As I am preparing myself to leave for the mission field in Thailand in just less than two weeks, I have something God heavily dropped into my heart. I believe I will carry this for the rest of my life. I will never do anything in my life without first considering this truth that God has spoken to me about.
In 2 Kings 13:14-19 we have the last story recorded of Elisha before he died. King Jehoash was king over Israel. For decades, the Arameans had been raiding Israel’s lands. Even though King Jehoash did evil in the Lord’s sight, he decided to look towards the Lord for an answer. So he approached Elisha for an answer. Elisha tells him to shoot an arrow out of the window after laying hands on the King’s hands. Elisha declare’s that this is an arrow of victory over the Arameans. It is the next part that is most important to really look at. Elisha then tells him to grab more arrows and strike them against the ground, not specifying how many. King Jehoash strikes the ground only 3 times out of his own will. Elisha got angry with him saying that he should’ve stricken the ground 5 or 6 times resulting in complete destruction of the Arameans! But alas, because of what King Jehoash had chosen and taken for himself, there would only be victory over the Arameans 3 times.
At the end of the story there, we can see that the entire thing began with the Lord’s arrow, or the Lord’s word to King Jehoash. Elisha essentially told the King then to decide how much of it he wanted. The Lord says there will be victory over the Arameans, but it was up to King Jehoash to decide how many victories there would be. Elisha knew that even though the Lord told King Jehoash how to attain victory, it was up to the king to decide how much victory he wanted. So Elisha told the king to strike the ground as a sign that the king was going to grab for himself how much victory he wanted. The Lord said victory, but the king chose how big that victory really was. He ended up selling himself short, not realizing there was more to be had.
All in all, there’s a choice that has to be made on our part regarding believing God in faith for things. If you’re believing God for a small gym business to be able to reach people, you’ll get a small gym business. However, God isn’t a small God. He’s a big, BIG God! Don’t you think He wants his church doing things greater than the world is? Ask God for a bigger gym! Ask God for more believers to come into the Kingdom and He’ll give you a vision for how that would look for your target area. Then, believe God that He’ll provide a BIG harvest! Really, our results depends upon how big we really believe things can go. Imagine, what would it be like if missionaries were going to a nation but instead of believing God to turn the nation over 100 years, they decided to believe God for that entire nation in 20 years! I’m not going to Thailand believing that God will reach only a handful of people through me within a year. I am believing that we can reach the ENTIRE nation of Thailand in only a few years. It’s in His will. I promise you that. All we have to do is ask God for more, believe that He is faithful to do so, and do the work needed to get there. The rest is history! Don’t settle for small things because everything seems impossible. You won’t want to look back at your past and regret that you only shot 3 arrows when you could’ve shot 5 or 6 times. Those who see great, big, and amazing things in God are those with enough guts to ask for big things. Reach out today for more and believe God that He WILL come through in bigger ways! There’s more to be had… a LOT more! Are you asking BIG or settling for less?