Pound that Rock

 

Wake the Faith up Slayer… This is Garth Heckman with the David Alliance and you can reach me at

TDAgiantslayer@gmail.com 

 

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July 9th - Saturday - A Father Daughter/Son conference called PROTECTOR! Speakers on how to protect your son and daughter Emotionally, physically, sexually, socially and spiritually. Ages 10 and up if you feel your student is mature enough. Price $100 per family. At HillSpring Church New prague south of the Twin Cities

Just landed a speaker who will challenge you how to keep your kids safe from human trafficking… you say well my kid will never fall into that… oh not so fast. You obviously don’t know what you are talking about… so get ready to sign up!

 

Pound the Rock!

 

I love NBA basketball… huge fan. My son is a sports writer for all Chicago sports teams but his passion is writing for the Bulls and the Bears… he got that from me - and no I don’t consider it child abuse LOL.  There are many teams that stand out but one of the great ones is the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. With five NBA titles since 1999, 22 overall division titles, having won at least 50 games for 18 consecutive seasons, and having missed the playoffs only 5 times in their history, the Spurs and their coach Gregg Popovich make it look easy… but the truth is they have just learned the secret of pounding the rock! 

As Daniel Coyle tells us in his fantastic new book The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, when you walk into the Spurs facility, you see a giant rock and hammer. Then you see the following quote, written in the five native languages of Spurs players, adorning the walls:

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” – Jacob Riis

I love this idea… and in todays world we have so many haters that get upset with people that are willing to keep pounding the rock. it bothers me when people feel like life is unfair.. boo hoo, they have everything and I don’t. Well guess what- they were willing to pound the rock again and again and again and again and again and again….If you are not willing to pound the rock then don’t be upset at your results and don’t be bitter about others who do.

 

The same is true in how we see others in their Christian walk… those who seem to have levels of faith that are beyond what we have… they seem to overcome sins that still entangle us, they seem to get their prayers answered and we don’t…. Here is my question. 

Are you willing to take your faith - regardless of what level it is at, and just keep pushing it and testing it, and using it, and no matter how many times it fails, you just keep pounding that rock.

 

2 Kings 13 is a little of the same idea but it is about pounding the arrows.

Pound the arrows

Jehoash king of Israel Comes to Elisha before he is about to die. He is worried about the Arameans who were at war with Israel. Elisha had his shoot an arrow of victory out the window towards the East which is in the direction of their enemies. Then he said Take the arrows from my hand and beat the ground. King Joash beat the ground 3 times. Elisha was ticked and said you should have beaten it many more times.  you will have victory but only 3 times. The understanding here is that the King had a short sided vision as to what God can do. A limited faith mindset. Elisha was mad at his short sidedness. 

I love Todd Whites testimony about pushing in to be used by God in the supernatural. he is praying for months for people to get healed. He comes home every day to tell his wife about all the people who did not get healed that day when he prayed for them. She is genuinely mad at him. He prays for so many people over the course of 6 months he loses count of how many people and how many prayers did not get answered…. and then one day at work God gives him a word of knowledge and over a stranger and he prays for him and he is healed… and the flood gates open.

Would you have given up after a few days of praying for the sick? Yeah you would have… because you already have. You prayed for a few people for a few things and it didn’t happen and you blew it off with excuses like “it’s not my gift, only pastors can do that, I have to much sin in my life, it wasn’t Gods will etc…”

But the truth is we just were short sided like The king of Israel. We hoped for a little and we were not willing to push in. I would pound that ground until those arrows disintegrated. When the king was pounding the arrows it looked like Israel was going to be defeated by the Arameans. he was hoping for a few victories… God wants so much more for us. 

Listen to me today people - don’t doubt God and his power… strike the ground repeatedly! Keep striking… keep praying, keep pushing, keep believing and keep pursuing God and what he has promised - regardless of wether or not that rock cracks… it may take a thousand blows… then a 1000 blows it is!