2 Kings 13:18-19 Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. 19 The 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.
We limit God when we give up too quickly. It was the ancient custom to shoot an arrow towards the enemy’s territory to convey hostility. Prophet Elisha gave a prophetic promise to the King of Israel on his deathbed and confirmed it with a symbolic tradition of striking down the enemy by shooting the arrow. However, the King of Israel, Jehoash, stopped after three strikes! His lack of enthusiasm, perseverance and motivation curtailed and stunted the victory.
Many prophetical promises are limited by our own passivity. Promises of God will come into fruition only with our cooperation. Unless we partner with God and implicitly obey His Word, God will not be able to fulfill His promise. We could be praying for the spiritual enlightenment of our spouse or a breakthrough in our career, ministry or finance, however, unless we persevere incessantly we will not enjoy the harvest of the prophecy.
Thomas Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts before inventing the light bulb. After relentless efforts, Edison enthusiastically exclaimed, “I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say that I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure” – Thomas A Edison.
Our own inaction, indifference and insolence limits God.
Demolish the limitations:
- Inaction: Lack of action and enthusiasm limits God. We have to fasten the seatbelt for God to fight the battle for us. Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Our action is to gear-up and girdle-up. While we stand-up in prayer God does the combating and brings the crown of victory. Persistence in prayer brings victory. Discouragement creeps in after a month, dreary after two and depression after six. The longer the battle the greater the triumph. Don’t limit God by your inaction – keep on keeping on.
- Indifference: Lack of interest, energy and fervor develops spiritual “congenital insensitivity”. Delayed answers or disappointments push people to ignore the pain and pretend as if it does not exist. If things don’t go the way we expect it to go; when the very thing that we have been praying for worsens and doesn’t get better, we tend to become indifferent. Indifference plucks the fruit before it is ripe. Indifference hurts us and limits God – keep pressing on.
- Insolence: Lack of honour to the promise or prophesy caused by disbelief limits God. The trust we have in the Lord will be testified in our response, confessions and affirmations. My heart has uttered a good matter: I declare my works to the king: my tongue is the pen of a quick writer (Psalm 45:1). When the heart is singing joyful songs of victory in the midst of uncertainty, the tongue will only proclaim triumph in the indecision. Insolence is destructive. Imprudence limits God – don’t pout or pulsate, keep praising.
Raise your bars of limitation – inaction, indifference and insolence limits God.
2 Kings 13:19 The man of God was angry with him and said,..“But now you will defeat it only three times”.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, give me the strength to keep pressing on even when the answer is delayed and the furnace gets hotter. Nothing is too hard for you. Amen.
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