Faith to Keep Striking
In thinking about 2 Kings 13:18-19, you ask yourself certain questions. Where are we as a nation? Is this passage of scripture a warning for us now? Did we stop interceding too soon? Did we do enough? But, I feel like the Lord is saying to us now, “Just keep striking. Just move past three. Don’t stop. Just keep striking!” One of the Hebrew words for intercession is “pagah,” which means “to strike the mark.” There is a new era of intercession on us where we do not stop until we see the victory!
“Then Elisha told the king to take the other arrows and strike the ground with them. The king struck the ground three times, and then stopped. This made Elisha angry, and he said to the king, ‘You should have struck five or six times, and then you would have won complete victory over the Syrians; but now you will defeat them only three times.’” (2 Kings 13:18-19; GNT)
Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:
Our nation is facing serious issues that government alone cannot resolve. Terrorism is one of these things. We have prayed much, but we still see random acts of terrorism taking place. Keep praying. Don’t give up. Don’t stop. Keep striking.
Ask God for the faith to keep praying when the battle seems too big and the stakes seem too high. Gather yourself in love and compassion and keep striking.
Battles sometimes get confusing, scary, and hard to sort out emotionally (think of the American Civil War). Ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment and keep on interceding until the smoke starts to lift and you can see your way forward again. Then, keep striking.
A prayer you can pray:
Jesus, we want to be like You, interceding until we see the victory. We do not want to be those that stop short in this day when You are saying that the arrow of victory is about to fly, if we will not stop striking the ground in intercession. Grant us the grace to keep praying when we can’t see a difference or when we feel weary in well doing. Grant us the faith to keep praying when the battle gets tough and our emotions are torn. Show us how to keep praying our way forward until we see the victory, especially when our current national situation is challenging us. We will keep striking by Your grace! Amen.
Today’s decree:
We will strike the ground with our arrows of intercession until we see the arrow of victory fly!
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