Recap thoughts from the book, “The Last Arrow” by Pastor Erwin McManus
Pastor Erwin McManus gleans some principles from two passages dealing with Elisha the prophet. There are other passages that he discusses, but these two seem to be the major texts for the direction of the book, “The Last Arrow.”
2 Kings 13:14-20 New Living Translation (NLT)
Elisha’s Final Prophecy
14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried.
15 Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. 16 Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king’s hands.
17 Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord’s arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.”
18 Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.”
20 Then Elisha died and was buried.
Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring.
1 Kings 19:19-21 New Living Translation (NLT)
The Call of Elisha
19 So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. 20 Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”
Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.”
21 So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.
Here’s the recap or summary of my notes from this book and these two passages.
Preface: The Battle
“How I die will not define how I live.” P. xi
Chapter 1: The Point of No Return
“To live above average demands a choice. It requires that we defy the odds.” P. 5
“I will take absolute control over my personal responsibility to develop and maximize whatever potential God has given me for the good of others.” P. 15
“We must war against the temptation to settle for less.” P. 6
“There may not be anything worse than winning a battle that should never have been fought.” P. 6
“But the arrow only has value if you release it and it travels where you have not gone yourself.” P. 11
Chapter 2: Save Nothing for the Next Life
“Have I avoided the shark-infested waters of my own life and surrendered myself to standing on the shore?” P. 18
“The Hebrews were compelled by both the one and the infinite. We each have one life, but this life has eternal significance.” P. 20
“But I am convinced of this: you must allow fear to steal your future, and every day that you walk this earth, you must make sure you save nothing for the next life. You must never allow fear to keep you grounded.” P. 24
“For ion the end, the one thing where you must never settle for less, is the calling that God has on your life, the purpose for which He has created you; the impact He designed you make in this world.” p. 28
Chapter 3
“If you live in the past, you die to your future.” P. 35
“For many of us, our plan B is to back to the life we never wanted in the first place.” P. 37
Chapter 4 - Set Your Past on Fire
“Appreciate the past, but live in the present and for the future.” P. 49
“…. You have two choices: You can sit and wallow in your failure and spend your life marked by dust and ashes, or you can get up, dust yourself off, cut the plans to pieces, create an altar, set your past on fire, and create a new future.” P. 57
Chapter 5 - Refuse to Stay Behind
“Refuse to say behind. Never opt out of the opportunities that move you in the direction of your dreams, your purpose, your passions. “P. 69
“Decide ahead of time - don’t allow yourself to be paralyzed in the moment with indecision.” P. 70
“What I don’t need is clarity. What I do need is courage and conviction.” P. 70.
“Life is not meant for observation.” P. 72
“Refuse to believe that God is less today than He was yesterday. Let whatever lies ahead, come, and whatever it costs you, whatever it demands of you, refuse to stay behind. “P. 90.
Chapter 6 Act Like Your Life Depends Upon It - p. 91
“Many of us know it is spiritual to pray, but somehow we miss the fact that it is just as spiritual to act.” P. 114
Chapter 7 - Stand Your Ground
“….you have to stop choosing to become only what comes easy to you. You have to decide what will define you.” p. 121
“There comes a time and a place where you have to decide, this is who I am. This is the life I have chosen. I will not run. I will not allow fear to move me from where I should be to where it wants me to live. I would rather die facing the challenge than exist running from it.” p. 125
“They will of course lose sometimes, but they decide they can live with that because they only know victory if they risk defeat.” p. 132
“The singular cause for me losing ground or giving up ground where I should have taken a stand has been fear.” p. 135.
Chapter 8 - Find Your People.
“The greater accomplishment, the more you can be certain that they were surrounded by a powerful team.” p. 143
“If you are to achieve your greatest potential, if you are to live a life where you never settle, if your going to strike the last arrow, you need to find your people.” p. 147
“There are people you need to extricate from your life because they pull you back to the person you were rather than forward to the person you must become.” p. 148
“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together; if you want to go far fast, GoTribe.” p. 152
“People don’t slow you down. The wrong people slow you down.” p. 152
“Whatever you do, you need to find your tribe...if you are a gazelle, then find the herd that run at your pace.” p. 158
“When you surround yourself with great people, it elevates who you are.” p. 163
“We are more powerful when we unite together.” p. 166
Chapter 9 - Know What You Want
“What I learned from twenty years of indecision is that you either define yourself or be defined by others.” p. 169.
“When God has your heart, you can trust your desires. His will isn’t a map, it’s a match. … You will know God’s desire for you by the fire in you. The fire in you will light the way.” p. 176
Chapter 10 - Battle Ready
In God’s economy, nothing is wasted - Everything that you do today that seems insignificant, will find its significance.” P. 195
