Don't Restrict The Power Of God
2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." - So, why don't we always receive all those things that God has already promised us?
2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." Why don't we always receive all those things that God has already promised us?
First, we can't just keep blaming God for everything that we don't get and everything doesn't go right in our lives. We have to learn to accept some responsibility. We have to learn to understand that there’s something that we have to do on our part. So, before I get into the two reasons that Jesus gave that hold us back from receiving those things that God has already promised, I want you to understand, that's it's not God that is holding it back from you. God is not dangling things in front of you, just out of your reach, and saying, if you just just go to church more, I'll give it to you. He's not saying, if you just pray more, I'll give it to you. He doesn't tell people, if you just read the Bible more, I'll give you what you are asking for. GOD DOES NOT DO THOSE THINGS Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-11 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Pay close attention to Verse 11, our Heavenly Father, is more loving and kind than any earthly father ever could be. If an earthly father can give good gifts, how much better would gifts be from our perfect Heavenly Father? James reiterates this in James 2:16-17 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Notice the warning... do not be deceived, good gifts only come from your Father in Heaven. - God won't give you bad things. - Those things that are good and perfect can only come from God. We have to understand that we have an enemy, that will do His best to stop, restrict or hinder everything that God has already given us. We however, have to receive things by faith. Faith is the way that we receive spiritual promises. In the same way that we receive salvation by faith, we receive everything else that God gives us by faith. In John 10:10, Jesus says, the enemy has come not but to steal, kill, and destroy but I have come to bring life and that more abundant So, now that we got all the junk out of the way, the only two reasons that Jesus gave that hold us back from receiving those things that God has already promised are: 1. Unbelief
Matthew 17:14-21 14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is [c]an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Notice the words of Jesus in Verse 20, "IF you have faith, you WILL say... - People that have faith speak up. Faith gives you the ability to speak up, even when fear tries to silence you. No matter how large the obstacle, no matter how impossible the task may seem. Faith gives you the courage to declare those things that seem impossible. - And notice how a person of faith speaks... IF you have faith, you WILL say to this mountain, "MOVE from here to there." Faith gives you courage to speak words, that people that lack faith never would. - And notice how people of faith, tell the obstacle to move. Move from here to there. And in a similar passage, Luke 17:6, Jesus said that when you speak faith filled words, and tell an object to move, it would obey you. 6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Matthew 13:53-58 53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Verse 58 - Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
It doesn’t say He couldn’t do any mighty works… it says He couldn’t do many mighty works/ miracles. It’s saying the work there could have been much bigger, but it wasn’t because of their unbelief! The reason why He couldn’t do many miracles in Jerusalem, because they didn’t believe He could heal them, therefore they didn’t go to Him. Everyone that went to Jesus got healed. Not what what the issue, no matter what the ailment, Jesus healed them. The man with the son who had seizures, even told Jesus that he believed, but help my unbelief, which means he had doubt in his heart. There were even crowds of 20,000 or 30,000, and Jesus healed them all. The people there would have been no different! The unbelief there did not nullify Jesus’ power. No, the unbelief there tied His hands. God will give you exactly what you want, and sometimes we don’t want stuff enough to ask for it. God gives you free will, and the thing about free will, you can freely receive, or you can freely reject. The people there knew Jesus too well, so they did not believe in Him, so they did not go to Him. If I hand out hundred dollar bills to everyone I see, not everyone will get one. Why? Because there is no way I will see everyone, and there are some people that will always refuse a gift. So, even though I wanted to give them money, I could not. In the same way, people can always decide not to receive what God has already promised them.
We have to believe in Jesus, and what He did for us!
We have to believe His teaching
We have to believe that He is the Son of God
That He bleed for our healing and died on a cross for our salvation
We have to believe He Set Us Free
We have to believe He rose on the third day
- If we believe in Him and what He did for us, we don’t have to believe in how good we are or what we can do… because Jesus took care of all that for us!
- We don’t have to be good, because He is great!
2. Religious Traditions
Mark 7:6-9 6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men - the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
9 He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. We have to understand what Jesus taught supersedes everything else that we have learned in our lifetime. Jesus came to set us free, and He accomplished that. We just have to remove all the junk that is clouding our faith, like religious tradition. For example... - God won't heal you, if you are in sin. Everyone Jesus healed were sinners. - God won't heal you if you have unforgiveness in your heart False... again Jesus ministered to crowds of 20,00 and 30,000, and healed them all. There is no way that there wasn't even one person that had unforgiveness in their heart. We limit the work He can do in us, by the limitations that we place on Him. That doesn't mean that miracles won't happen, they just won't happen through us.
Point to remember: Don't limit God by what we think He can do.
The only limit to what God can do, is what we think He can do. The only limits to what God can do through us: - is what we think He can do through us - what we allow Him to do through us Have A Blessed Day! Pastor George Finney New Life Church NewLifeKenefick@yahoo.com