SHOOT YOUR SHOT!

Shoot your Shot

FriYay!!!!

What is shoot your shot?
This was my question to a friend with whom I could openly display my ignorance of vernacular colloquialisms.

I have been on an almost 2 year social media hiatus so I am completely oblivious to the latest popular argot. It’s so bad that I look really confused when everyone else is laughing at the use of one of these jargon.

Back to the earlier conversation, she laughed and explained that “shoot your shot” means to take a wild chance on something or at someone and just do it or go for it without regard for the eventual outcome.
That it was a chance you took when the probability for success was not exactly high but you did it anyway because it just might work.

It was like flipping coins and hoping for a favorable outcome.

The most fascinating part of the entire nuance of this expression is even if it didn’t work, there was no love lost and when it was a positive outcome, it was a pleasant surprise.

In its barest essence, It was a sort of testing the waters kinda thing and hoping you could either swim or sail.

So I thought about it deeply (because to me everything just becomes deep 😉☺) and somehow my mind always makes scriptural connections to random things.
I thought about the king in ancient Jewish lore who went to the renowned prophet of the time…
I will let you have a firsthand version below:

Elisha came down sick. It was the sickness of which he would soon die. Jehoash king of Israel paid him a visit. When he saw him he wept openly, crying, “My father, my father! Chariot and horsemen of Israel!”
Elisha told him, “Go and get a bow and some arrows.” The king brought him the bow and arrows. Then he told the king, “Put your hand on the bow.” He put his hand on the bow.
Then Elisha put his hand over the hand of the king. Elisha said, “Now open the east window.” He opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” And he shot. “The arrow of God ’s salvation!” exclaimed Elisha. “The arrow of deliverance from Aram! You will do battle against Aram until there’s nothing left of it.”
“Now pick up the other arrows,” said Elisha. He picked them up. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” The king struck the ground three times and then quit.
The Holy Man became angry with him: “Why didn’t you hit the ground five or six times? Then you would beat Aram until he was finished. As it is, you’ll defeat him three times only.”
2 Kings 13:14‭-‬19 MSG

There are a gazillion insights to glean from this event but we would narrow in on the following.

• Epic Instructions always precede Epic Seasons.
We have had epic instructions preceding 2019. How have we fared in obeying to the letter?
God also speaks daily, do we pay attention to listen and obey?

• Epic Obedience to Epic Instructions must be done with Epic Importunity.
Importunity is persistence to the point of annoyance. Let your persistence in obeying instructions become so consistent that it becomes annoying.

• Permanent Victories are borne on the back of Complete Obedience to Epic Instructions.
Jesus said “It is finished” because His obedience was complete. In His complete obedience, we have permanent victory.

• In the Kingdom Shooting our Shot is not a blind exercise in luck or probability, it is an intentional action underpinned by a revelation of God’s word/promise to you either in scriptures or by prophecy.
Think deeply, what shots do you need to take?
God won’t shoot your shot for you.
You have a quiver full of arrows (skills, instructions, words, scriptures, tools, talents,… insert others)

What would you do with it now?
How would you deploy it in your own unique situation?
In my life currently, I am continuing to shoot my shot by insisting on my change and upgrade till I am too stretched to go back.

I give a habit or thought intense focus till I completely recondition myself to a new way of thinking and behaviour.

You may say:
What if I do not have any instruction yet?
What if all I have is a promise?

Isaiah 62: 6-7 AMPC says
I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, who will never hold their peace day or night; you who [are His servants and by your prayers] put the Lord in remembrance [of His promises], keep not silence, And give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth

There you have it. Even God says you should continue to “Shoot your shot and strike the ground” till you receive establishment.

Parrot His words back to Him, stay rejoicing, stay giving, stay forgiving, and stay studying.

Let Shoot your Shot take on a different meaning for you from now on – Shoot your shot continuously, strike the ground consistently because permanent victory is assured to us in our importune and complete obedience.

To Permanent Victories!

Written by Ariel Qu.

#TGIF

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#Shootyourshot
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