How You Might Be Limiting God In Your Life

We have big dreams, embrace significant visions of what we want to accomplish and nurture great ideas of how to add value and impact people’s lives.

Underpinning our holy ambitions are a sense of God’s calling on our lives and His innumerable promises to us.

And we know that when God gives a promise, you can trust that He will be faithful to keep it.

But sometimes, our great visions and their fulfillment thereof are not hindered by external forces but what is internal within the man.

In this post, I share three ways we often (albeit inadvertently) limit God in our lives.

Lord, would you fit into my box, please?

Sometimes, we are unable to experience God move in and through us because of our inability to truly appreciate His sovereignty and providence over all things and allow Him ‘go beyond us’.

If we believe in a God we have completely figured out, He’s not obliged to go over and beyond for us to do the miraculous. Why should He? We’ve got it (Him) covered. Right?

Wrong!

God is bigger than the imaginary box and boundaries we create for Him to fit in; in our collective worship, personal devotion and dealings with others // How You Might Be Limiting God In Your Life Click To Tweet

Stop acting like God’s personal assistant; you’re not the Holy Spirit. Allow Him set the terms of engagement. You only need to respond in obedience.

Lord, don’t fit into my box!

The enemy called rationalisation

“This situation looks so bleak and I don’t see how anything can change. Surely, this seems impossible and I can understand if God can’t handle it. Maybe this is my cross…”

I’ve been there too. We try to rationalise our situation in the context of what we perceive God can (or can’t) do.

Maybe we feel sorry for God having to carry the entire burden of the world on Himself.

Then we remember Jeremiah 32:27:

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

Take God at His word, regardless of the alternative facts around you. He may not come through as you envisioned it, but He never fails to keep His word.

Our calling is not to make sense of God to the extent that we can explain Him. Ours is to believe, embrace and proclaim His Person, His Sovereignty and Reality in our lives and in the world // How You Might Be Limiting God In Your Life Click To Tweet

He may not give us all the answers we desire in the form we asked, but He’s faithful regardless.

So, beware of the enemy called rationalisation. Logic always fails in God’s presence.

I’ve got a plan!

11 years after God promised Abraham he’d have a son, Sarah presented him an alternative plan… and Ishmael was born.

But he wasn’t the child of promise and Abraham’s attempt to help God still has significant ramifications today.

When God gives you a promise concerning His call on your life, don’t be too quick to hatch your own plan. Stay with Him and ask for the plan, the next step(s) and strategy to execute.

True, sometimes you need to start without much details to hand. But issues of divine mandate and calling may require you linger in prayer until God speaks again.

Don’t limit God with your own plans; His ways are always better than yours — Isaiah 55:8-9.

In which other ways do you think we often limit God in our lives? Leave a comment below.

Photo by Sam Xu on Unsplash