I am impressed and humbled to see how much God is limited to man’s cooperation. God is omnipotent and He can do everything He wants, but His omnipotence is limited because His church on earth does not release His power and His will.
God needs to have certain conditions suitable for His working, and then He can work – but who among men cooperates with Him, offers Him the prayers that He needs, and aligns his will to God’s will?
Me and you, the believers in Christ, can hinder God through our sin, our unbelief, our natural energy, our offenses, etc. The power of God is ready to operate, God is ready to save, and He wants to advance in His economy – but we as God’s people can limit Him and hinder Him, putting Him in a position where He cannot do what He desires to do.
We need to have a revelation of the fact that the power of God is limited to our capacity and subject to our will, our submission, our obedience, and our faith. The Lord really needs to bring us to a place where we are fully responsive to Him so that He may have a free way in us to do whatever He wants to do.
Lord, save us from hindering You and limiting You in what You intend to do. We open to You, Lord. We love You, and we want to give You more ground in our being that You may gain what You are after. Make us those who are responsive to You, who cooperate with You, and who release Your will on earth!
Not Hindering the Lord Anymore
We need the Lord to shine on us both individually and corporately as the church that we may see, in His light, what He can do AND what we can hinder Him from doing.
![We need the Lord to shine on us both individually and corporately as the church that we may see, in His light, what He can do AND what we can hinder Him from doing. [In the picture: The Lord must bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Himself so that He can have a free and unhindered way to do whatever He wants to do, Watchman Nee]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/a-place-of-utter-responsiveness-to-god-unhindered-way-1024x680.jpg?resize=750%2C498&ssl=1 "We need the Lord to shine on us both individually and corporately as the church that we may see, in His light, what He can do AND what we can hinder Him from doing. [In the picture: The Lord must bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Himself so that He can have a free and unhindered way to do whatever He wants to do, Watchman Nee]")
No, God’s hand is not too short so that He cannot redeem – there’s no man to cooperate with Him (see Isa. 50:2). Nothing is too wonderful, too much, or too amazing for the Lord to do (Jer. 32:17); rather, what is impossible with man it is possible with God (Matt. 19:26; Luke 1:37).
God is ready to save; He is ready to redeem and bring many men back to Himself – but who on earth prays for His will to be released? God desires that all men be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).
But God’s capacity and ground to work among men are limited by our capacity and to the ground, we give Him in our being. If we allow God to enlarge our capacity, if we allow Him to subdue our will and gain our obedience, if we grow in faith and in the divine life, God’s power will no longer be limited but will increasingly be expressed as He wishes.
Today God’s power is limited to our capacity, and what He can do is subject to our will, submission, obedience, and faith (see Matt. 17:19-20; Mark 11:23-24). We are the measure that the divine almightiness can operate.
May we hinder Him no more! May we give Him a free way in our being, that He may gain what He is after. May we be enlarged channels through which He can freely flow and operate. May we no longer hinder Him, limit Him, shut Him up, or stop Him from what He desires to do.
Being Responsive to God and Cooperating with Him
God desires to have a people who are responsive to Him so that He can have a free and unhindered way to do what is in His heart to do. This has to do a lot with our growth in life, to giving the Lord the ground in us to grow and expand (Matt. 13:22-23; 23:37-38). He is limited by our measure of faith (Mark 6:5).
May we not be those who have an evil heart of unbelief, who will cause us to fall away from the living God (Heb. 3:11-12), but rather be those who mix the word of God with our faith (Hebrews 4:2) and enjoy Him, love Him, open to Him, give Him ground to grow in us, and pray for both our growth in life and the growth in life unto maturity of the saints.
The Lord must bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Himself, a place where we are pliable in His hands and He can do what He desires to do with our full willing cooperation.
When He gains such ones, there is nothing that He cannot do on earth. He will truly have an unhindered way to move and operate.
Lord, have a way in us! Lord, grow in us. Gain more ground in our inner being. Lord, we no longer want to hinder You. Gain the responsiveness in us that You need for You to move and accomplish what’s on Your heart.
