One of the greatest revelations of God we can ever posses is our need to restrict or limit ourselves to only those things in God that will produce godly fruit in us. We think in God we have great liberty and freedom to do what we want to do and say what we want to say, well my friend that is wrong thinking from wrong teaching. You know it really does matter who your teacher is. When we come to the Lord and make Him our loving King and Ruler we are coming to and under His authority and responsibility. A loving King and Ruler does not give us our way, but arranges, orchestrates and even directs things (as we allow Him) for our lives even if we do not like them. How can we be free to do what we want and still come to completion and maturity? Can a baby become a child and a child become a young adult and a young adult become an adult if left to themselves? How can an apple come to maturity if it does not restrict or limit itself to the tree? Oh no my friend maturity and fulfillment in God comes by way of restriction and limitations. And the longer we go with God the greater restriction and limitations we must live under. Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad (freedom and liberty) is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow (restriction and limitation) is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Please notice, “that leadeth unto life (Zoe or God’s type of life) and few there be that find it." Why do few find it? Because the others are walking in the “broad” way of freedom and liberty doing whatsoever they want to do and say. Few walk in the “narrow” way of restriction and limitation doing what God wants them to say and do. This is a critical truth we must learn if we desire to serve the Lord and be used by Him in any significant way. If not our relationship with the Father will be meaningless with no power, we are doing it all and maybe God is standing by watching. Oh our sins are forgiven and if we die we may go to heaven (God’s call not mine), but our usefulness to God is zero. Jesus our example said He can do nothing unless the Father gives Him the power and where did Jesus get the power? From His restricted life, His narrow way with His Father. Fulfillment and completion for God’s purpose in our lives, just like in Jesus’ life, come by way of restriction and limitations.
When we started our church at Robinson Barracks, Germany from the Pentecostal military base chapel service, we met many wonderful people from all over the world. I think 70% was African and the other 30% was from many other nations. We were a hodgepodge from what was left after the US Army Chaplain stopped holding services, so I was asked to step in (upon God’s direction) and after being kicked out of the Chapel because we were growing to big with non-Americans, Christliche Gemeinde Stuttgart was birthed for the glory of God. It is truly an amazing story how God brought it all into existence. At first I started counting, but God quickly taught me using “African time” (always being late for service) to keep my heart out of all of these programs and near the end of our time we never knew just how many people came we stopped counting. Attendance and membership numbers mean nothing to God, He is after our heart and obedience and will do anything and everything we will allow Him to do to capture them. It seems those churches who are numbers driven seem to spend much time and resources running after people to follow up not allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in their lives. Recently I read an article from a major denomination that said, inspite of adding 473 new churches and spending 1.3 billion more dollars than last year their baptism rate is the same as is was in 1987. My question is why are they keeping track? Counting attendance and keeping track of such things as baptisms are not for God’s benefit. Does not God know who gets baptized? Why count? God quickly taught me to keep my heart away from such men pleasing activities and stay restricted and to limit myself to ministering the word of God. Love the people by allowing the Holy Spirit the unfettered access to them. Paul saw similar activities going on with the churches in Galatia. When we read the Book of Galatians we often think a church, but not so Galatia is a region with many towns in Asia Minor. One such town was Antioch were the term Christian was first used. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) If we go after pleasing men we can never be called a “servant of Christ.” For our church to come to some level of maturity and some level of completion we had to choose (our choice) to restrict and limit the activities to just the meaningful things in God. Today anything goes in most churches. Wrap the activity up in the word “ministry” and run with it. I could not do what I wanted to do. I could not say what I wanted to say, I had to do it all God’s way. Many of my denominational Pastor friends came by and tried converting us to their brand of thinking and doctrine promising us money and connection, but no need God moved time and time again and we grew and grew not needing man’s ways or methods, my good friend pleasing God and using His ways and method leads to completion and purpose.
