 TPT) Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them. Continually they turned back from him and provoked the Holy One of Israel!

The Hebrew word for “limited” not only means “restraining someone from what they can do because of one’s own attitudes or actions.” It also means “causing someone discomfort or pain because of one’s behavior or attitude”.

The Power of Your Imagination (CONT.)

Imagination is defined as “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality” (Merriam-Webster.com).

In other words, imagination is the ability to see something with our minds that we cannot see with our physical eyes.

• Hope is our imagination working for us instead of against us.

(Romans 8:24-25 ERV) (24) We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have. (25) But we are hoping for something we don’t have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently.

Just like a thermostat can be turned to hot or cold, our imaginations can be negative, which is a pessimistic outlook on everything, or positive, which is what the Bible calls hope.

Hope turns on the ability of God, while faith is the power that makes things come to pass.

If our imaginations are negative, we will see failure on the inside, leading us to experience failure on the outside.

If we are hoping and seeing a miracle in our hearts, it will turn on the power of God to see that miracle manifest in our lives.

Hope comes through the Word of God, and this is the first step of faith. (Romans 10:17)

(Romans 15:4 ERV) (4) Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Those things were written so that we could have hope. That hope comes from the patience and encouragement that the Scriptures give us.

• Hope is seeing what can’t be seen.
• Hope keeps us centered and is like an anchor that steadies us when the winds of circumstances or the opinions of man blow.

(Hebrews 6:18-19 TPT) (18) So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change! And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakeable hope! (19) We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold,

• We need a strong sense of hope because faith only gives substance to what hope has already seen.

(Hebrews 11:1 NKJV) (1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith gives substance to what we hope for; it births the things we see in our imaginations. If we don’t conceive something in hope, faith cannot birth it.

Your imagination activates your faith. If you’re believing for healing but haven’t paused to “see” yourself healed, you don’t have a faith problem; you have a thermostat problem. And unless you first begin to hope—to use your imagination in a positive way—the power unit of faith will not turn on.

• We must meditate on the Word of God until we conceive something.

Then once we conceive it in our imaginations, we will receive it.

(1 Peter 1:23 AMPC) You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.

When we take the seed of God’s Word and plant it in our spiritual wombs, conception occurs. But there is a waiting period involved before manifestation, in the same way that a pregnant woman has to nurture a child for nine months before she can give birth. The woman may not even realize she’s pregnant in the beginning of the process, but her child is no less real. She is no less pregnant.

We meditate all the time; you just don’t realize it. Meditation is simply keeping your mind focused. Worry is meditation. Worry is thinking about something and seeing something that hasn’t happened. It’s exploring negative possibilities. You worry about your finances, about your kids, about your marriage. You worry all day long and still manage to do your job.

Likewise, you can meditate on the positive all day long. It just takes practice.

(Philippians 4:6-8 NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (8) Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.

1. Take a Scripture from God’s Word and just keep your mind focused on it.

(Colossians 3:2 NKJV) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

2. Imagine what that Scripture would look like as a reality in your own life.

(Psalms 1:1-3 NKJV) Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (3) He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

3. Think of times in your own life or others’ lives who’ve experienced the truth of that Word work.

(Psalms 143:5 NKJV) I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.

4. Stay with it until conception takes place in your heart.

(Hebrews 6:12 MSG) Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.

5. Thank and praise your way into manifestation.

(Philippians 4:6 NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

A large portion of the content of this sermon series came from the book by Andrew Wommack entitled, “Don’t Limit God – Imagine Yourself Successful”.

(Psalms 78:41 NKJV) Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

(Psalms 78:41 TPT) Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them. Continually they turned back from him and provoked the Holy One of Israel!

The Hebrew word for “limited” not only means “restraining someone from what they can do because of one’s own attitudes or actions.” It also means “causing someone discomfort or pain because of one’s behavior or attitude”.

How Do We Limit God?

1. We limit God through our wrong beliefs.
2. We limit God by comparing ourselves with others.
3. We limit God by getting distracted by the cares of this world.
4. We limit God through a fear of risk.
5. We limit God with a fear of failure.
6. We limit God with a fear of change.
7. We limit God because of a fear of man.
8. We limit God because of a fear of success.