The Body of Christ Either Expresses or Limits Christ
Our human body is the full expression of what we are, of our personality. We gesticulate as we speak, we have a certain attitude and demeanor, and we dress in a particular way so as to be expressed.
![the Lord Jesus is expressed through each member of the Body, and the church as the Body is expressing Him as a whole. Christ as the Head is either expressed or limited by His Body on the earth in what He wants to do. [In the picture: The Body of Christ can either be for His Expression or His limitation, Watchman Nee]](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/body-of-christ-either-gods-expression-or-limitation-1024x675.jpg?resize=750%2C494&ssl=1 "the Lord Jesus is expressed through each member of the Body, and the church as the Body is expressing Him as a whole. Christ as the Head is either expressed or limited by His Body on the earth in what He wants to do. [In the picture: The Body of Christ can either be for His Expression or His limitation, Watchman Nee]")
In the same way, the Lord Jesus is expressed through each member of the Body, and the church as the Body is expressing Him as a whole. Christ as the Head is either expressed or limited by His Body on the earth in what He wants to do.
We as the many members of the Body of Christ either express Him or we limit Him. The measure to which we grow in life is the measure to which He can be expressed.
God could be expressed fully through the Lord Jesus because He had no limitation in Him – He was fully one with God, He was mature in life, He gave no ground to Satan, and He fully allowed God to do whatever He wanted to do in and through Him.
Today God is seeking for many duplications of Christ in the members of His Body, those who are fully responsive to God and in whom His will’s limitations will be forever done away with.
We need to see how great our responsibility is, and we need to allow the Lord to open our eyes to see God’s limitations and also see how we should cooperate with Him!
Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see what You desire to do and how do we limit You. Lord, gain the response in us that You need for You to accomplish Your will. May we individually as members and corporately as Your Body limit You no more. Cause us to see our great responsibility and humble ourselves before You, allowing You to operate in us both the willing and the working for Your good pleasure. Have an unhindered way to do what You want to do!
References and Further Reading
- This portion is fully inspired from brother Watchman Nee’s messages in, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee (vol. 46, pp. 1225-1230), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 3 (entitled, Praying at the Incense Altar for the Formation of an Army to Fight for God’s Move on Earth).
- Further reading: The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit (by Watchman Nee, ch. 5).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, to know Thee as the Body, / Is my desperate need today, / Oh, to see Thee in Thy members, / ’Tis for this I long and pray.
# God, You are now rearranging my way. / All I have built You’re destroying today. / Those serving faithfully daily decrease. / Dishonesty, misunderstandings increase.
# Lord Jesus, Thy message is clear: / You’re coming for those who are wise, / Who buy up their oil today, / Who deal with all hindering ties. - Pictures credit: taken with permission from, Inspiration Unlimited (facebook page).
About aGodMan
God is omnipotent, but His omnipotence is subject to limitation because He must have certain conditions suitable for His working. The question is whether or not we are in the position for Him to show forth His power. I know that I cannot help God; I cannot further anything of His. But it is possible that something of me can hinder Him. Sin, unbelief, natural energy, etc., will hinder the very power of God. The Lord has to give us light to see what He can do, and He has to give us light also to see what we can hinder Him from doing. We can put Him into a position where He cannot do what He wants to do. The Creator of heaven and earth can be limited by us. May the Lord search our hearts and deal with us in a drastic way. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 46, p. 1226)
The divine almightiness today is subject to us. The meaning of the kingdom is that God can do what He wants, that He has His own way, that He is unhindered, and that He has authority and power and therefore glory. The church has to bring this in. The Lord Jesus expresses Himself through each member, and the whole of Him is expressed through His church. The Body can either be for His expression or limitation. Something of us can hinder Him (sin, unbelief- Hebrews 4:2, natural energy etc.). The Lord has to give us light to see what He can do, and He has to give us light also to see what we can hinder Him from doing. It will be a great day when the light dawns and we realize how great our responsibility is. We are the only expression Christ has. The Body is the way got Him to express Himself. He must bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Himself do that He can have a free and unhindered way.
