"Strike Three Times?"

Then he said, "Take the arrows;" so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground;" so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it. But now you will strike Syria only three times." 2 Kings 13:18-19

Joash the king of Israel had come to Elisha and asked him for help. Elisha told him to get a bow and some arrows and had him shoot one of the arrows out the window. As he did this he spoke prophetically and called it 'the arrow of deliverance.' He then had him take the arrows and strike the ground. The king did it three times. Elisha was upset that he ONLY struck it three times. He was upset that he hadn't struck it five or six times because that was how many times he would strike Syria.

As I was reading this today it made me wonder. How many times would I have struck? How many times have I stopped short of receiving the fulness of His provision in my life because of the limits I put on God's ability to answer my cries for help.  Joash is the one who went to Elisha for help.  He knew that Elisha was 'the prophet of God.' He knew that they were in a 'Prophetic moment.' When Elisha spoke and told him to strike the ground he should have struck it and kept on striking it till he was told different. Instead he stopped short and because he did it had an impact on his ability to overcome his enemy.

How often do we give ground to our enemy because we like Joash forget to embrace the answer He gives us? How often do we like Joash stop short of receiving all that He wants to do on our behalf when we cry out to Him for help?

Its time that we as His people decide to do more than to 'strike three times.'  We need to "Go Big" and start believing and receiving all that He has made available for us.  Remember, do more than 'strike three times' today!