10 Reasons We Limit a Limitless God: Comfort & Familiarity

(This post is part of a 10-part series that will be released weekly. Each post will cover one of the 10 most common reasons we limit a limitless God.)

What caused you to read a post like this?

What caused you to seek truth and revelation beyond what you have been taught or experienced before?

What, or who, made you hunger for more?

Why have you decided, today, to dip your toes into the world of outside-the-box God chasing?

If you unpack the answers to those four questions seven layers deep, you may come up with a theory that seems logical and easy to explain. It is human nature, after all, to attempt to dissect our thoughts, feelings, and actions in order to better understand them within the scope of our own reasoning and logic. But what if it’s more than that? What if it’s something altogether supernatural? What if…

Your curiosity and hunger is actually spiritual evidence of a God that wants nothing more than to deepen His personal one-on-one relationship with you?

If I’ve perked your interest in this subject at all, give me 10 minutes of your time and you just may discover the key to unlocking an entirely new level of relationship with a God that loves you more than you will ever know!

CREATED WITH FAMILIARITY

I have always found the following verses to be fascinating:

• (The Father) pulls on the hearts of (His people) to embrace me (Jesus). John 6:44
• He has done this so that every person would long for God, feel their way to him, and find him – for he is the God who is easy to discover. Acts 17:27
• In reality, the truth of God is known instinctively, for God has embedded this knowledge inside every human heart. Romans 1:19
• But the one who joins himself to the Lord is mingled into one spirit with him.” – 1 Corinthians 6:17

These verses suggest to me that we, you and I, were purposely designed and created with three things:

1. A natural hunger for God
2. A oneness with God that allows for an instinctive familiarity with His Presence (think of how a baby naturally knows its mother’s scent and voice), and…
3. A supernatural awareness of the truth (and safety) of God’s presence and heart.

So, let’s unpack and apply this a bit:

We have often heard John 10:29 (“My sheep will know my voice”) explained as follows: When we spend time with God (ex: in prayer and meditation) we become familiar with His voice and follow Him. And I’m not arguing that this explanation or interpretation is altogether wrong. Afterall, the more time we spend with God, the more our familiarity with Him in that relationship grows. However…

I believe that this concept often overlooks one HUGE foundational truth: There are no prerequisites to a familiarity with the God who calls our name. We were actually created with a spirit that instinctively knows His voice, is familiar with His touch, finds rest in His lingering scent, and feels peace and safety in His presence. Bottom line: We were created to Know Him. (Remember: John’s spirit – in the womb – sensed Jesus’ spirit – in the womb – and lept. He knew the familiar presence of God before he was ever even born.)

And when you look at it this way, having *personal experiences* with God is not radical at all, my friend. In fact, it’s altogether natural. You were made to EXPERIENCE God’s Presence.

But if this is true, why do so many of us struggle to ever have a personal God encounter?

To answer that, let’s unpack this idea a little more:

WHERE FAMILIARITY BECOMES FOREIGN

From the time that God breathed life into your lungs, the real work began. You see, the Holy Spirit has gently called your name all your life. He continually plants divine collision points where we personally, sometimes profoundly, are touched by Heaven itself. Think back to any major lifechanging moments and you’ll find one of these God touches in the details. Let your mind sit in even the most mundane of memories and you’ll discover His Presence if you look (with eyes to see). He has been reaching for a personal relationship with you for your entire life. But here’s where it gets a bit sticky because sometimes our theology, environment, or experiences in this space get in the way of what God is pouring out.

Unfortunately, one of the greatest tragedies of Christian culture today is that we talk a lot about the power of God to heal, redeem, give peace, and hold us through some of the worst seasons of our lives, but we have often lost touch with the actual experience of His Presence.  This truth is so devastating that for many Christians, the experience of His Presence seems so foreign and unfamiliar by now that they doubt, disbelieve, and even condemn the “radical” supernatural experiences of others because such stories of Heaven touching Earth are so far outside the box of their own foundation of “knowns.”

