MY GOD IS GOD OF THE MOUNTAIN AND GOD OF THE VALLEY

LET US NOT LIMIT GOD

1 KINGS 20:19-28, PSALMS 78:41.

A limit is a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass. A limit is the furthest extent of one’s physical or mental endurance, a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible. God’s problem is not with the eitheist, the agonistic, the infidel or politician. God’s problem is with His own people who limit Him. We limit God by placing limits on;

1. Jesus healed all manner of diseases, Peter and Paul had remarkable record of ministering divine healing.
2. The miraculous. Do you think of miracles as only for “Bible says” or do you believe miracles are for us today and now? “Remember I am the Lord, I change not”-Malachi 3:6.
3. God’s provision. Remember Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish and fed thousands. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever”-Hebrews 13:8.
4. God’s protection. The Bible tells us God is sovereign, supernatural protection and deliverance. Thousands will fall around you, but calamity will not come near you.
5. Don’t limit God on finances, job, medical report, immigration, schooling or college. Let us learn:-
6. MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, PLAINS EXPERIENCES.
7. God of the mountains or hilltops.

• Mountains or hills represent the high points in our lives.
• The times that we feel like we are on top.
• Moments of excitement and success.
• A mountain is the place of accomplishments.
• During times of mountain tops, it is easy to praise God.
• God revealed Himself to Abraham as Jehovah Jireh on Mt. Moriah
• God gave the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
• God spoke to Elijah in a still small voice on Mt. Horeb.
• Jesus Christ our Lord won over the greatest temptations that occurred on the mountain.
• The most glorious moment was the Mountain of transfiguration-The disciples wanted to build residence there.
• Jesus Christ our Lord also ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives.
• The psalmist say in Psalms 121:1-2 “I will lift up my hands unto the hills from where comes my help.”
• Mountain experiences are events that empower us and launch us in the plan of God.
• But we cannot remain on the mountain tops.
• Our mountain top experiences prepare us for the valleys where our faith is stretched.

2. The God of the plains. The area of constant problems.

• God is not just with us when we are on top of everything. He is also the God of the plains.
• The plains are extensive, relatively level areas of land-constant monotony.
• We must find God in the ordinary daily life not just in the spectacular and heroic.
• In Genesis 18:1 “Three visitors appeared to Abraham on the plains of Mamre to confirm God’s promise of a child.
• In Deut. 34:1 “Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, God showed Moses the promised land, but he would not enter. There they wept for Moses.”

3. The God of the valleys. The short and tragic problem.

• God is not just God of the mountains, the plains; He is also God of the valleys.
• Valleys occur between ranges of mountains, hills or other uplands; often there is a river on the valley.
• Valleys represent the low, difficult times, challenging or short times.
• God does not abandon us when we hit the hard times.
• Psalms 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.”
• There are valleys in the Bible.

1. The valley of Elah; 1 Sam. 17:1 “And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side and there was a valley between them.”

• Elah was a valley of war. Are you there?

1. The valley of Baca. Psalms 84:5-6 “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. In whose heart are the ways of them who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.”

• Baca means ‘Situation unknown.’ This is the place of unexpected tragic events.
• Losing a loved one, death, accident, shooting etc.

1. The valley of Achor. Joshua 7:24-26 “In the valley of Achor, Achan was discovered and stoned to death and his entire family.”

• Achor is a door of hope, the place where sin is confessed, judged and put away.

In Zachariah 4:6-7 “Who art thou, oh great mountain? Before Zerubabel thou shall become a plain because it is God that fight for you and it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit.

1. THE ISRAEL EXPERIENCE AND THE ENEMY’S MISCALCULATION-1 Kings 20

• In 1 Kings 20, the enemies of God’s people made a serious miscalculation. Having lost a battle against Israel even with their 32 Kings support and cooperation, the advisors to the King of Syria said in 1 Kings 20:23 “Their Gods are Gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than us but if we fight against them in the plains, surely we will be stronger than they.”
• But God had a surprise for them. In 1 Kings 20:28 “Then the man of God came and spoke to the King of Israel and said, thus says the Lord: because the Syrians have said the Lord is God of the hills but He is not God of the valleys. Therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
• The Syrians thought that Jehovah God was ‘localized’-that He was limited to the mountains.
• In Psalms 95:4 “In His hand are the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains are His also.”
• In the valley Israel was outnumbered, surrounded and helpless.
• They looked like two small herds of sheep while Ben-hadad’s army covered the entire valley.
• But the prophet of God had spoken; God would deliver them in the battle so that Syria may know that Jehovah God could not be limited or localized.
• There are people who think your God is limited to the city that He is not in the rural, may they be defeated in Jesus name.
• THE MISTAKES THE SYRIANS MADE.

1. They underestimated the character of God; they localized the God of Israel.

• The Syrians had gods of valleys, mountains, rivers, fields, houses, gardens and these gods were powerless outside their own spheres.
• They forgot that Jehovah God of Israel is the Eternal one, the unchanging one, Omniscience, Omniscient, Sovereign, and the Holy One.

2. Because they underestimated God, they limited Him.
3. Because they limited God, they insulted Him.
4. Because they insulted God, they angered Him.

• There are things that anger God-Rom. 1:18-21.
• God gets angry when men suppress the truth-Rom. 1:18-19.
• God gets angry when His evident truths are ignored-Rom. 1:20.
• God gets angry when He is not honored as God-Rom. 1:21.
• God gets angry when His glory is given away-Rom. 1:22-23
• Because they angered God, they suffered the consequences.
• God cannot be overlooked. Rom. 14:11 “One day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

5. If we see God as God of the mountains, plains and valleys, He will stand on our behalf.

• Joseph knew Jehovah God as the God of the mountains, plains and valley.
• At the end of it all, God connected all the loose ends of Joseph’s life. He got two sons

Manasseh-“God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”-Gen. 41:51.

Ephraim-“God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

• God will make you fruitful in the land and in the very things that afflicted you.
• In your battles and afflictions is the place where God will make you fruitful.

1. HOW CAN WE OVERCOME IN EVERY SITUATION?
2. Identify your mountain, valley or plain. Identify what it is that you are facing and how it affects you.
3. Put a name to your mountain, valley and plain.

• Is it sickness, marriage problems, job, finance, trial?

3. Be clear what you want-If you are specific, God will answer you specifically.
4. Talk to your mountain, valley or plain. Not all mountains are for removing some are to talk to others are climb!!
5. Be patient about your mountain, valley or plain.

• Keep praying and changing.

6. Remember that your God is not limited by your mountain, valley or plain.

CONCLUSION

• Regardless of your situation God controls your welfare, wilderness warfare.
• Are you limiting God in any way in your life? Confess it.
• Only believe all things are possible with JEHOVAH GOD.