Articles

Stand Tall on Your Knees

By Rev. Kingsley Osei, Hamilton

There is a story of an old lumberjack who went into a competition against a young lumberjack to see which of them was the better and faster. The rule was simply for them to cut down as many trees as possible within six hours.

The youth lumberjack was tipped to win because of his strength and muscle definition. As expected, he started with perfect strength to lead the competition. In sharp contrast, the old man – the underdog, began slowly and would stop every forty-five minutes for a walk into the bush for what seemed to be a break for breath while the young man continued.

To everyone’s amazement, the old man won the competition and received the prize; he cut down two more trees than the young man did. When asked how he managed to win in spite of his age and those breaks, the old lumberjack responded:

"My opponent was great, young and therefore stronger but I had one advantage over him. I took those breaks not to rest, even though I felt like, but rather to sharpen my axe on that big rock. The young man was stronger but his axe became blunt as he cut the trees, which slowed him down for me to win the contest. I stood tall and strong in the end because I was sharpening my axe throughout. "

Sharpen your axe to win

Our Christian life is parallel to this story. The Bible calls Satan who is our only enemy "a strong man" (Luke 11:21-22) whose only objective is to destroy the vessels of God (Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 5:8). But the passage in Luke 11:21-22 also identifies another character called the "Stronger Man". This stronger man is Jesus, our Lord and Savior who has promised never to eave us nor forsake us. He is our Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4; 2 Samuel 22:2, Psalm 31:3; Deuteronomy 32:31) on whom we can sharpen our axe through prayer amidst the temptations, perils, and adversities of life.

A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian

The old man did not win the contest because of his strength or experience; he won because he sharpened his axe on the big rock throughout the competition. Similarly, we as vessels of God can never be victorious in our daily walk with Christ through our own strength, wisdom or experience, but only through the perpetual sharpening of our axe through prayer.

A prayerless Christian is always a powerless Christian but a prayerful Christian will always be a powerful Christian. Now have you grasped the reason of Jesus always pulling Himself out of the crowd to pray? (Mark 1:35, 6:46; Luke 22:41). Through prayer, you will always stand tall above the enemy! Daniel, Jeremiah, Paul, David, Deborah, Esther, Elijah and Elisha where all vessels of God who sharpened their axes through prayer to stand taller than the enemy. People of God still have the same enemy and believe it, the same weapons still defeat him. Therefore, stand tall on your knees !!!

source: Pentecost Herald, February 2003