One of the original members of our church was Constantine from Romania, but we called him Florian. Three times God has spoken to me in a dream and one of them was about Florian. Now I really liked Florian, he was wild, untamable, but had a love for God and desire to do His will. When Florian returned home he said come and visit me in Constanta so I did riding 31 hours one way on a train. God used Florian to open up Eastern Europe to me. Even today when I think of Florian I think of him in the context of how Jesus looked at Peter. Did you know Jesus most often referred to Peter by other names? To me Florian was like Peter when Jesus said of Peter, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) Here in this verse Jesus was making reference to Peter as “Simon Barjona” Simon his name and Barjona (root word, Strong’s #3123 dove or pigeon) a wild golden dove that lives on the Isle of Barjona. Now this dove was not just any dove, but was golden, wild, untamable, and very valuable almost priceless. Florian was wild, untamable, and to God like Peter valuable or priceless for ministry. God knew the role Florian would play in our future ministry. One day I was taking to Florian about the Berlin Wall (communism doctrine) that fell down in Nov 89. He said he was sad the Berlin Wall fell down. Now for a American who has been told all of his life the Berlin Wall was bad and needed to come down his words were strange. I asked Florian, who has lived under communism and was involved in the riots and over throw of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Government in 1989 to explain. He said well, before the wall fell down TV was on only 2 hours a day, 1 1/2 hours about Ceausescu and his wife eating, traveling, and doing things as king and ruler and the other 30 minutes was the TV program Dallas. The wall kept us in, but it also kept things out. It restricted and limited most of the craziness of the world from the people. This is one reason today most Romanian people are deeply committed to Christ and family. The wall kept out all of those religions that are in it for the money, those who were not willing to take a chance of getting caught, going to jail, and being “Tortured for Christ” like Richard Wurmbrand (your should take a read) wrote about. But after the wall fell down the TV was on 24 hours a day, all day and all night. Suddenly the people were bombarded with everything that could come through the TV screen. You can image how our people reacted and what happened to our society. Now every religion and every denomination was wrangling for their piece of the Romanian land pie and our money (the Lei), no fear of torture, just come right in and do what you want to do and say what you want to say. Well this all resulted in great chaos, panic, and more blood shed than the revolution. Today Romania is getting better (Florian speaking 1997), but due to the way the wall fell down our country is much worse off both as a nation and most important spiritually. Please understand I am not supporting communism or Ceausescu’s government, but my friend the Berlin Wall, with all of its heinous faults, was a restriction a limitation that protected the people from the bad things, false doctrines and ministries in the world. In a strange and abstract way it was good for Romania and other satellite countries of the former Soviet Union.
When we started our church at Robinson Barracks, Germany from the Pentecostal military base chapel service, we met many wonderful people from all over the world. I think 70% was African and the other 30% was from many other nations. We were a hodgepodge from what was left after the US Army Chaplain stopped holding services, so I was asked to step in (upon God’s direction) and after being kicked out of the Chapel because we were growing to big with non-Americans, Christliche Gemeinde Stuttgart was birthed for the glory of God. It is truly an amazing story how God brought it all into existence. At first I started counting, but God quickly taught me using “African time” (always being late for service) to keep my heart out of all of these programs and near the end of our time we never knew just how many people came we stopped counting. Attendance and membership numbers mean nothing to God, He is after our heart and obedience and will do anything and everything we will allow Him to do to capture them. It seems those churches who are numbers driven seem to spend much time and resources running after people to follow up not allowing the Holy Spirit to do His work in their lives. Recently I read an article from a major denomination that said, inspite of adding 473 new churches and spending 1.3 billion more dollars than last year their baptism rate is the same as is was in 1987. My question is why are they keeping track? Counting attendance and keeping track of such things as baptisms are not for God’s benefit. Does not God know who gets baptized? Why count? God quickly taught me to keep my heart away from such men pleasing activities and stay restricted and to limit myself to ministering the word of God. Love the people by allowing the Holy Spirit the unfettered access to them. Paul saw similar activities going on with the churches in Galatia. When we read the Book of Galatians we often think a church, but not so Galatia is a region with many towns in Asia Minor. One such town was Antioch were the term Christian was first used. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) If we go after pleasing men we can never be called a “servant of Christ.” For our church to come to some level of maturity and some level of completion we had to choose (our choice) to restrict and limit the activities to just the meaningful things in God. Today anything goes in most churches. Wrap the activity up in the word “ministry” and run with it. I could not do what I wanted to do. I could not say what I wanted to say, I had to do it all God’s way. Many of my denominational Pastor friends came by and tried converting us to their brand of thinking and doctrine promising us money and connection, but no need God moved time and time again and we grew and grew not needing man’s ways or methods, my good friend pleasing God and using His ways and method leads to completion and purpose.