Truth: Somewhere along the way, it has become “radical” to experience God’s manifested presence. Have you ever thought of this? Even though we see His Manifested Glory appear all throughout the Bible, again and again, we are not comfortable with the idea that He is the same God today. You have to wonder what led the generations to accept this untruth and pass it down to their children and grandchildren until it became a cultural norm? I won’t speculate, but I will say this:

When we share our life’s testimony with our children and grandchildren, we’re not only passing down our personal experiences of God, but we’re also passing on our expectations of Him. Woven into each story we tell is either a lesson on (and framework for) how to experience God inside the box of comfort and familiarity or an invitation to reach for the incredible God of so much more! Let your life be a testimony to the power of a hungry heart. Don’t stop where the crowd stops. Keep reaching for the God of more!

Now, let’s go back to those previous verses that I shared, for foundational purposes: It’s not actually radical, at all, to experience God’s Presence. We were designed to have an intimate relationship with our Creator. He not only loves you, He is a part of you, just as you are a beloved part of Him. Knowing Him, deeply and intimately, is therefore one of the most natural relationships you will ever have. It’s effortless, grace-filled, freeing, and altogether lovely. He adores you, friend, wholly and completely.

But let’s pivot a bit and ask the harder questions:

Are you comfortable with the idea that God can, and does, manifest His Presence in ways that we will not ever be able to easily explain? Or would you prefer to limit God to the boundaries of what is familiar and comfortable for you; that which you have always known and need not ever really dissect or defend, even for yourself?

Interesting questions, right? Now, let me challenge you a bit:

It’s often one key ingredient – Hunger – that attracts Heaven and breaks through the walls of the natural to touch and hold space for the unexplainable and miraculous. We hold the very key that unlocks the next level in our relationship with Him. We get to decide for what we will hold space when it comes to our relationship with God.

And I promise you, right now, that should you decide to reach for more, you will never reach for God and not find Him reaching back. How do I know? Because our hunger, if viewed through the lenses of the verses I shared earlier, is actually our response to His already outstretched hand. We are not the initiators, He was. His hand is already reaching out for more of you, today. He designed and created you to know Him on a deeper level.

Now here’s our part: We must be willing to reach beyond our familiar and comfortable to meet His outstretched hand and step into this relationship of “more” with Him. Understand, this deepening of relationship with Him is not a requirement. It is not a pre-requisite to salvation. It does not make you better than anyone else or more holy than your sister or brother next to you. But it is an incredible invitation with your name written all over it and it will radically change your life.

“Press in, beyond the crowd.” These are the words I once heard the Holy Spirit say to me after a God-encounter like I’d never experienced before. We will talk about that experience a bit later, but my point here is this: Like the bleeding woman in the crowd, we must be willing to push through whatever holds us back and believe that when we reach out to touch Heaven, we will be met with an experience that shakes our theology, expands our norms, and invites us into a whole new depth of God’s heart. You were made to know Him, friend. You were made to experience Him.

Don’t limit a limitless God out of comfort and familiarity. Touch Heaven. Touch Jesus. Touch a life lived fully alive in Him. If you’re ready to take the next step, start here…

HOW TO GET STARTED

When we know what to expect, we often limit our experience (even of God) to what we know. This is an undeniable truth. We will almost always see, create, and manifest inside the boundaries of that which we believe is possible to experience with Him. We are, quite literally, filters of our own truths, skillfully and even subconsciously affirming what we hold to be right and filtering out any messages that rub up against this. In doing so, we unknowingly and/or unintentionally create boxes and boundaries of how and when we experience God’s Presence. Bottom line: We don’t often invite God to move in our lives outside of what we can control, understand, explain, or believe. But this is exactly where I want to challenge you to shift things up, today…

Hebrews 11:53 says, “Their faith fastened onto their promises and pulled them into reality!” Whatever you believe to be true, your faith will follow. And whatever your faith follows, it becomes the very thing for which you create space. That is why hunger – and faith in God’s character – will move you beyond the boundaries of known and bring experiences of Heaven that can neither be contained nor defined. So, if you want to reach for something, reach for this with all your heart:

A God encounter that you can’t explain, but it totally wrecks your spirit.

A God experience that you can’t fully grasp, but it completely and wholly grabs hold of you.

A divine revelation that flips your “known” on its head and sets your heart on fire for more.

A moment with your Creator that leaves you breathless and simultaneously fills your lungs with praise.

Because, friend, when you reach for more of God, you will always find a God who is already reaching back.

All my love and prayers for your own “radical” life-changing God kiss and encounter with Him today!

Shannon