Your faith in your limitations is often greater and more deadly than you know. Notice that I call it “faith.” Perhaps you think of it as “unbelief”—but what is unbelief, except a reverse or negative faith? You are still believing in something. Even an atheist has faith. If you ask him what he believes, he will say, “I believe that there is no God.” He really believes that.
What is faith? It is very difficult to define. Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. However, even that definition does not come to grips with all of what faith really is. Faith is a positive, thorough belief in a principle, a person, or some purpose. Regardless of its objective, faith should be thorough and strong enough to bring about a definite response and action. I cannot say, “I believe; I have faith,” unless I am motivated to act upon that conviction. It is true that we believe in our heart, but our faith does not stop there; we must also confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and we are saved (Romans 10:9). Faith is activated when we act upon the conviction that we have.
The fact is that faith is an activity; we must get away from the idea that faith is merely the acceptance of a truth. James pointed this out when he said, “You say you believe? The demons also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). But that kind of believing will never save the demons; it is not an evidence of their salvation.
The objective of our faith (what we are believing for) requires that we respond by acting upon it. God reveals many truths to us, and consciously or unconsciously we react to every Word from God; we take some kind of action upon it. We act upon what we believe. According to James 1:22–24, it is very important that we be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Our faith is in vain if we hear the Word, but do not act upon it.
Be a doer. Take actions that correspond to your faith. What would you do if you were in a roomful of people and someone placed a gift of a million dollars on the table? If you really believed that this gift was for you, you would scramble to get that million dollars, wouldn’t you? You would go after it! Or what if someone suddenly rushed into the room shouting, “Fire! Fire!” If you believed him, you would run out of the building as fast as you could, wouldn’t you? You would find a way out. You would act upon what you had heard.
When you hear something and really believe it, you act upon it. And because we know the times and the seasons, because we know that the coming of the Lord is very imminent, we should act accordingly. There should be a corresponding action; it is not enough just to listen and have the teaching in our ears. If you believe in divine order, follow through with it—be submissive, be faithful. Fulfill the ministry God has given you to do. Do not draw back.
It is a matter of faith, not of feelings. Neither the feelings of happiness and joy, nor the absence of those good feelings, should affect our faith one way or the other. We will be happy when we give ourselves to do whatever God wants us to do. But we must remember that happiness is not our main objective. Like a tree, we send down roots—the roots of faith—into the Word. Then as we grow upward into God, the branches and the fruit (which are the feelings) come forth. Faith has to be rooted in the fact of God’s Word; and when we are obedient to that Word, then the right feelings follow. Faith that is rooted in the fact of the Word produces the joy in our life. That is why Jesus said, “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13:17).
Jesus gave us the promise that if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, we shall be able to remove mountains (Matthew 17:20). Don’t you think there ought to be a few things we can do? At least we should be able to stop a mudslide because we have faith!
If we really understood how scientific formulas work, we would also understand how one principle can cross out another in the spirit world. Everything works according to the laws which God has established. Whether they are physical laws that govern the universe with all its galaxies, or whether they are spiritual laws, they operate the same way. Nevertheless, another principle, a miracle, can break one of those laws. For instance, this happened when Jesus miraculously walked on water (Matthew 14:25). Probably you, too, have had the experience of walking on water, but with one important difference: surely the temperature was below freezing! A natural law had been imposed upon the circumstances, which made it possible to walk, run, skate, or slide on frozen water. But when the water is over thirty-two degrees, it requires a miracle to walk on it.
Jesus’ statement, recorded in Mark 9:23b, is strong and clear: “All things are possible to him who believes.” You do believe, don’t you? Then what prevents that Scripture from coming to pass in your life right now? Perhaps your faith goes in two directions, and one “faith” is crossing out the other. What about your faith in your limitations? Is it crossing out your faith in God’s Word? Faith is what you believe in, but true faith must be in the unlimited promises of God. Do you realize how many limitations you actually believe in? You have assumed these limitations; maybe they were taught to you from the time that you were a small child. Although you do believe in the promises and the provisions of God, which in effect deny those limitations, yet you constantly have faith also in your limitations.
Envision what could happen in the Kingdom of God if just one generation were taught nothing of the limitations which had restricted the previous generations. For instance, suppose that they knew nothing of the achievements that had been established in the field of sports, such as the records for running or the high jump. Instead of projecting limitations, suppose we would concentrate on teaching that generation what faith does to make everything possible. If this could be done in one generation of the Kingdom, we would see people shattering every existing record; they would break through every known barrier and problem in every field of the sciences! One generation could do it!
