Psalm 45:5: “Thine arrows are SHARP in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”
Parents, we are responsible to sharpen our children like we sharpen arrows. We are answerable to God to prepare them to be highly effective in penetrating the heart of King Jesus’ enemies.
It is one thing to penetrate the mind with arrows of knowledge, but it is another thing to penetrate the heart of our enemies. We want arrows that convict hearts, so they will repent.
Peter preached the first evangelistic message to the crowd of Jews and people from many nations who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. What was the response after Peter’s message?
Acts 2:37 says: “Now when they heard this they were PRICKED IN THEIR HEART, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit was a sharp heart-pricking arrow. Before Pentecost, he was a blunt arrow who denied the Lord three times in a row.
We are surrounded with many people, that no matter what you say to persuade them, it makes no difference. They are impenetrable and hedonistic. Many in the leftist media have built up such barriers around their minds that it is almost impossible to reach their hearts. We must pray these barriers down so their hearts will be pricked by God’s sharp two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). However, the word must be spoken under the anointing and divine assistance of the Holy Spirit.
The opposite of sharpness is bluntness. One may be sharp intellectually but blunt spiritually. We must never put the academic above the spiritual. All of the Christian’s weapons of war are spiritual (2 Corinthians 10:4, 5). It’s only Spirit-controlled, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led Christians who can use them effectively.
After Stephen preached, Acts 7:54 says: “When they heard these things, they were CUT TO THE HEART, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.”
Stephen had been chosen as one of the early church’s first deacons because he met the qualifications of “men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). His words cut to the heart. He was a Spirit-filled sharp arrow that caused a riot. Sharp arrows will cause a riot or a revival.
Parents, we must be spiritual and Spirit-filled, otherwise our children’s hearts will not be affected and cut open by the spiritual words we give them. We must also attend a Spirit-filled church where the leadership are Spirit-filled, where people’s lives are being changed, and where hearts are cut and pricked by the convicting preaching of God’s Word. And most of all, we must pray over our children that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell