Have You Lost Your Sharpness?

From Chapter 10 (“Get Your Edge Back”) in John Eckhardt’s new book, You Shall Recover All.

All of us are instruments in the hand of God, and sometimes we lose our sharpness. You can lose your sharpness in the prophetic. You can lose your sharpness in prayer. You can lose your sharpness in deliverance and discernment. You can lose your sharpness in life.

Have you ever seen someone and thought, Wow, they don’t look good. They’re not dressing well anymore? Maybe it’s happened to you, and you say to yourself, “What happened? I used to be a sharp dresser. I used to have it all together. When did I start letting myself go?”

Well, even if we don’t want to, sometimes we lose our edge. All of us, at various times in life, can become discouraged, tired, emotionally or spiritually weary, and frustrated. We lose our edge. Yet I am writing to you today to encourage you that God has a comeback planned for you.

When you lose your edge, don’t throw in the towel and don’t throw away the sword. Sharpen it! You may have a set of knives in your kitchen dulled from use. Many times, people just throw them away. They may not realize that they can sharpen those knives. All they need is a sharpener to restore them. Chefs sharpen their knives and keep them for a lifetime. They invest in expensive knives and don’t just throw them away.

Sometimes we throw people away because they’ve lost their edge. We just dispose of them. We may even throw away ourselves. We give up. But we need to know that God has invested in us. He bought us at a high price and has no intention of tossing us aside. He doesn’t wish for any of us to perish. He wants to sharpen your edge so that you feel useful again.

Iron Sharpens Iron

One of the ways you sharpen a knife’s edge is by rubbing it against another sharp instrument—or using what is called a sharpening stone. The more you use a sword or a knife, the duller it becomes. Sometimes in life, you’re working and exerting energy, you’re laboring, and you’re doing so much that you lose your edge.

You used to be sharp. Business, sharp. Decision making, sharp. The way you dressed, the way you looked, sharp. The way you speak, sharp. Your prophetic gift, sharp. Discernment, sharp. But something happened and all of a sudden, you got tired, weary, and frustrated. You lost your edge, and you’re not doing as well as we used to do.

Have you been in a lot of battles? Have you been like a sword? When a warrior goes into a battle with a sword and they’re fighting with that sword, after a period of time the sword will lose its edge. You are a spiritual warrior, and you have been in battles. You’ve been fighting. You’ve been using the sword of the Word of God, but you’ve lost your edge. It happens as we battle and fight.

All of us can go through times of tiredness and weariness. We’ve been in battles. We’ve been cutting through hard ground. We’ve been cutting down a lot of trees. We’ve been using our faith and our spiritual instruments, and after a while they become dull.

We may think or say things like, “I’m just tired. I can’t cut down another tree. I can’t fight another battle. I can’t plow any more ground. I’ve lost my edge. I’ve lost my sharpness. It’s too hard.”

The worst thing you can do is give up. You just need to be sharpened. You’re not defective. Don’t throw yourself away. Get sharpened. You can still be used in business, in ministry, and in what God has called you to do.

I don’t want you to feel condemned or guilty or give up in life because you lost your edge. At certain times, all of us do. Some ministries have lost their edge; they’re no longer on the cutting edge. Some have lost their edge in preaching, teaching, and prophesying. It’s not that God has rejected them; it’s that they’ve become dull.

But you, you must get your edge back. Preacher, you must get your edge back. Prophet, you must get your edge back. You used to be so accurate in the word of knowledge and you used to have such a cutting-edge word. You were so accurate and so sharp in discernment, but you lost it. Prayer warrior, intercessor, you must get your edge back. Businessperson, you must get your edge back. You must get your edge back, man of God or woman of God. Whoever you are—whatever gifting, anointing, talent, or role you have in the marketplace or in the kingdom and body of Christ—you must get your edge back.

Being sharp is so important. Whether it’s your prayer ministry, your prophetic ministry, your business, or your finances, being sharp is a key to prosperity and fruitfulness.

The Right People to Keep You Sharp

One of the wisest things you can do in life is to get with people who sharpen you. If you have lost your edge, get with people who can sharpen you—a friend, coach, mentor, pastor, or intercessor. These are some of the people who can help restore your edge. Do you have these people around you? Who is helping you get your edge back?

You’re tired and weary. A look from a friend, a word of encouragement from a mentor can help you rekindle fresh hope and therefore new life for renewed action. It’s important to have prophetic friends. It’s important to have friends who pray. It’s important to have friends who can sharpen your countenance.

When I read Proverbs 27:17, I said, “God, what does this word countenance mean? How is a person’s countenance sharpened?” I had to really dig deep into this scripture. The Easy Read Version says, “As one piece of iron sharpens another, so friends keep each other sharp.”

A true friend will keep you sharp. A true friend will notice when you’re losing your edge, when you don’t have it together, and when you are falling away. A true friend that will notice when you’re not as good as you were, when you are dragging, when you are down and depressed and doing sloppy work, and when you no longer have the ability to get things done—and they’ll tell you. A true friend will keep you sharp.

Lord, give us friends who keep us sharp!

Sometimes, you’ve lost your edge and don’t even know it. But your friend notices it and says so: “This is not you. You’re better than this. You’re sharper than this. You’re more talented than this. You do better work than this. You dress better than this. You look better than this. You talk better than this. Your countenance is not sharp. I can see it in your face. I can see the way you look. You’ve lost your edge.”

Do you have friends who talk to you like this? Friends who are honest with you and speak the truth directly and in love? Do you have friends who keep you sharp? Friends who will not just let you go down? Friends who will not just let you look like anything and live like anything? Friends who will notice when you’re losing your image or keenness?

You want friends like this. They’ll help sharpen you and keep you sharp. Pray for this now, “Lord, give me people who’ll keep me sharp.”

For more information on You Shall Recover All, visit CharismaHouse.com. {eoa}