Strike five or six times!

Posted by Timothy

June 3, 2009

¹⁷ Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.”

¹⁸ Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. ¹⁹ But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.” 2 Kings 13:17-19 (New Living Translation)

The king struck the ground three times then quit.

And as a result, the king would not defeat his opponent.

The prophet instead said if he had struck the ground “five or six times” he would be victorious. What is happening here?

Even when victory is given to us, if we allow ourselves to limit, to not strike with the full force of effort, even with God’s guidance we may fall short of the goal.

Notice how this was before the battle even began that the outcome was determined!

How many times will you “strike the ground” with initiative, force, and confidence to take one bold step out in faith for your plan?

Will you take action and then quit, just short of total victory?

Let’s begin with this third-section of “Strength” confident from our renewed mind and empowered by faith and God-given plans of action. Let’s strike the ground hard and fast, “five or six times” and be warned of just hitting with some of what we’ve got and then quitting!

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