The Power of Your Imagination

• God created us with imaginations, and we can’t think without them.

Most of us don’t realize how much we use our imaginations, thinking they’re just for kids, but we use our imaginations every moment of every day.

Imagination (Dictionary): “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality”.

In other words, imagination is the ability to see something with our minds that we cannot see with our physical eyes.

We all have an image inside of us of what we can do, along with what we are incapable of doing.

This latter image serves as a ceiling, or limit, on what God can do in our lives.

Imagination acts like a governor (limiter) on an engine.

• Our memory is tied to our imagination.

(1 Chronicles 29:18 KJV) O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

Most of us don’t write down where we parked our cars every time we go somewhere; we just have a mental image of where we left it.

We can’t remember anything we can’t picture or imagine.

The Hebrew word for “imagination” in this verse is “yeser” and it was translated “imagination” five times in the Old Testament.

(Genesis 6:5 KJV) And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

(Genesis 8:20-21 NKJV) Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (21) And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

(1 Chronicles 28:9 KJV) And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.

“Yeser” can also be translated “frame” or “mind”. (Substitute imagination)

(Isaiah 26:3 NKJV) You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

“Yeser” can also be defined as “conception” (Strong’s Concordance).

• The imagination is our spiritual womb – it’s where we conceive God’s miracle-working power.

No imagination means no conception.

We are not seeing answers to our prayers because we will not allow that to be conceived in our imaginations.

A lot of us are praying for things but we are not allowing those things to be conceived in our imaginations. (Example of a couple that is praying for a child but is not having physical relations with her husband.)

If we conceive a miracle, we will give birth to it.

We must take control and begin to conceive the purposes of God in our imagination.

We would become spiritually pregnant, and it would just be a matter of time until we give birth—it will happen!

• We must meditate on the Word of God until we conceive something.

If we have an intimate relationship with the Word, it will become alive and real to us.

Then once we conceive it in our imaginations, we will receive it.

• Before you see something happen on the outside, you must see it on the inside.

It must become so real to you that you see yourself doing it or experiencing it.

You won’t see the miracle-power of God if you are defeated, discouraged, or depressed in your imagination.

Resurrect your imagination and start using it in a positive way!

• When it comes to God’s plan for our lives, we must use our imaginations to see those things come to pass.

Our lives are the way they are today because of the way we have seen them or pictured them in our imaginations—the way we think determines the direction our lives will go.

Nothing can be built without an imagination.

Architects use blueprints to show builders how to construct what they have imagined.

You can’t see anything happen without your imagination. You must use your imagination to start thinking and seeing bigger.

We will become exactly what we imagine—whether that image is positive or negative.

• If we can picture or imagine something from God’s Word, we can have it or do it!

We would be much better off if we spent time encouraging our imaginations. We need to find out what the Word says about us and pray and let the Holy Spirit give us an image of what He wants us to do—and who He wants us to be.

A large portion of the content of this sermon series came from the book by Andrew Wommack entitled, “Don’t Limit God – Imagine Yourself Successful”.

(Psalms 78:41 NKJV) Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

(Psalms 78:41 TPT) Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them. Continually they turned back from him and provoked the Holy One of Israel!

The Hebrew word for “limited” not only means “restraining someone from what they can do because of one’s own attitudes or actions.” It also means “causing someone discomfort or pain because of one’s behavior or attitude”.

How Do We Limit God?

1. We limit God through our wrong beliefs.
2. We limit God by comparing ourselves with others.

We have a higher standard to measure ourselves: God’s Word and His plan!

3. We limit God by getting distracted by the cares of this world.

(Mark 4:19 AMPC) (19) Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

(1 Kings 19:11-12 NKJV) Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; (12) and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

God is going to speak to us in a still small voice. (a hushed whisper) God is speaking to us all the time. But most people’s lifestyles are not conducive to hearing from God.

(Psalms 46:10 AMPC) Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!

• • • God has given us authority to run our own lives. We are allowed to do it, but it is a wrong choice.

(Jeremiah 10:23 MSG) I know, GOD, that mere mortals can’t run their own lives, That men and women don’t have what it takes to take charge of life.

• • • We can only reach our full potential when we become God dependent and look to Him for leadership.

4. We limit God through a fear of risk.

Many people fear the unknown because there is risk involved. We fear being uncomfortable.

