Wholehearted Obedience

by Diana Kriesel

Monday, 6/27/11 –2 Kings 13,14; 2 Chronicles 25; 2 Timothy 3 – “Wholehearted Obedience”

S= Scripture; O= Obedience; A= Application; P= Prayer

S– 2 Kings 13:18-19 – “Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. 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. But now you will defeat it only three times."

O – Joash was to open an east window which faced toward the enemy, so he could shoot. At the prophet’s direction, the king shot an arrow out the window toward the enemy. By shooting the arrow the king was appropriating his victory over the enemy. Then the prophet instructed the king to take the arrows that remained and strike the ground with them. The king struck the ground three times and stopped. This angered Elisha because it demonstrated failure to trust God to give him as many victories as there were arrows. The unfaithfulness of man limits the hand of God on our behalf.

A – It seems the king didn’t believe that firing arrows in private could be associated with total victory later in public. I think we are like that with prayer sometimes. We struggle to believe that our prayers launched in private can achieve much in the public arena. Sometimes we are like Joash and give up after a few attempts. God is looking for us to use our quiverful of arrows in obedience. It is our demonstration of faith that God is attracted to. Faith gives us resolve to keep fighting, especially in prayer.

P – Lord, cause us to have hearts so full of passion that when You instruct us, we do not hold back, but rather we go for it, wholeheartedly. Help us not to limit our future victory by limiting our present actions. Help us to say YES no matter what we see, feel or think…Let our yes be yes. Period.