I was struck when I read Mark 6:5 this morning. It said "And He could not do any work of power there, except to lay His hands upon a few of the sick and heal them". Here we can see that the Lord's power was limited – He could only heal those who wanted to be healed. He could do no more than that he was allowed to do.
Oh Lord Jesus, we open ourselves to You Lord, we fully submit and surrender to You Lord. Subdue and defeat our will to be one with Your will for the accomplishing of Your plan and purpose on the earth. We don't want to limit You in Your work on the earth today but we want to be those ones who fully co-operate with You Lord, we give You our heart, mind, will and emotions, accomplish Your heart's desire on earth today!
Lord Jesus, makes us pliable in Your hands. Bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to You so that You can have a free and unhindered way.
We need to have a revelation of the fact that the power of God is limited to our capacity and subject to our will, our submission, our obedience, and our faith. Oh Lord Jesus! We need to have a revelation of the fact! Thank you Lord for Your limited with our capacity and subject to our will, our submission, our obedience, and our faith! Amen! Hallelujah!
The One whose will is absolutely identified with God’s and the One in whom God has no limitations is the Lord Jesus. God can do what He likes with Him and through Him…
Today, the Lord is moving and working within His Body in the Spirit. Is He able to move without any limitation?
The church on the earth is His kingdom, His vessel and His channel, where God should be able to do what He wants, rule, expresses His authority, power and glory, and to carry out His economy.
‘O Lord, may Your light dawn on us today and that we realize how great our responsibility is. We can shut You out or we can release You and let You work freely.’
O Lord, enlarge the church’s capacity and thus enlarge Your power. Search our hearts and deal with us all the hidden things, make us fully obedient, bring us to a place where we have nothing to hinder You, where we are pliable in Your hands. Bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Yourself, to Your economy. We must begin today to let You work in us, O Lord, You need us, You are waiting….
PERFECT OUR HEART
2 Chron 16:9 For the eyes of Jehovah run to & fro throughout the earth to strengthen those whose heart is perfect towards Him…
Heb 4:2 For indeed we have had the good news announced to us, even as they also; but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard.
‘God is looking for members who will be fully responsive to Him. The kingdom means that God…has a sphere in which He is supreme. He has put Himself into us & made us His channels…The Body of Christ is that which expresses Christ.’
Lord make Your home in our hearts & made perfect towards You to have Your expression & Kingdom here on earth & accomplish Your hearts desire.
Amen!
Wow, this is such revelation. It's not that the Lord does not want to do anything. It's that we limit him by our sin, unbelief, natural energy, and offenses. We have to come before the Lord and open to Him and allow him to deal with these things so that he can move unhindered. I've always wondered how we can be unhindered. In Acts 28:31, The apostles were "Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered," yet there could be blockages in our being that prevent the Lord from moving. We need to grow in life that we are one with God, giving no ground to Satan. Something about faith really touches me. We limit him by our measure of faith. If we truly have faith even of a mustard seed and we tell this mountain to move, it will move (Matt 17:20). But that mountain doesn't move because we don't have faith. We limit the Lord by our lack of faith. What about obedience, the Lord wants us to speak but maybe we are silent. Maybe the Lord wants us to take care of a matter, but we delay. The Lord wants us to follow the Lamb wherever he may go. We don't need to be discouraged by our situation, we just need to be encouraged to exercise the life that we have. To come forward to Him to deal with all our natural strengths etc. and hinderances. Not for our sake but that his will would be manifested through us. May we be those that are responsive to Him, open to Him, that this life can flow so that God can accomplish his will. Amen!
Lord, bring us to a place where we have nothing to hinder You, where we are pliable in Your hands. Bring us to a place of utter responsiveness to Yourself so that You can have a free and unhindered way. Gain members of Your Body who will be fully responsive to You and in whom the limitations to Your will are removed. Lord, we don't want to put You into a position where You cannot do what You want to do. Shine on us to see what You can do and to see what we can hinder You from doing. Lord, have Your way in us so that You can do what You want, so that You can have Your way, unhindered, and so that You may have Your kingdom on earth with Your authority, power, and glory.