Removing The Limits and Shooting The Arrows

2 Kings 4:1-7 is one very interesting story in the Bible. It’s a scripture about how Elisha blessed a widow with so much oil to pay for her debt and take care of her home. On the surface, it looks like one of the very usual simple miracles performed by a prophet of God, one of the many multiplication miracles performed by God in the Bible, but there, in this very beautiful scripture, is one sentence in verse 6 that jumped out to me and still jumps out to me each time I read it: “And he said to her, ‘There is not another.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.” This sentence really doesn’t sound like much, but to me, it opened my mind and eyes to something that we, as people and children of God, do both consciously and unconsciously—and that is placing limits.

For me, this shows that sometimes, we place limitations on the blessings of God upon our lives by our very small thinking or generally by not giving enough room for God to operate in our lives. In this scenario, the oil stopped flowing when it was said that there were no more vessels. This means that, had there been more vessels, there would have been more oil to fill them. We can liken this to God’s provision and supply, which is very limitless but can be limited in our lives when we put a cap on it and do not avail ourselves. Whether we like it or not, even though God has made so many resources and blessings available to us, we might not be able to see them manifest because they might be limited by one thing or another: our level of faith in God or even our view of God.

After being a Christian for quite a while, I found recently that my view of God was quite distorted, and that affected how I received from God and even the things I thought He was concerned about or could actually help me with. To what extent do we really think that God can provide a certain solution or solve a certain need? To what extent do we believe or even think that God has influence over our lives? Do we limit God to healing miracles, whereas in other areas like our finances, relationships, marriage, etc., our vessels are not available for the oil of God? These are just a few things to ponder.

Father Lord, we pray today that, by your grace, every limitation that we have placed on our blessing is removed. Where we have tried so hard with our limited natural wisdom to provide solutions, we pray that you take over with your supernatural divine wisdom, intelligence, and provision. Lord, in our finances, our careers, our businesses, promotions, excellence in our jobs, in our education and learning of new skills, in our marriage, our health, childbearing, our whole reproductive system, in our spiritual growth, our knowledge of you, and the Word, in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, in experiencing you differently and having an encounter with you, in having peace, rest, and a sound mind, in not being afraid and in trusting you, your Word, your promises, and basically in every area of our lives, we receive your unending oil and eternal, limitless provision. We avail every vessel in our lives and every area of our lives for your inexhaustible provision. Thank You, Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Another scripture that comes to mind about how we place limitations on our blessings is 2 Kings 13:14-19. King Jehoash went to see Elisha on his sick bed because he was distraught about being defeated, but Elisha presented him with a solution which, of course, could only come from God. ‘Elisha said, “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “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. “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.”’ (2 Kings 13:15-17).

So what did this King do, and how did Elisha react? ‘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.”’ (2 Kings 13:18-19). He had the Lord’s arrow of victory, to shoot as many times as he wanted, but only decided to shoot them three (3) times. We don’t know why he shot only three times and whether we would have all done differently given the opportunity, but the one key thing to note is that this act—or lack of it—limited his level of victory.

As children of God, we have several arrows of victory to use as and when and in every area of our lives. Our arrow of victory stems from our identity as children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and His blood which speaks better things for us (Hebrews 12:24), the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of God and the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, residing inside of us (Romans 8:11), our worship, praise, prayers, and our speaking in tongues which causes changes around us, edifies us (1 Corinthians 14:4), and builds us up in our most holy faith (Jude 1:20). These are just a few of our arrows as children of the Most High King. More can be deployed to change things for good in our lives as we exercise our faith, but are we really shooting our arrows? And even if we are shooting them, are we shooting enough, or are we shooting very little? Are we shooting in confidence, knowing that victory is assured, or are we consumed by fear as we shoot?

God is able and willing! God loves us! God always has our best interest at heart! Therefore, it is time for us to stop placing limits! It is time to make available all the vessels we have to receive God’s inexhaustible oil! It is time to shoot—shoot as many times as possible, shoot with confidence, the arrows of victory that God has placed in our hands as His children!