If a boy grows up with the idea that no one can run a mile in less time than four minutes, and he believes that, then he can be limited by that knowledge. Almost every limitation is based in the mind. An impotence can be created in people if they will accept it. Many a man has become impotent in marriage for only one reason; he was convinced of his limitations and the faults spoken by his wife to such an extent that he finally accepted those limitations. He had no more capacity as a husband because he believed the limitations that were imposed upon him.
Do you realize the harm that is done by a parent who shouts at his child, “You dummy! You’re stupid!” or slaps him on the head, telling him how inadequate he is? Such conditioning, which goes deeply into the child’s subconscious mind, is like a kind of hypnosis. A person who has received that kind of treatment as a child may blank out and fail a college examination, even though he knows the material perfectly. He will fail because he believes he has to fail. He believes in his limitations. One of the most deplorable things that can happen to a human being is to be exposed to the conditioning which causes him to have faith in his supposed limitations. In whatever manner those limitations were imposed upon him, he accepted them and believes them.
The continuous war that we wage is to bring people to believe what God says! Two things made Jesus marvel: the faith of the centurion and the unbelief of the disciples. When the centurion approached Jesus, saying, “Speak the Word only, and my servant will be healed,” Jesus marveled at that man’s faith (Matthew 8:8–10). On the other hand, Jesus frequently had to rebuke the disciples because of their unbelief, saying, “You men of little faith!” It was a thing of wonder to Him. When Peter cried out because he started to sink while trying to walk on the water, Jesus said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31b.
It is almost beyond human explanation that we do not believe the promises of God as we should. Instead, we believe in our limitations! Our negative faith creates a counteracting wipeout for us. Remember that! We give lip service to the promises of God, but we must do more than that. We need to come to grips with the unbelief that refuses to claim those promises as we should. The high walls of unbelief within us must be broken down. Those walls are that we accept a lie that we are limited.
What you believe determines what you can do. Someday, someone will come along who has not been told how much weight he can lift—and he will lift more weight than anyone ever has! We hear of instances of courage in extreme stress, in which individuals pick up and carry very heavy objects. Just think of what can be done!
An optometrist once told me that perfect vision is all a matter of relaxing. But when I asked, “Does this mean that if I learn how to relax, I will see perfectly?” he contradicted himself by saying that no one could actually do it. It was a paradox. As a scientist, he knew that anyone could have perfect vision restored if he could learn to relax his eye muscles completely. A human being with normal eyesight is able to focus his eyes both far and near. But once the muscles become weakened so that he cannot focus clearly, he becomes conditioned to the idea that he needs glasses. Nevertheless, I have heard of people who were able to read a newspaper without their glasses after camping for a week or two in the woods; they had been able to relax. After a short time back on the job, however, they needed their glasses again. Under pressures and the various stimuli that condition us, we eventually tend to revert to our belief in our limitations.
No matter what anybody tells us, we still continue to believe in our limitations! Here is a rather humorous example which illustrates clearly how faith in your limitations can negate the faith you should have. When a young boxer was preparing to go into the ring, his trainer reminded him, “Now keep telling yourself that you can win.” So he repeated to himself, “I can beat him; I can lick him. Yes, I know I can lick him! I will lick him!” Then he went into the ring and—with a one! two!—immediately he was flat on the canvas.
Half an hour later, when he had regained consciousness, his trainer asked him, “Didn’t you tell yourself that you could beat him?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Didn’t you tell yourself that you could go into the ring and knock him out?”
“Yes, I told myself that. But the trouble is, I know what a big liar I am!”
The point, of course, is that his faith in his limitations crossed out the faith he should have had in his strength and his ability as a boxer.
What would happen in one generation if all the automobiles and all known sources of energy were taken away, but we still had people thoroughly trained in their thinking to be aware of the potential of every scriptural promise? How many of the world’s problems would be solved if people had no knowledge of yesterday’s limitations? History can be a monkey on our back. We need to have God loose us from all restrictions in our thinking. There is a remarkable prophecy, relating to the Kingdom, which says, “The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17b. This indicates that we will forget the limitations which belonged to another age.
What are you doing with the Words that God’s Spirit has made real to you, with the commission He gave you, with the prophecies that have been spoken over you? Are you waiting passively, thinking that perhaps in the sweet by-and-by they will all come to pass? Then you are to blame for the delays. You are the one who is accepting the limitations, and believing in them. Rebuke and repent of that unbelief! Continue to rebuke every bit of unbelief in your heart!
