Streams in the Desert
God's Best
Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows,” and he did so. He told the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” He struck the ground three times and stopped. The prophet got angry at him and said, “If you had struck the ground five or six times, you would have annihilated Syria! But now, you will defeat Syria only three times.”—2 Kgs 13:18-19 NET
How striking and eloquent the message of these words! Jehoash thought he had done very well when he duplicated and triplicated what to him was certainly an extraordinary act of faith. But the Lord and the prophet were bitterly disappointed because he had stopped half way.
He got something. He got much. He got exactly what he believed for in the final test, but he did not get all that the prophet meant and the Lord wanted to bestow. He missed much of the meaning of the promise and the fullness of the blessing. He got something better than the human, but he did not get God’s best.
Beloved, how solemn is the application! How heartsearching the message of God to us! How important that we should learn to pray through! Shall we claim all the fullness of the promise and all the possibilities of believing prayer? —A. B. Simpson
“Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).
There is no other such piling up of words in Paul’s writings as these, “exceeding abundantly above all,” and each word is packed with infinite love and power to “do” for His praying saints. There is one limitation, “according to the power that worketh in us.” He will do just as much for us as we let Him do in us. The power that saved us, washed us with His own blood, filled us with might by His Spirit, kept us in manifold temptations, will work for us, meeting every emergency, every crisis, every circumstance, and every adversary. —The Alliance
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Comment Update
So, I just started writing down things to ask of the Lord for John, for Khalid, for me and for science in general that seemed difficult and crazy to me - and they got crazier and crazier, until they filled three pages and became thoroughly crazy, including the WHOLE world and all kinds of ridiculousness that only God could ever pull off. And, if He did all those things, nothing anywhere would ever be the same. I don't know if that's what He wants. But it was a fun exercise. And, hey, I prayed for stuff before that I didn't take seriously but that He DID take me seriously about, so we'll see what He does, yes? Ha ha. I love the Lord. He's hilarious.