Touré Roberts - A Bow, The Arrows and The Promise

I know you think you need a breakthrough. I know you think you need some money. I know you think you need a friend. But watch this: all I’m going to leave you with in this season is a bow, some arrows, and a promise. If you don’t catch it today, all I’m leaving you with is this. I know you feel like you need all these things. I know you feel like you need me close to hug you. I know you think you need that, but I’m telling you right now what you need. In fact, if I’m getting ready to leave someone that I love, I’m going to tell them exactly what they need. I’m not going to play with it; I’m not going to call them. If I’ve got just 10 minutes with my child before I go, I’m going to give you what you really need. He doesn’t even acknowledge the morning. He said again, you got time to cry? Here’s what you gotta do: go grab that bow and grab those arrows. I’m going to leave you with a bow; I’m leaving you with some arrows. I’m leaving you with a promise.

Let’s talk about that. What does the bow represent? He’s teaching him about life. Oh, Phil, the Lord—we want blessings, but God wants to teach us about life. We want money; God wants us to understand life. We want a partner; God wants us to understand. So what does the bow represent? Joash represents us. Why? Because he was a king—he was royalty and he had promises. Elijah, the man of God, represents God. Why? Because he’s the voice of God. Hallelujah! The bow has a representation. What does the bow represent? The bow represents you. Watch this in a different type of way: he gives him one bow but many arrows. You have one life; you’ll never get another life again. You have one life; you are God’s bow.

What is a bow? A bow is a structure. You are the structure that God desires to use to accomplish His purposes on earth. You are God’s bow. Your bow is going to make sense of the title together: you are God’s bow. You are the structure. Hallelujah! When God does something, He doesn’t just do it; He does it through a man, a woman, humankind. When God does something on earth, He doesn’t just send Himself down to do it. He did that one time with Christ. When He wants to do something now, God is doing it through you. You are His bow. So the bow represents you.

Notice, if you study, if you go back and read it, I want you to really meditate on this passage. He doesn’t give him a lot of bows; he only gives him one bow. Take this bow and these arrows. There are multiple arrows but only one bow. The bow represents you. He wants to use you. God wants to use you as this bow to make things happen. Just like a natural bow is used to launch arrows to their intended targets, you are God’s bow. Just tell your neighbor, «I’m God’s bow! I’m God’s bow! I’m God’s bow!»

But let’s understand the bow even more. Just like a bow in the natural, watch this: you have to be bent sometimes to produce your potential. Did you catch that? So think about it: a bow is no good unless it’s bent. It cannot be used, it cannot be utilized properly, and it cannot be useful unless it’s bent, unless it’s stretched. That’s you. You and I can’t be utilized to the fullness of our capacity unless God begins to bend us and stretch us when necessary. Just like a bow, you and I have to learn how to shoot from a stretched position. I feel the Holy Ghost! We can’t break down into stretching; we have to understand that it is part of what it means to be God’s bow.

Now, there will be seasons of release. Think about it: a bow is not stretched all the time. It’s only stretched when God is getting ready to use it mightily. Do you understand what I’m saying? So sometimes, again, I’m talking about understanding the way God works. We get stretched, and we’re like, «Oh, God is mad at me!» No, no! God is getting ready to use you because the intensity of the stretch determines the fierceness and the distance of the arrow. Are you understanding what I’m saying? The beautiful thing is you don’t stay stretched forever; there are seasons of rest.

Anybody thank God for seasons of rest? Because I’ll just be honest with you, man, sometimes God stretches me, and I feel like I’m going down. You know that bow? It gets real tight, but sometimes I don’t know if we have any archers here. Do we have any archers in here? Yeah? Praise the Lord! But sometimes you think that you don’t have any more give, but you’ve got it back. You’ve still got a little bit more give. God knows where your breaking point is. God will never stretch you to the point of breaking, so you’ve got to trust Him. You’ve got to learn how to shoot from that stretched position. You also have to learn how to still shoot when life has you in an awkward and uncomfortable position. Can you imagine being a bow? I mean, it’s got to be uncomfortable—everybody stretching you, picking you up, putting stuff on you, firing and stuff all for you. But as I mentioned, the greater the stretch, the fiercer the impact and the further the reach. Can we keep going? So you are God’s bow.