That’s a pretty interesting title don’t you think? It comes from a passage of scripture found in II Kings 6:1-7. In this story some sons of the prophets want to build a larger place to live. They recruit Elisha to help and begin felling trees to begin construction. One man loses the axe head from the handle in a body of water while he is working. This man becomes distraught because the axe was not his in the first place but was borrowed. The God of Elisha made the axe head float to the surface. At first glance that story seems to have very little to say to us today but we would be remise in that thinking.
In this story the axe head represents a couple of things for me. It represents the cutting edge or the power of God to make us effective in our work and a passion and love for God while we are working. Many people in the context of church work labor but that does not mean they are effective. Their axe heads have become dull or worse they have become loosened and fallen off the handle all together. The work may continue but God does not bless it.
Churches are busy. Maybe too busy. Axe handles are being swung but do we ever take time out to question how effective our labors are and how much of the power of God is on what we do? Are teachers anointed and seeing God use them to make a difference? Do they have passion to learn, train and instruct those pupils entrusted to them in small groups? How many people in the pews are merely going through the motions from Sunday to Sunday with little passion for God and little power of God on what they are doing?
Multitudes of people have lost their axe heads. They may still do and say all the right things on the outside. They may use the right religious jargon but hearts have become cold and calloused and the work of God suffers. We have programmed ourselves to death. Programs and technology are no substitute for the cutting edge of God’s power. We may work as hard as ever in the church today and yet see less fruit from our labors if God is not supernaturally enabling us.
How is the axe head in your life? Is it firmly secured and brought to a razor’s edge through the disciplines of prayer and scripture reading? These things may seem like old hat but if we ever hope to be effective in building the kingdom of God we must walk closely with God and beg him to sharpen us so we can be effective for Him. What does God want from us? Does He want us to be busy for Him without accomplishing much or does He want us to be effective. According to [John 15:8] God wants us to bear much fruit and thereby bring Him much glory.
Many people look committed and passionate from the outside. They are involved and serve in various capacities but if we were to really look at them from God’s perspective they might look like a person swinging away to chop down a tree with only the handle because they have lost their axe head. They are going through the motions but God’s anointing is not there. We may be an educated society and have technology at our finger tips but we desperately need God’s power to make a difference in our respective communities.
Perhaps you are one who has lost your axe head. Somewhere along the way you lost your passion to walk closely with the Lord and you lost your zeal, vigor, and God’s power in your life. If you are one of those people please read the conclusion of this story in II Kings 6. We discover that the man cried out in sorrow because the axe was not his to begin with but had been borrowed from someone else. In the same way your life is not your own if you have been saved and transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. If you have come into relationship with Him your life is no longer your own. He owns us and we will give an accounting for our life and how we lived and served Him. [I Cor 3: 10-15]. We are stewards of our lives like the man was a steward of the axe. There is a day of reckoning. It should break our hearts if we find ourselves going through the motions with no cutting edge. The man in this story cried out in anguish. Is there any brokenness over the loss of our passion for God and His power at work through us? We must have integrity to stop the work and fall on our faces in repentance begging God to renew our hearts and revive His work in and through us.
Elisha asked the man where he lost the axe head. That is a great question for us as well. Where did you lose your love for God and your heart became cold and hard toward Him? At what point did you lose your vigor in serving Him and fall into the trap of mindlessly going through the rituals and routines of service for Him. Maybe you said yes to something you have said have said no to and as a result you are burned out. Maybe you disobeyed His leadership in leading you into ministry years ago and due to your rebellion you have not been the same since. If you lost your axe head you need to go back where you lost it. If you cannot find that place let me ask you to revisit the place you were first introduced to a saving life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. Let the Lord rekindle that love and fire in your soul you once had in serving Him. Let Him make His grace boil over in your heart causing you to worship and serve Him out of humility and gratitude. Wherever you lost your axe head go back there spiritually and recover it.
God used Elisha to miraculously make that axe head float to the surface. It will take nothing short of a miracle to get the cutting edge of a new love for God and a fresh empowering to labor for Him in our lives as well. We need to cry out to God for this miracle. Then and only then will we be effective for Him.
Once the axe head floated to the surface, Elisha instructed the man to pick it up for himself. As we come to the conclusion of this story we are faced with a choice like we are so many times in the scriptures. Do we take responsibility to recover the axe head in our own lives by reaching down to pick up what God has made resurface or do we go on trying to live off the spiritual experiences of others. You cannot recover the lost axe head for my life and I cannot recover yours for your life. Each of us must bow in humility and take the lost axe head for ourselves. Once we do this spiritually it will be time to go back to work after we reattach the cutting edge to the handles of our lives. It is then and only then that we should go back to work. Until we recover the axe head of the cutting edge we should cease the work in brokenness.
So let me ask you, have you lost your axe head? You and God may be the only ones to know. Nobody around you may have discovered your secret of seldom ever meeting with God and rarely having fresh experiences with Him. Today you have a choice to make. Will you plead for God to do a miracle in your life to restore the cutting edge of passion and power or will you continue to fake it? O God, please restore the axe heads of our lives for your glory and the effectiveness of building your kingdom.
