No Limits

Have you ever been told that your beliefs “limit” God? This was told to me because I am of the opinion that God is not a responder to me based on my amount of faith, particularly when it comes to things like physical healing and raising people from the dead. Yes, God does heal and has raised people from dead. I even believe this is still taking place today. However, it is obvious that not everybody who desires to be healed or loses a loved one to the grave has that desire answered. While there may be exceptions, I believe that God is the initiator and we are the responder. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (John 3:16).” It doesn’t say, “For the world had so much faith that God gave his one and only Son.” Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you (Matthew 17:20).” We don’t even have the faith the size of a mustard seed or else we could move mountains and probably a whole lot more. But, the real problem with this idea of God responding to our faith is that it is a form of legalism. Legalism is basically any belief that says the blessings of the flesh are dependent on the individual’s obedience, repentance or faith. In other words, you don’t have faith in God, but you are putting faith in yourself and your ability. Interesting enough, the individual who said I was limiting God just got out of the hospital where they were laid up with severe back problems that were still bugging them when we had our discussion. When I asked them, “Why is your back still hurting if it is about your faith?” Their reply, “Well, God must be trying to teach me something.” How convenient. When you are “healed” it is your faith and when you are not healed, God is teaching you a lesson. How do you know the difference? When I asked them, “How come my mom wasn’t healed of her cancer that took her life?” Their reply, “I don’t know.”

Honestly, yes they do know. According to their belief system, my mom either didn’t have enough faith or God taught her one hell of a lesson! But, people won’t say that because that isn’t loving for one and two, and more importantly, it exposes the error of their beliefs. Nowhere in all of this is Jesus. It is all about the individual’s faith or lack thereof. Jesus didn’t heal everybody. The Apostles didn’t heal everybody. This is because the healing was to draw the attention of the afflicted and those around them to God for the ultimate healing. There is no greater healing then when a person has their spirit resurrected from the dead through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12).” Some people, especially the Apostles, did what Jesus was doing; healing people and raising them from the dead. However, what did Jesus mean by “greater things.” The greater things He spoke of is people having the life of God restored to them when they are born again of the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus said He was “going to the Father;” so He could send the Holy Spirit. We don’t all get healed of our sicknesses and we don’t all get brought back to this life once we die (only to die again like Lazarus). But we all get the life of God restored to us for eternity. And when you have His life indwelling you, your spirit is healed and some day you will get a new, glorious body free from the effects of sin we struggle with today. It is not about limiting God, but putting faith in a limitless God. It is not about the size of your faith, but the size of the God you put your faith in.