REMINDER: The Sharpening & The Molding
- Rev. Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro
- Feb 25, 2020
- 4 min read
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” -Proverbs 27:17
The last few days have been a bit weighing on me. Many things, questions, and thoughts on my mind. You know those days when you feel a bit scared, annoyed, confused, and worried? Like all negative things coming at you all at once? That was the last few days for me.
You see, when God moves, so does the enemy. I always say that he loves to play and mess with our minds. God speaks in our hearts. Satan, on the other hand, plays in our minds. This why we must take the mind of Christ, and reject immediately, his lies. He loves to distort truth, accuse, place doubt, and steal dreams and destinies. In other words, he kills, steals, and destroys.
However, for the child of God he can’t steal, kill, or destroy anything in anyone God has chosen to bless. God protects always the innocent, the godly, and the righteous. The battle between good and evil exists. The battle always belongs to the Lord.
As each battle came against me, I felt alone. I think I went down a little pity party with me being the only guest. Have you ever been there, thinking, "Hey, God, how come I’m there for the whole world but when it’s my turn no one seems to be there?" Bad attitude I know, but it happens to everyone. I just happen to talk about everything others might not feel comfortable to discuss. However, I discuss for the following reasons. First, because I want to break the isolation others might feel. It’s okay to feel this way when there’s a string of events that seem to be overwhelming. Let’s just validate that up front. The real problem isn’t that we all feel this way when things go awry in our lives. It’s normal. The problem is when we allow it to break us and to discourage us, keeping us in a prison and chained to things that occur in everyday life. We must take control of the situations and not allow the situations to overwhelm us. Now, to be fair to myself, I had every reason to feel the way I was feeling. My circumstances were overwhelming; However, our battles are not against flesh and blood. Therefore, we have to fight back with knowledge. Knowledge can only come from knowing God’s character and God’s Word.
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” -1 Peter 5:10
You know what my focus words are in that above scripture? Restore. Confirm. Strengthen. Establish. Who is God going to do this for? YOU! And when? After! After what? We suffered a little while. You see, God doesn’t promise a walk on the beach or a bowl of cherries or peaches. He does, however, promise restoration, confirmation, strength, and establishment. Glory to God those are promises we can put in our brain and rejoice over them, thanking God for given back everything we think we might have lost. God gives better than what was taken.
Secondly, my scripture at the beginning talks about iron sharpening iron. Have you seen that happen? I have. You see the iron has to be hot, very hot, and then you have to shape it before you sharpen. Then, it must be cooled down before sharpen the iron you plan on sharpening. This is because you cannot sharpen a hot object. Catch this in your spirit. So, one simple lesson here is that in order for one iron to sharpen another, they had to go through extreme heat of their own BEFORE they can help another.
There’s also another meaning that I said catch this in your spirit. As long as you purposely stay in that hot place of anger and stubbornness, you can’t be used for anything. Take this into your prayer closets. This isn’t what God expects from our lives. We must be yielded to His correction and His way of doing this. You will never be cool enough to receive what He has until you get out of that hot place.
As I was feeling a bit discouraged, I received two phone calls on messenger from two different pastors I have never spoken to before. They don’t know me, I don’t know them, and they don’t know each other. They know nothing about my life. They called me several times, but I didn’t answer. Finally, I answered. They didn’t ask anything about me. They just said, “I’m calling because God has led me to pray for you, I have been praying for you for days.” One pastor was joined by his wife and others. The other had just interceded for him with his wife.
I was amazed by the faithfulness of God. Those prayers they prayed were not from a man’s knowledge. It was overwhelming for me to hear them pray over me as if they had been my friends all my life and were in my private closet hearing what I was praying for. I felt sharpened by them. Nothing bad, like I had done something bad. It was all positive and extremely prophetic what they prayed for. One totally prayed for 13 minutes in unknown tongue. So, I knew what God was saying and doing. It was all spiritual. The other followed two days later with what I believe was the interpretation because it lasted the same amount of time!
Listen, Friends, God cannot and will not be mocked in a real believer’s life. Today, I’m reminded the heat was heavy on me because of my calling. Really, it should be all of our calling. We should want God to take the hottest trials of our lives and turn them into incredible sharpening and molding tools into the Master’s Hands!
Rev. Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro
Founder and President of Thread of Hope, Inc.
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