In this story the axe head represents a couple of things for me. It represents the cutting edge or the power of God to make us effective in our work and a passion and love for God while we are working. Many people in the context of church work labor but that does not mean they are effective. Their axe heads have become dull or worse they have become loosened and fallen off the handle all together. The work may continue but God does not bless it.
Churches are busy. Maybe too busy. Axe handles are being swung but do we ever take time out to question how effective our labors are and how much of the power of God is on what we do? Are teachers anointed and seeing God use them to make a difference? Do they have passion to learn, train and instruct those pupils entrusted to them in small groups? How many people in the pews are merely going through the motions from Sunday to Sunday with little passion for God and little power of God on what they are doing?
Multitudes of people have lost their axe heads. They may still do and say all the right things on the outside. They may use the right religious jargon but hearts have become cold and calloused and the work of God suffers. We have programmed ourselves to death. Programs and technology are no substitute for the cutting edge of God’s power. We may work as hard as ever in the church today and yet see less fruit from our labors if God is not supernaturally enabling us.
How is the axe head in your life? Is it firmly secured and brought to a razor’s edge through the disciplines of prayer and scripture reading? These things may seem like old hat but if we ever hope to be effective in building the kingdom of God we must walk closely with God and beg him to sharpen us so we can be effective for Him. What does God want from us? Does He want us to be busy for Him without accomplishing much or does He want us to be effective. According to [John 15:8] God wants us to bear much fruit and thereby bring Him much glory.
Many people look committed and passionate from the outside. They are involved and serve in various capacities but if we were to really look at them from God’s perspective they might look like a person swinging away to chop down a tree with only the handle because they have lost their axe head. They are going through the motions but God’s anointing is not there. We may be an educated society and have technology at our finger tips but we desperately need God’s power to make a difference in our respective communities.
Perhaps you are one who has lost your axe head. Somewhere along the way you lost your passion to walk closely with the Lord and you lost your zeal, vigor, and God’s power in your life. If you are one of those people please read the conclusion of this story in II Kings 6. We discover that the man cried out in sorrow because the axe was not his to begin with but had been borrowed from someone else. In the same way your life is not your own if you have been saved and transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. If you have come into relationship with Him your life is no longer your own. He owns us and we will give an accounting for our life and how we lived and served Him. [I Cor 3: 10-15]. We are stewards of our lives like the man was a steward of the axe. There is a day of reckoning. It should break our hearts if we find ourselves going through the motions with no cutting edge. The man in this story cried out in anguish. Is there any brokenness over the loss of our passion for God and His power at work through us? We must have integrity to stop the work and fall on our faces in repentance begging God to renew our hearts and revive His work in and through us.
Elisha asked the man where he lost the axe head. That is a great question for us as well. Where did you lose your love for God and your heart became cold and hard toward Him? At what point did you lose your vigor in serving Him and fall into the trap of mindlessly going through the rituals and routines of service for Him. Maybe you said yes to something you have said have said no to and as a result you are burned out. Maybe you disobeyed His leadership in leading you into ministry years ago and due to your rebellion you have not been the same since. If you lost your axe head you need to go back where you lost it. If you cannot find that place let me ask you to revisit the place you were first introduced to a saving life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. Let the Lord rekindle that love and fire in your soul you once had in serving Him. Let Him make His grace boil over in your heart causing you to worship and serve Him out of humility and gratitude. Wherever you lost your axe head go back there spiritually and recover it.
God used Elisha to miraculously make that axe head float to the surface. It will take nothing short of a miracle to get the cutting edge of a new love for God and a fresh empowering to labor for Him in our lives as well. We need to cry out to God for this miracle. Then and only then will we be effective for Him.
Once the axe head floated to the surface, Elisha instructed the man to pick it up for himself. As we come to the conclusion of this story we are faced with a choice like we are so many times in the scriptures. Do we take responsibility to recover the axe head in our own lives by reaching down to pick up what God has made resurface or do we go on trying to live off the spiritual experiences of others. You cannot recover the lost axe head for my life and I cannot recover yours for your life. Each of us must bow in humility and take the lost axe head for ourselves. Once we do this spiritually it will be time to go back to work after we reattach the cutting edge to the handles of our lives. It is then and only then that we should go back to work. Until we recover the axe head of the cutting edge we should cease the work in brokenness.
So let me ask you, have you lost your axe head? You and God may be the only ones to know. Nobody around you may have discovered your secret of seldom ever meeting with God and rarely having fresh experiences with Him. Today you have a choice to make. Will you plead for God to do a miracle in your life to restore the cutting edge of passion and power or will you continue to fake it? O God, please restore the axe heads of our lives for your glory and the effectiveness of building your kingdom.
Pretty powerful stuff. Right on, right now message for the church! My friend and I were just discussing the meaning behind this and your practical explanation was just what the Holy Spirit led me to. Praise the Lord!
ReplyDeleteVery deep
ReplyDelete