Most inventions that are only an extension or a new development of something that already exists are created by highly educated people. They have been brainwashed by their education to have faith in the limitations of our society and our sciences. On the other hand, inventions which are complete innovations are often created by those without much formal education. Why is it that people keep trying to devise a better mousetrap—and yet no one has invented a way to destroy all the mice? And what about the problem of sickness? Instead of solving the problem and eliminating sickness altogether, each generation focuses upon the various infirmities and illnesses by developing a little better vaccine, antibiotic, or chemical treatment of some kind. Each generation keeps building, building, building on the information gathered by the previous generations, while all the time a great breakthrough is waiting to be brought forth from another direction altogether.
People who claim to have seen flying saucers describe the rapid rate with which they move. Evidently somewhere a source of energy has been discovered of which we know nothing. And yet, here we are, still digging up fossil fuels for our energy sources! Hundreds of thousands of years ago the dead bodies of dinosaurs were changed into a substance that we can refine, put in our engines, and use to transport us somewhere. Yet do you know what would happen if you discovered a new source of energy and invented another kind of car? Within a week you would probably be removed from the scene and have your plans confiscated, because the commercial system is such that its principal goal is not to solve energy problems, but to make money.
Faith in limitations is a condition existing in the church system, too. In some way we must leave the limits of the Church age behind and enter fully into the Kingdom. If we could brainwash ourselves from all limitations and fill our minds with the promises of God’s Word, what a tremendous breakthrough we would see!
Are you a believer? Be sure that your faith is positive, that it is focused in the right direction. Do you believe that every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? Do you believe that every knee will bow to Him? Do you believe that everything is going to bow to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Do you believe that the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ? Do you believe that Babylon will come down in one hour? Do you believe that every realm of our culture will be invaded by the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe that the rock cut out of the mountain without hands will grind to powder the total product of all the former civilizations and eventually fill the whole earth? Do you believe in absolute surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ?
On the other hand, do you still believe that there will always be limitations imposed upon us? Do you believe that faith can rise only so high and no further? We are preparing for the culmination of the battle of the ages, and all we need is a shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Why? We are not going against an enemy; what we are battling is actually just an illusion. Satan has no power apart from what he persuades you to believe that he has. Scripturally, Satan is a defeated foe. Christ has already won the battle over him. The only thing that gives him any power is your unbelief.
By just a little unbelief have we been guilty of nullifying that complete, perfect work of the cross which opened up to us such tremendous, limitless provisions and changes within our being? We need to come before the Lord and seek His help. It is easy to blame the pastors and elders and say that they have limited us. But if we were a little more humble and honest, we would have to admit that we have limited ourselves. Each one of us needs to realize, “I’m the one at fault—I did it to myself.”
What should you do about it? Declare a war! Refuse the faith that you have in your limitations. Make havoc of it. It is imperative that you destroy it. Do you feel as though you are handcuffed? You are the one who put them on. Is your tongue tied so that you cannot speak the Word of the Lord? You did it to yourself. One way or another, consciously or unconsciously, you have accepted a faith in limitations.
Real faith is positive, persistent, and wholehearted. It is constantly resistant against the fiery darts from the wicked one, which come to penetrate your armor and burn in your heart and in your mind with doubts and unbelief. It is true that such complete faith has not yet been fully realized. That is both the problem and our challenge. Jesus said, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can move a mountain” (Matthew 17:20). However, as far as we know, not one mountain has been moved that way yet. Two thousand years have passed since Jesus spoke that Word, but so far no mountains have been moved by faith.
We tend to accept the idea that what has not happened in the past will not happen now—and then we conclude that there is not much prospect of it happening in the future, either! In our thinking we have become conditioned in such a way that we accept yesterday’s limitations today. Will we continue to believe in them tomorrow too? No! Let us determine to walk in faith. What does it matter if no one has moved a mountain by faith? Does that mean no one will ever do it? Could ours be the generation which experiences things that no other generation has ever experienced?
A time is coming in which God will make us invincible, not because we are so strong, but because we are believers. The battle is not won or lost on the field of battle; it is won or lost first of all in your heart. Defeat is already in the heart of a man before he ever enters the fray. Similarly, victory is already in the heart and in the mind of the overcomer before he ever faces an encounter with the enemy. Defeat starts in the heart; but victory starts there also. As an overcomer, put to death every limitation upon your faith. Continually exercise your faith in the Lord and in His promises.