Touré Roberts - Why Did You Stop?

So we’re picking up where we left off in this incredible story of victory and instruction. We see, you know, the story here: Elijah is the man of God; he’s representing God, and Joash is the king. Joash is originally very upset and sad that his spiritual mentor is ultimately going to die. The spiritual mentor tells him, you know, to take a bow and an arrow, and he’s essentially giving him imagery and symbolism that is designed to spark his sense of victory and pull out of him a sense of greatness and tenacity that he’s going to need in order to drive out the enemy that was against him. Ultimately, he tells him to take this arrow and strike the ground. He does take the arrow and strike the ground, but he strikes the ground and stops. The man of God becomes angry and says, quite frankly, some unpleasant things to him. So Joash had a problem, and I believe that this problem Joash has is one that you and I often have: we don’t strike the ground consistently. I think that oftentimes God gives us a promise of victory, right? A promise of victory is very motivational; it’s very inspirational. It feels good. You know, you’ll come in on a Sunday, and you’ll receive a word about what God says He’s going to do in your life. It’s an amazing word, and you feel the power of that word and the strength of that word. However, the challenge is sometimes, because it is a promise of victory, we assume it’s going to be easy. So we believe that victory is easy, but the reality is that’s actually not the case. We have to understand that God communicates from a place of victory. You have to understand that when God speaks to us, when God gives us a word, He doesn’t give it from a place of «you don’t have it yet.» He gives us words from the place of victory. So when it comes to you, it does so in the context, in the language, and in the spirit of «it’s already done.» That’s how we receive it, because it is coming from the realm and the space of victory, where it is already done, right? And that’s wonderful, but sometimes that is deceptive because we believe that since it is already done, all we have to do is step into it and not have to fight. So we think victory is easy, but victory is not easy. Victory requires perseverance; it requires you being willing to fight and to go through whatever you have to until you see the victory. Victory necessitates consistency. Do me a favor: write that down and whisper in somebody’s ear, «victory necessitates consistency.» One of the things we have to understand is that God never promises—this is so important—God never promises that it will happen on the first try. I feel that for somebody. He never promises that it’s going to happen on the first try; He just promises that it will happen. There are people under the sound of my voice right now, and there’s something that God has indeed spoken to you and has said this is your portion, this is your lot, and this thing is going to come to pass in your life. You have tried it, and it hasn’t worked out the way that you think it ought to work out. As a result, you believe that the word is no longer valid. He didn’t say it was going to happen on the first try; He just said it’s going to happen. The word says, «A just man falls seven times and rises up again.» Sometimes it takes you seven times to fully perceive not only what God said but what it’s going to take to produce what God said. Are you tracking with me? It’s not going to be easy, and it doesn’t always happen on the first try. God basically tells Joash in this passage that he is going to destroy it. I believe that Joash thought that if he struck it just one time, then immediately the destruction that God had promised was going to happen. You know how it is: God speaks to us, and we think, «Okay, I’ve declared that this is my portion, and all I’ve got to do is swing at it once, and it’s going to happen.» But, as I mentioned before, He never said it was going to happen on the first try. And I’ll be honest with you; He never even said it was going to happen on the second try. I don’t know who I’m talking to today; this is for somebody because what the enemy loves to do is weary you in your process to God’s promise. You’ve got to understand that if he can weary you, if he can get you—watch this—to be weary in your well-doing, he can keep you from your due season. I don’t know who is in here right now, and I feel like taking a moment and prophesying, but there’s somebody in here, and you are about to give up on what God promised you because it’s not happening according to the timetable that you thought it should. But I hear God saying you didn’t strike the ground enough times; you need to strike that thing again!