Dream Bigger!

DREAM BIGGER...DON'T LIMIT GOD!

Limit: to restrict, to confine, to keep within a designated area, to fence in, hold back, to bind

Example: Ever seen someone using a kid leash? (the kid has limited freedom…but who’s really in control?)

Limits: spending limit, speed limit, earning limit, noise limit, eating limit, etc…

Our God is Almighty. His power and ability is limitless. There is nothing He cannot do. The degree to which we experience His power and ability depends entirely upon the length of the leash we’ve attached to Him. I’d like to challenge you to take Him off the leash.

We serve a God who is infinite. He is all-powerful…all-knowing…completely capable. He is a God who’s power / ability / and love…knows no limits. YET…even though we know this and often declare it…we tend to limit the power of God.

Psalm 78:41-43 (NIV) - “Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed (limited) the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power…the day He redeemed them from the oppressor, the day He displayed His miraculous signs in Egypt, His wonders in the region of Zoan.”

Isreal was guilty of dimishing their expectations of our unlimited God. They had put God in a box…kept Him on a leash…by failing to remember and rely upon His limitless power and ability.

Sadly…sometimes we do the same…sometimes we limit God.

God wants us to take the limits off and believe Him for the impossible in our lives, in our families, in our workplace, in our church, in our community, and in our nation.

We limit God by our doubt, disobedience, and failure to ask.

(1) Doubt:

Doubt is faith in the negative.

James 1:6-8 (MSG) - “Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who ‘worry their prayers’ are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping your options open.”

Israel was always murmuring…always doubting. Sure…He made a way for us through the Red Sea…but can God give us bread? God gave them bread. “But can God give us water?” They asked and God gave them water from a rock of all places. “But can God give us meat?” He gave them meat…special delivery from the sky. “But can He deliver us from our enemies?”

Over and over again…God provided and deliverd in every area…yet the people spent forty years saying, “Can God…? Can God….?”

Sometimes we pray for healing and in our mind we’re thinking, “Won’t happen for me.”

Sometimes we pray for revival and tell ourselves, “It won’t happen here.”

Sometimes we pray and hope that God will do great things…and yet we’re not really expecting Him to.

We know that God can do the impossible…but we don’t believe it’s probable.

We may not know HOW God will act…but we must not doubt that He will!

Because our God’s power and ability is limitless…we ought to be saying, “GOD CAN! GOD CAN! He has and He will! He is the One who still makes the impossible entirely probable!

(2) Disobedience:

Proverbs 28:9 (MSG) - “God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to Him.”

John 15:7 (CEV) - “Stay joined to Me and let My teachings become part of you. THEN…you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayers will be answered.”

1 John 3:21,22 - “If our consciences are clear, we can come to the Lord with perfect assurance and trust, and get whatever we ask for because we are obeying Him and doing the things that please Him.”

(3) Failure to Ask:

Paul Harvey used to tell the story about a 3-year old boy who went to the grocery with his mother. Before entering the grocery, she said to this little guy, “You’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies…so don’t even ask!”

She put him up in the cart and he sat in the child’s seat while she wheeled up and down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and said, “Mommy, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not to ask. You’re not getting any at all.” And so, he sat back down.

They continued down the the aisles, but in their search for certain items they ended up back on the cookie aisle. “Mommy, can I PLEASE have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you no! You can’t have any cookies. Now sit down and be quiet.”

Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this might be his last chance. So, just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted at the top of his lungs, “In the name of Jesus! May I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” And with that everybody in the store let out a good laugh. Some even applauded. And, according to Paul Harvey, due to the generosity of the other shoppers…the little boy and his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.