Is your life the same mundane routine every day?

Don’t be content with doing nothing but surviving and getting by.

We will last longer, be happier, more productive and everything will work better in our lives when we have purpose and are moving towards fulfilling that purpose.

Eliminate Fear!

(1 John 4:18 NKJV) There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

• • • To the degree that you have faith in the love of God for YOU, you will stop fear from operating in your life.

God is never going to do anything to hurt you. He’s always going to do things to help and bless you!

5. We limit God with a fear of failure.

We limit God when we are afraid to step out and do something because we think we might fail.

The biggest failure is when we play it too safe because we are afraid of making a mistake – but we all make mistakes.

If we’re afraid of doing something because we may not do it perfectly, we’ll never get anything done.

It’s actually better to step out and believe God and, if we fail, let God pick us up and dust us off so we can get up and go again.

If you believe that God has put something in your heart, do it! Start moving in that direction. A stalled car is easier to turn once it is in motion than when it is sitting still.

6. We limit God with a fear of change.

Because we are creatures of habit, we can be afraid to do something different.

Sometimes, we like to keep things the same because we are lazy and comfortable and don’t like the effort that may be required to make the change.

7. We limit God because of a fear of man.

You might be living with a fear of persecution from people and that is holding you back and limiting God.

No one likes being persecuted. If you enjoy people being mad at you, hating you, and saying bad things about you, something is wrong with you.

Settle this – if you are going to do what God has told you to do and become someone who is in a position to influence others, there is going to be persecution. This is why most people prefer to stay in the background and be anonymous.

(Proverbs 29:25 AMPC) The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever leans on, trusts in, and puts his confidence in the Lord is safe and set on high.

8. We limit God because of a fear of success.

What really proves our character is not necessarily when times are tough but rather when times are good. Everyone can pray when times are hard but how much do we pray when times are good?

(Proverbs 16:18 NLT) Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

(1 Peter 5:5 NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

Prosperity and success have destroyed a lot of people and especially a lot of ministers. This includes some that I have personally worked for or been around in ministry.

We can see many leaders in the Bible that started well but did not end well because of pride when God started blessing them. (Examples: King Saul, King David, King Uzziah…)

I was afraid of success and what it could do to me, because I did not want to get into pride for what the Lord was doing in our church.

Pride is a very subtle, clever, and cunning! As it turns out, this was pride in that I was trying to do the Lord’s job in protecting me from pride instead of trusting that He would do that. I needed to trust the fact that over many years, He was preparing me for those things.

Because of this, I would not let myself dream or have vision of any of the great things that God wanted to do in our church.

As Andrew Wommack said,

“We see ourselves a certain way, but we have to change that image if we don’t want to limit God. I didn’t know how long it would take to change the image of what I was incapable of doing—a week, a month, a year, or even longer—but I was determined to change it and start seeing myself doing what God told me to do!”

Wommack, Andrew. Don’t Limit God Study Guide (p. 254). Andrew Wommack Ministries, Incorporated. Kindle Edition.

In praying about many things, I was asking the Lord for wisdom and direction regarding our church. There is one thing that I have learned:

• If things are not happening and prayers seemingly not being answered, the problem is never with God. The problem is with us!

Early in 2018, I had found the book by Andrew Wommack entitled, “Don’t Limit God – Imagine Yourself Successful”. I began to read it and it was registering in my spirit.

Later that summer, I along with six or seven other ministers were able to sit down with Andrew over breakfast and after discussing some other things, I asked him to share about what the Lord showed him regarding limiting God, and that he later wrote about.

But, there were some truths in there that did not register with me until just recently. Either I did not have the capacity to receive them then or I needed them now.

(Psalms 78:41 NKJV) Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.

(Psalms 78:41 TPT) Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them. Continually they turned back from him and provoked the Holy One of Israel!

The Hebrew word for “limited” not only means “restraining someone from what they can do because of one’s own attitudes or actions.” It also means “causing someone discomfort or pain because of one’s behavior or attitude”.

So, I accepted and resolved that somehow, I was limiting God from what He wanted to accomplish, but I did not yet fully understand how I was limiting Him. That is, until within the last few weeks.

