We need to examine afresh our concepts of God. What is your concept of Him? Does your revelation of Him constantly expand, to see Him as Lord of lords and King of kings? Think of the thirty-fourth Psalm, verse 3, which says, O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
People are limited by their limited concept of God. Have you ever noticed that people who go to a Methodist church have a Methodist God? And people who go to a Baptist church have a Baptist God. Some Pentecostal believers have a “holy roller” God. The Roman Catholic concept of God includes two or three; the people pray to the Lord, to Mary, and even to a special saint or two.
Is the Baptist God true? Is the Methodist God true? Yes. And some aspects of the Christian Scientist’s God are right. But the concept that they have of God limits Him in their minds. He is all that they believe Him to be, but much more!
God is the Almighty One, the Lord God, El-Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One. He is everything—but He is limited because we limit Him in our thinking. Because of His dealings with us, we constantly interpret God from a human viewpoint; and we must not do this. We think that He is limiting us, when He may be doing what He did to Joseph: producing within us capabilities of walking in a great place of ministry. Let us throw off the limitations! Let us break down the fences that have limited our thinking about the Lord. He is “greatly to be praised” (Psalm 48:1).
People in the holiness movement sometimes seem to have a God who is ready to throw them into hell if they make the wrong steps. Do they worship the true God? Yes, but out of all the great attributes of God they filter one thing, His holiness. They do not see enough of His mercy, His grace. They do not see that mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13b. They are focused on only one revelation of God.
Then there are people who say that it makes no difference how much you sin; you are saved by the grace of God. And some Christians, like the Dutch Reformed, are focused on predestination: “God willed it; therefore, it will happen.” They never give an altar call to the penitent because they believe that if God has willed you to be saved, you will be saved.
All of these beliefs have a measure of truth, but when isolated, they produce a limited concept or viewpoint of God. A person restricts himself by reducing God down until he sees only a little of what God really is. We must say, like David, “Let us magnify the Lord.” We should look through the proper end of the telescope, instead of looking through the wrong end and shrinking God into a human concept that we can understand. If we let Him fill the heaven of heavens, we will realize, as Solomon did, that it cannot contain Him (I Kings 8:27). He is greater than we can imagine.
Remember that God came to Abraham and said, “I am the Almighty God” (Genesis 17:1). Study the names of God in the Scriptures. You will see that much is lost in the English translations of His names. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible is an excellent source to help you understand the names that are translated for God. The word “God” actually comes from “Gawd,” an Assyrian deity. But it became a common English word, and so the translators used it for God’s many names in the Scriptures. We should get back to His true names.
There is a great depth in the name of Jesus: … Thou shalt call his name Jesus (YAHSHUA): for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21. What an ever expanding means of salvation and Lordship is conveyed in His name! It would be good for us to expand our concepts of His names: “Lord,” “Jesus,” and “God.” If a book were written containing only the definitions of God’s names, it could take us through all of the Scriptures which show how great God is. We would humble our hearts before Him. Greater than anything we could possibly do would be to come before Him, saying, “Here we are. We are going to exalt You.” This is important, because what we receive from Him is measured by our revelation (or concept) of Him as it is revealed in His Word.
Every Christian has a limited revelation of God the Father and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Earlier we spoke about the Baptist God. Few Baptists would form a line to receive divine healing, or to receive a directive Word from God, or the laying on of hands or prophecy. Their God does not do that, because they do not have that revelation of Him. But when you go to a church that teaches Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever—He can still heal; He can still bring a prophetic Word over you; He can still guide and direct you,” it becomes an electrifying experience. It happens to you because you believe it can happen! All things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23b. Our problem is that we do not believe enough. We limit and restrict ourselves in what we believe.
The Lord said, According to your faith be it unto you. Matthew 9:29b. Other references in Matthew and Mark show that He ministered to people according to their faith. When you come to God, you will get exactly what you dare to believe for. Your faith is like a container. You bring it to God, saying to Him, “I believe that You can do this much for me,” and you draw only that amount from Him. If only you could see that God is like a great, vast, unfathomable ocean, that you could never come to the depth or breadth or height or length of it! You could never fully know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3:18–19).
Are you dipping a little thimble in for a drink? Bring a bucket or a tub! Better still, bring a tank and get a siphon—or jump in and drown yourself in the love of God! You will receive, according to your concept in faith.
When God gives a revelation of His provision, you can be absolutely unlimited in your approach to it. If you are getting less than you should, perhaps in your heart you have limited God. Psalm 78:41 says that the Hebrews limited the Holy One of Israel. They perished in the wilderness because they did not have a big enough God. He could have performed many signs and wonders, but they limited Him.
When you limit God, you limit yourself. Even though promises have been spoken over you, your way of thinking can limit what God would do for you. One factor can enter in: you probably do not like yourself; and because you have a limited revelation of the Lord, you may dwell in self-condemnation. So much of religion is based upon fear and self-condemnation that many people never realize the greatness and goodness of God.
