“Iron sharpens iron.
So, look for the kind of person that
sharpens you.
Beware who you call your friend.
Friendship is by choice and not by force.
And friendship is not for fun.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, when believers met each
other, their mode of greeting was, ‘How are you,brother?
Have you heard about the Welsh revival?
Did you read about Evan Roberts?
I saw something in ‘Herald of His
Coming’ that just shook me.
I read something about
Smith Wigglesworth.
Did you hear that John Hyde
stained the walls of his room with the breath of his
prayer?
I read that Maria Woodworth Ether was
approaching a place to preach and fifty miles from the
place where she was, people were falling under the
anointing…”
Those were the kinds of things we said to each other.
When you heard it, it set you ablaze.
Your friend might
say to you, ‘When I read that, I locked up myself for ten
hours.
I did not come out’.
And you look at him, ‘You
said how many hours?
I will see you later!’ You just go
into the room and lock yourself up:
‘What!
What am I doing with my life?’
And you go on
and on.
That was how we sharpened each other in those days.
Iron sharpeneth iron!
We learned of William Booth of the Salvation Army.
We learned of Charles G. Finney riding a horse through
town and everyone was crying for his or her sins…
We read of D.L Moody: They said, ‘God is looking for a
man to use, and he is looking for a man that will not
care who takes the glory.’ D.L. Moody, a shoe maker,
said, ‘By the grace of God, I will be that man’…
When you read that, it sets you on fire.
And if you heard it from someone who read it from somewhere and
shared it with you, you would be sharpened.
That was how we sharpened each other.
Today,it is different.
When two pastors meet, you hear
things like, ‘Pastor, how is the church building?
Have you finished it now?
I like this neck tie of yours;
where did you buy it from?
This wristwatch is powerful!
Who helped you to get this car?
Can you assist me to
get the car also?
I like it!
Your suit is powerful.
Is it
ready-made or someone sewed it?
Who is your barber?
I like the way you cut your hair.’
These the vanities believers discuss these days – things
of no eternal consequences.
It is very rare
before you can come into the presence of a servant of
God and leave edified.
We rarely hear that a person
went to see a man of God, a real man of God and left
there challenged, with his soul set on fire.
It is very very rare.
My heart yearns for those days…
A brother would read a book that changed his life and
he would share the inspiration: Have you seen Smith
Wigglesworth ‘Apostle of Faith’?
You need to read it.
John G. Lake’s ‘Adventure in God’?
You need to read it.
Leonard Ravenhill’s ‘Why Revival Tarries’?
‘Sodom had no Bible’?
What about E.M. Bounds ‘The Power of
Prayer’? Charles Spurgeons ‘His Power in Us’?
E.W
Kenyon’s ‘Two Kinds of Faith’?, A.W Tozer’s ‘In Pursuit
of God’?
Oswald J. Smiths ‘The Man God Uses’?
Those were qualitative materials that we advertised and
used to change our lives…
My wife and I visited Papa Oyedepo in his office.
He
was reading a book and he asked whether I had read it
before. I said, ‘No’. So, he encouraged me to go and
read it.
The reading shifted us.
Who is it that is sharpening you?
Who are the people
around you sharpening your life?
Please, watch your company.
Some pastors had more
fire until they entered the circle of friends they are in
today.
Watch the persons you call friends. Iron sharpens
iron. Nothing sharpens iron like iron.”
Written by – Dr. Paul Enenche.
Please,share