When I looked at what God was doing in other churches pastored by great friends of mine, I knew deep down that He wanted to do that for us and our church.

(Acts 10:34 AMPC) And Peter opened his mouth and said: Most certainly and thoroughly I now perceive and understand that God shows no partiality and is no respecter of persons,

(Acts 10:34 NET) Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people,

(Acts 10:34 TPT) Peter said, “Now I know for certain that God doesn’t show favoritism with people but treats everyone on the same basis.

So, what I was seeing God do for these other pastors was not necessarily because they were special or Divinely chosen by God above the rest of us.

• He wants to do absolutely miraculous things in everyone’s life.

God has never made a piece of junk. He has never made an inferior person.

• The truth is that we are all unique and can do something that nobody else can.

We all have something that God wants to accomplish through us, but most of us are ignorant of this and have bought into the lie that there’s nothing special about us.

• Not one of us has exhausted God’s ability, resources, and power for our lives.

God is infinite. God is huge. Our lives ought to reflect that.

He wants us to believe for big things. Yet most of us only believe for small things.

If your life is not an absolute joy and you aren’t excited about it—if you don’t have enthusiasm about your life or where you’re going or what God is doing—you have missed God and are limiting what He wants to do in your life.

• God will call you to do something that is beyond yourself.

He will call you to do something that is bigger than yourself.

If you can say that you’ve achieved everything by your own ability, strength, or power, then you have not yet tapped into God’s will for your life. God will ask you to do something bigger than yourself that requires more than your own ability.

If you can look at your life and say, “Well, I went to school, I did this and that, and I earned the things I have,” you have missed God.

If you can point to your great education, your charisma, or your ability, then you have missed God.

• If your life isn’t supernatural, it’s superficial.

Your life should be such a testimony that when people ask how you’re doing what you’re doing and why you’re so blessed, you should be able to say that there’s no explanation outside of God.

• Life is not a dress rehearsal—this is the real thing.

If you aren’t doing something with your life that winds you up and fulfills you, and makes you feel like, “What a blessing of God this is in my life,” then you have wasted another day of your life.

How Do We Limit God?

1. We limit God is through our wrong beliefs.

For example, a culture’s belief system will limit its people and keep them in poverty.

The Hindu people have resources that could end their hunger, but their religious belief system limits them. They also believe that they are born into a caste system, and if they do anything to try to get out of it and improve their well-being, they might be reincarnated as an ant or something worse. Their belief system has impoverished their nation and has limited them.

(Proverbs 23:7 NKJV) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

• • • What we think about the most, we eventually believe.
    • What we believe, is what we will say and do.
    • What we say and do is what is shaping our lives.

2. We limit God by comparing ourselves with others.

(2 Corinthians 10:12 NLT) Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!

In the negative sense, we look at our parents, we look at our grandparents, we look at television, and we listen to people’s stories about all the bad things that have happened to them and we begin to believe that is what is in store for my life.

Even when we are doing OK, we compare ourselves to others. “I am doing pretty good compared to where they are…” This will lead to complacency.

• • • We are not called to be average!

There should be a difference between Christians and those who don’t know God. We’re alive and they’re dead! God made us for more than average.

Believers should be doing better than the average person. After all, Jesus died to deliver us from this present evil world. But sadly, that is not every believer’s experience.

(Galatians 1:3 TPT) (3-4) I pray over you a release of the blessings of God’s undeserved kindness and total well-being that flows from our Father – God and from the Lord Jesus. He’s the Anointed Messiah who offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins! He has taken us out of this evil world system and set us free through our salvation, just as God desired.

(John 17:14-16 NKJV) I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (15) I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

How do we walk in this? By faith!

(1 John 5:4 TPT) You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world.

Are you limiting what God wants to do for you or through you by comparing yourself with others? Do you really want to live like everyone else with the same sickness, same financial, relational, and emotional problems?

(Deuteronomy 28:13 NLT) If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.

Some of you want things to be different, but if you don’t change some of the ways you are thinking, you will be back next year in the exact same spot praying and asking God to do the same things. It’s not God who is limiting Himself—it’s you!

There is something that happens in the spiritual realm when you start believing God. You’ve got to see God’s purpose for your life and take the limits off Him. Believe He has something more for you than you are experiencing in your life.