You may have deep problems within yourself, but if you keep moving, even at a tortoise pace, a true shepherd will never condemn you. He will get after you only if you stop or are going backwards. That is not to be tolerated. But if you are moving, look where you are now and rejoice. You are not where you were, and while you are not yet where God plans for you to be, at least you are in motion. When you are in motion, every patience and long-suffering, every love is warranted. As long as you make the effort of faith to appropriate grace and to move ahead, you are doing fine.
Have this same attitude about others. Do not try to muster up patience with those who are not where they should be, but rejoice that they are not where they were! Seek a revelation from the Lord about what a brother is to be, and you will not criticize him as long as you see him moving.
All that the Lord is doing for us is based upon a revelation of the Lord and of what He has for us; but it is also based upon a revelation of yourself. Paul wrote, Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but.… I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12, 14.
Our revelation of one another is very important. We may see the need for a revelation of the Lord and of ourselves, but even so, we can stumble if we have a limited revelation of each other. We must see the Lord in our brother, and we must see what God has chosen. There may be conflicts between us and times when we do not seem to understand one another’s viewpoint. Because of our limited revelation or the limited concept we have, there can always be friction. In fact, this is one way that God has of bringing us to maturity. It could be called “Operation Sandpaper” as the saints rub against each other to take off the rough spots. Often, we seek God more and learn more from those who withstand us than from those who are ready to agree with us.
Have a right attitude toward one another. God brings us as brothers and sisters in Christ into a state of blessing to one another as well as a continual challenge to one another. View for a moment what happens to you through these encounters, and you will conclude that God knows what He is doing. Even if we tend to question this, good is coming out of it. All things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.
Bless your pastors. You easily can evaluate where they seem to be spiritually and become critical that they are not in the top group of apostles and prophets, or you can rejoice that God is bringing them forth, thrusting before them an open door to shepherd you. Again, if you have limited God and have limited yourself, you tend to limit everyone else.
A greater view of the Lord must always be ministered to a congregation. As we magnify and exalt Him, we believe that anything is possible. Once we have God in proper perspective, we look at ourselves and realize that since the Lord is unlimited, He is not handicapped by our limitations. Let us say, “I’m going to take a view of faith for myself. I don’t have to impose my limitations on God: He can do anything! Therefore, He can bring all His perfect will forth in my life!” In the glow of this wonderful revelation, we will become very compassionate and tolerant: “Lord, You can even help this publican over here. He is not so limited either. I can bless him too!”
When the Lord’s name is exalted among us, we have the greater view of faith for one another. We can come before the Lord and say, “Lord, what have You said about my brother? What have You said about my sister?” We will not focus on any problem that we see, or on any circumstance, or on any impasse that seems to exist in our thinking; we believe that only what God has said is valid.
This is a war over His Word. Do we believe what God has said about Himself? Do we believe what God has revealed about ourselves? Do we believe what God has revealed about each other? We can find many Scriptures that show that we have limited God in our thinking. We can all claim promises in the Scriptures that are greater than any prophecies over us individually.
Do not look at another to limit him in your thinking if God has spoken that he is to be a ministry in the house of the Lord. Enter into the travail for the whole Body with a faith that demands to see the fruit and fulfillment of what God has said. Contend for it with an implicit, absolute faith that what God has said about Himself, about yourself, and about all your brothers and sisters is true. Look at them and believe what God has said over them. Do not ever think, “They have come far, but I don’t know whether they will make it on.” Have faith that God who began a good work in them will perform it until the day of the Lord (Philippians 1:6). He is both the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Do not look at anything the ministries are going through at the moment, but believe God. Everyone has faults. A ministry may tend to explode a little before he settles down to what God wants. Then he has faith and is a little ashamed that he did not keep his mouth shut. A good Kingdom proverb would be, “God, give us lockjaw until You give us a Word.” Have faith for each other to enter into the periods of growth which God sets before us. Believe for the blessing of the Lord to flow in an unequaled way.
It takes faith to believe God for one another. By the Holy Spirit, God gave to all of us a measure of discernment when we came into Christ. But He did not give a “gift of suspicion” whereby we could look upon one another with raised eyebrows or wonder. Whenever we see a need from a critical viewpoint, we do not have the love and faith for it to be met. To discern a need in a brother’s life and be critical is evidence that you do not have enough love for him. If you have love when you see his need, it motivates you to believe for him. Any perception or revelation which exists in the church must see the needs with love. Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6).
Your pastors will make mistakes. If they do not, it will be the biggest mistake of all, for it means that they have done nothing. In the parable of Matthew 25, we read that the man who brought his talent in a napkin, saying, “I buried it,” was under the curse. The others went out and probably made mistakes, yet they used their talents and multiplied them. Then they came and presented them to the Lord. Oh, we must communicate this to each other.
Your faith can develop excellent pastors of the men who are set before you. Many in the congregation may have a deeper spiritual walk with the Lord than the men who are set to lead you. That is beside the point. If you do, then you are all the stronger to pray, to bless, and to help them fulfill their ministry. The apostolic ministry constantly prays for people who cannot preach and who do not have discernment, yet he prays and believes for them and brings them forth. That is his purpose. We … that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. Romans 15:1a. This applies also to those who say they are weak. Do not hesitate to come and demand that the ministries who are set before you will be everything that is required for your spiritual edification, ever remembering the words of commission that God has spoken over them.