From Pastor's Heart

REACHING YOUR

POTENTIAL

IN GOD

2 Kings 13:14-19

^{“ 14}Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. “My father! My father!” he cried. “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

¹⁵Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. ¹⁶“Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

¹⁷“Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The LORD’S arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

¹⁸Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

Israel had the opportunity to utterly destroy their enemy, the Arameans. God tested them in this little exercise to determine what level of victory they would enjoy. Because of either their complacent attitude or lack of faith (maybe both), they would only have a partial victory instead of being totally rid of them.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS PASSAGE?

a) We must play a part in seeing God’s destiny fulfilled for our lives - V15 “Take the bow in your hands” - You and I have a part to play in seeing God’s potential for our lives come to pass. It doesn’t just happen. We have a responsibility to see it come to fruition. Just as the king had to take the bow in his hand, for us to reach our destiny in God, we must take action ourselves towards seeing it happen.

b) There will quite often be someone else you will need to join with, to see it happen - V16 “Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands”. Join with someone who has the same vision so that you can encourage and strengthen each other. Also, it is important that you find someone older and stronger in their Christian walk to mentor and disciple you and see you rise into what God has for you. Someone that you can be accountable to.

c) Don’t allow the past to effect your future

- V17 “Open the east window”. The east represents the dawning of a new day. A day of new creativity, of fresh victories and a chance for God to do new things in and through your life. The king was told to shoot the arrows towards the east. You and I are to forget what is behind and press on towards new things in God. Don’t be a prisoner of the past. You cannot change what has happened in the past but you certainly can change what will happen in the future.

d) Don’t be guilty of not using the gifts God has given you

- V18 “Take the arrows”. For the king to see a victory over the enemy he had to take the arrows available to him and shoot them to hit the ground.

You and I have gifts that God can use for the extension of God’s kingdom. Just like the arrows are of no use if they remain in the quiver, so these gifts are of no use to God or His people if we don’t begin to thrust them forward for His use. Each arrow was able to cut through and pearce because of its sharp edge. Our gifts are not to entertain or for our own benefit but are to be sharp and used to penetrate the forces of darkness to help bring freedom and release to people’s lives.

d) You will only achieve for God according to your level of faith

V18 & 19 “He struck it three times and stopped. ¹⁹The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” Because of the king’s lack of faith, Israel missed out on a greater victory than what they enjoyed. You and I can limit God moving in our lives by our level of faith. This can be because of: i) a lack of understanding of who God is; ii) being too focused upon the difficulties or setbacks that occur in pursuit of our achieving our potential; iii) seeing our potential in God not as God sees us, but in the light of how we see ourselves ie. always considering our inabilities. Nothing will change in our lives towards reaching our destiny in God until it first changes in our minds.

Blessings,
Pastor Randy