Time to get sharp!

Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you feel like you've learned enough and just wanted to relax for a while? It happens far to often in the world of Christians. Far too often, we become complacent and allow ourselves to stagnate. We need to compare ourselves to an athlete. You never see a professional basketball player taking time off before the playoffs. We need to be constantly sharpening ourselves for the fight against Satan. So how do we do this?

Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18, NLT).

Do you sometimes find yourself trying to do more and more for the Lord but with lesser and lesser results?

You may be like the guy I heard about who applied for a job as a logger. The foreman said, "I don't know. Let me see how long it takes you to cut down this tree."

In a rush to show off his ability and strength, the guy cut down the big tree in record time. The foreman was very impressed, and said, "You can start tomorrow!"

The guy started the job right away and worked hard for just a few days. Then the foreman came up to him and said, "This is your last day. Please pick up your paycheck when you leave."

Stunned at this news, the young man asked, "What did I do wrong?"

The foreman replied, "We're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place when you arrived until now you are in last place."

"But I don't understand," the young man objected. "I get here before anyone else, I don't leave until after everyone else is gone, and I know I work as hard as anyone else."

The tough old foreman, feeling a moment of sympathy for the young man, thought for a moment and asked, "How often have you sharpened your ax?"

The young man replied, "None, really. I've been working so hard that I have not had the time to sharpen it."

This sad story can be so true of many Christians in their walk and ministry. They mean well and they work very hard and conscientiously, but because they fail to keep their ax sharpened, their results are lacking.

Our ax is our time spent reading and studying God's Word, the Bible, and our times of prayer.

Our Lord Jesus set the example and prayed constantly, and He asked us to pray. And the apostle Paul wrote, "Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere" (Ephesians 6:18, NLT).

Studying the Bible is important because "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do" (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

If prayer and God's Word were important for and needed by the Son of God and for the great apostle Paul, how much more do we need it?

Let’s never be too busy to pray and read God's Word, and under gird all that we do with prayer and God's Word. Otherwise, the more work we do, the duller we'll get!








Praying for all of us to be sharpened
Pastor Mike

Today's moaner joke

Failing Radiology Class

The medical student was shocked when he received a failing grade in radiology. Approaching the professor, he demanded to know the reason for the grade.

"You know the self X-ray you took?" asked the professor.

"I do." said the student.

"A fine picture," the professor said, "of your lungs, stomach, and liver."

"If it's a fine picture, then why did you give me an F?" asked the student

"I had no choice," said the professor. "You didn't put your heart into it."