One of the original members of our church was Constantine from Romania, but we called him Florian. Three times God has spoken to me in a dream and one of them was about Florian. Now I really liked Florian, he was wild, untamable, but had a love for God and desire to do His will. When Florian returned home he said come and visit me in Constanta so I did riding 31 hours one way on a train. God used Florian to open up Eastern Europe to me. Even today when I think of Florian I think of him in the context of how Jesus looked at Peter. Did you know Jesus most often referred to Peter by other names? To me Florian was like Peter when Jesus said of Peter, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) Here in this verse Jesus was making reference to Peter as “Simon Barjona” Simon his name and Barjona (root word, Strong’s #3123 dove or pigeon) a wild golden dove that lives on the Isle of Barjona. Now this dove was not just any dove, but was golden, wild, untamable, and very valuable almost priceless. Florian was wild, untamable, and to God like Peter valuable or priceless for ministry. God knew the role Florian would play in our future ministry. One day I was taking to Florian about the Berlin Wall (communism doctrine) that fell down in Nov 89. He said he was sad the Berlin Wall fell down. Now for a American who has been told all of his life the Berlin Wall was bad and needed to come down his words were strange. I asked Florian, who has lived under communism and was involved in the riots and over throw of Nicolae Ceausescu’s Government in 1989 to explain. He said well, before the wall fell down TV was on only 2 hours a day, 1 1/2 hours about Ceausescu and his wife eating, traveling, and doing things as king and ruler and the other 30 minutes was the TV program Dallas. The wall kept us in, but it also kept things out. It restricted and limited most of the craziness of the world from the people. This is one reason today most Romanian people are deeply committed to Christ and family. The wall kept out all of those religions that are in it for the money, those who were not willing to take a chance of getting caught, going to jail, and being “Tortured for Christ” like Richard Wurmbrand (your should take a read) wrote about. But after the wall fell down the TV was on 24 hours a day, all day and all night. Suddenly the people were bombarded with everything that could come through the TV screen. You can image how our people reacted and what happened to our society. Now every religion and every denomination was wrangling for their piece of the Romanian land pie and our money (the Lei), no fear of torture, just come right in and do what you want to do and say what you want to say. Well this all resulted in great chaos, panic, and more blood shed than the revolution. Today Romania is getting better (Florian speaking 1997), but due to the way the wall fell down our country is much worse off both as a nation and most important spiritually. Please understand I am not supporting communism or Ceausescu’s government, but my friend the Berlin Wall, with all of its heinous faults, was a restriction a limitation that protected the people from the bad things, false doctrines and ministries in the world. In a strange and abstract way it was good for Romania and other satellite countries of the former Soviet Union.
The restriction and limitation to fulfillment is a strange message to hear in America. As Americans we are taught (especially in church) go for the American dream, take what is rightly yours. It is your right as an American to be free, liberty at all cost. Maybe this is where all of the wrong teachings of the word of faith folks get their claiming things of God or taking back the things of God the devil has stolen. How can we take or claim things of God? How can the devil steal something of God’s? This is nothing more than greed and manipulation exposing its ugly head. The things of God must be received by us as God gives them to us, as a father gives his children things. To believe the devil can steal from God means one believes God is not the supreme creator and not in controls all things. Oh no my friend God is our supreme creator of all things in our lives, He said and it will happen. God is in control of every situation and circumstance in this world as we know it and more. The devil has no power that we do not give Him. God is above all and yet He desires to abide, tabernacle, or live in us. What a wonderful thought.
My friend unless we come to this understanding of being restricted and limited by God to come to completion and maturity we will continue to flounder and stumble in God. Here is the divine spiritual principle: The greater the restriction and limitation the greater the fulfillment and completion in our lives. And as I said earlier, the longer we go with God the more He brings us into a greater restriction. The way up is down. If we desire to live with God forever the way to God is down where Jesus is; meek and lowly in Spirit. Also, the way up to God is into His restrictions and limitations like Jesus found out and taught, “Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28) and “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” (John 12 49-50) Let us learn to live in such a way as Jesus did and spoke; into His Father’s restriction and limitation, yet coming to fulfillment and maturity.
