The Arrow Has Left The Bow- When You Pass the Point of No Return.

Have you ever thrown something and wished you hadn’t?

Have you ever had something thrown at you and wish it hadn’t been?

I’ll never forget my friend Dan throwing a frozen cup of ice at me in retaliation for me putting it down his back.

It was all fun and games until that ice left his hand… it flew through the air at me and I vivdly remember his face as he realized he had no control over where that frozen rock was heading once it had left his grip… the next thing I knew it had collided with my head.

I dropped to the ground and blacked out.

My friend Dan came running up to me, “I’m so sorry,” he said.

Ironically I needed to put some ice on my head for quite some time after that!

The story, while scary at the time, and very funny upon reflection, illustrates a powerful reality. Once you release something from your hand, you loose all control.

(While this story is of something I wish hadn’t been thrown at me, you can read about something that I am grateful that the Lord has thrown me into, calling us from Melbourne, Australia to Orlando, Florida and Africa for a season- read about our jump into CFAN’s BootCamp HERE. )

Right now, I feel completely out of control.

I’m typing this blog from Orlando, Florida, on the other side of the world from the comforts of home. For the past two days we have hopped from Melbourne to Singapore, Singapore to Tokyo, Tokyo to Los Angeles, and finally Los Angeles to Orlando.

My family and I have been up since 3:30am this morning, we are jet-lagged and disorientated, but we are here…

… and now there’s no turning back.

Quite literally.

While we have return tickets, we do not know if Australia’s borders will be open to us on our return date.

But there’s more.

When we get home we have no car, we have no savings, and so much uncertainty. We’ve given all we have financially and emotionally to get here, and our hand is now empty.

We’ve released it all.

So what on earth were we thinking?

I have asked myself that many times lately.

The answer, we weren’t. At least not using our earthly minds.

You see, His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

We’ve decided to do things the way of the Kingdom, and doing things the King’s way is certainly not the world’s way. (Incidentally I preached on this very thing recently you can watch the sermon here).

But here’s the beauty of living life the King’s way, when you do you get the King’s reward.

We don’t live for finance. We don’t live for status. We don’t live for titles. We live for the King.

We live for souls saved, we live for that eternal treasure in heaven.

In 1519, Spanish Commander Hernán Cortés invaded Mexico along with an army of his country men. He was representing the King of Spain, and his goal was the expansion of the Spanish Empire.

Upon landing in Mexico, Hernán Cortés commanded his men to burn his ship and the ship of every other soldier that had joined him on their conquest.

Why? He wanted to be sure that there was no turning back, both for himself and for his men. He was living for the mission of the King, and there was no going back. It was victory or death.

Two weeks ago a dear lady prayed for me, she said prophetically, “You are an arrow, and the Lord is going to release you to hit your target.”

That picture of being an arrow both terrifies me and exhilarates me. An arrow, while launched by the archer, once released is no longer under the control of the archer.

I often wish that I was a sword instead of an arrow. I often wish that my life and my calling was a sword instead of an arrow. Deadly… but controllable.

And yet the Lord has made me an arrow.

My calling is that of an arrow, launched further than my comfort zone, launched out of my control, yet when it hits its’ target it will be truly glorious, for my target is the salvation of nations.

I’ve burned the ships friend. The arrow has left the bow. There is no turning back, but why should there be?

Jesus did not say, “return”, He did not say “assess”, He did not say “deliberate”. He said “GO!” (Matthew 28:19).

It’s GO time.

Here are three questions for you today.

1. What ships do you need to burn?
2. What do you have to gain if you let go?
3. What do you have to loose if you stay?

Let the archer launch you beyond your control.

Andrew

PS- While Joyce and I are almost completely funded for this outrageously stunning venture with Christ for All Nations, my friend and fellow Australian evangelist Josephine Boateng is still several thousand dollars short of being funded. She is literally selling all of her furniture right now in a bid to raise the funds for her to come here, talk about burning the ships! Would you please consider donating to her fundraising efforts. Admire anyone that will launch their money beyond their control and I admire Josephine for launching her life beyond her control. You can give to her by clicking this link: https://paypal.me/OynamebaDiamond