The Sword of the Spirit
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Paul taught the church at Ephesis that their warfare was not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). He stressed that in their resistance, they were to take up the full armor of God. This armor included:
- The belt of truth
- The breastplate of righteousness
- Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
- The shield of faith
- The helmet of salvation
- The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
Every article of armor described is an impenetrable covering designed to defend a specific, vulnerable part of the body—all, that is, except one. That exception is an offensive weapon—none other than the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
All it takes to use the sword of the Spirit is for a child of God to speak or pray a phrase or a verse of Scripture in faith. Many years ago, a dear friend of mine, after being saved for only a week, told a couple of friends who were fascinated by the occult about her new relationship with Jesus. When they heard it, they began trembling in rage and swearing at her, threatening to force her to give up her faith. Well, she had been told the week before that if the devil attacked her faith in Christ, to rebuke him in the name of Jesus for there was power in that name. She shouted, “I rebuke you, in the name of Jesus! Get out!” The two young men tore out of the door before she could even finish her command!
Did she have a Bible school degree? NO. Had she attended twenty-five seminars? NO. She merely spoke out what she had learned from the Word on the first day of her salvation. The sword of the Spirit went to work, severing the ties with friends who could potentially confuse or mislead her. The close relationship she had with them was effectively cut off by the Word of God that day.
You grow up in faith by drinking the sincere milk of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and by learning to chew and digest the solid food and meat of the Bible (Hebrews 5:12-14). And as you develop the ability to feed on solid food, the Bible says you mature with consistent intake of the Word. By practicing it, you are trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).
When you wield the sword of the Spirit, you are operating not only in the Word of God, but also in the Holy Spirit. If you maintain a continual diet of the milk and meat of the Word of God, His Spirit will trigger a phrase of Scripture or a full verse to your heart and prompt you to speak it, pray it, think on it, or study it. This is the sword—His Word—prompted by the Spirit of God, i.e., the sword of the Spirit. If you are troubled, are facing a stressful situation, or are ministering to someone, you can trust the Holy Spirit to bring to your heart what you’ve read or heard from the Word that will perfectly address the issue at hand. Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26). This is the operation of the sword of the Spirit!
You are directed by God’s Word to put on the full the armor of God—to walk in truth and righteousness, to be ever-ready to present the gospel of peace, to walk in faith, and to guard your thoughts by the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And, summing it up, you are commissioned by God to carry at all times, in your mouth and in your heart (Romans 10:8), that wonderful sword of the Spirit—the Word of God.
No time spent in pursuit of the Word of God is ever wasted. It will cause you to grow; by it you will be equipped to discern good and evil, and by exercising His Word, you will accomplish the purposes of God.
God bless you as you equip yourself in His Word!
Dorothy
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Read MoreOvercoming by the Word
Many years ago I became aware of the fact that I had an incredible amount of fear in my life. Much of it was related to personal safety. This fear almost paralyzed me as a young Christian until I recognized it and did something about it.
I had an extreme fear of early death. I lived in terror of car accidents, train crashes, plane crashes, and random acts of violence against me. And in the summer of 1980 a friend and I were planning a road trip across country to L.A. to visit another friend. Months before the trip, I had an uneasy feeling building up within me. “You’re going to die on this trip,” the fear whispered over and over.
Determined to overcome the fear, I grabbed my Bible and concordance and started running my references on the topic of God’s protection. Dozens upon dozens of Scriptures promised that God would deliver me from harm, and I wrote them all down on notebook paper. I studied these verses over and over again and thought about them day and night to combat the near panic-level fear I lived with.
When the time came to leave for the trip, I had that set of Scriptures close. For the first two hours of our journey, my heart pounded in fear. I kept reading the verses, telling God quietly that I believed what He said in them. We made our first pit stop at a McDonald’s on the highway, and I took the verses in with me. I remember sitting at a table with my friend, munching my fries and drinking a Coke, reading those verses for the cajillionth time. And there, under the Golden Arches, the fear simply lifted. My pulse became normal, the panic was gone, and as we pulled out, I was able to laugh and anticipate this adventure to L.A. with excitement.
My life changed when I confronted my fear with an orchestrated attack launched from the Word of God. I didn’t feel any less fearful when I started the Bible assault, but I stuck with it and lived in those verses. And God set me free from fear.
How did Jesus overcome the tempter in the wilderness? He used the Word of God. As Jesus persisted in countering each temptation with Scripture, Satan had to leave Him, hoping to find a more opportune time (see Matthew 4:1-11).
A disciple is not above his or her master. If our Savior used the Word of God to combat His foe, how much more should we? Jesus is the Word made flesh, and as for us humans of faith, the Word is near us, in our mouths and in our hearts (see Romans 10:8). The safest place for a Christian in today’s crazy, agitated world is in the Word of God.
Sometimes Christians have a hard time wanting to pray about the challenges we are being confronted with in this nation because so much that we see is extremely disturbing and makes us feel impotent in the face of it. I get it, one hundred percent.
But as I learned back in 1980, the only good way to overcome fear or any other strategy of Satan is by attacking it head on with the Word of God. If our Lord Jesus used the Word to overcome the devil, then so must we. There is no other pursuit in life that will reap the depth and intensity of real, lasting fruit than the full-throttle search of God’s Word. The needs and fears in your life can be addressed in no better way.
None of us can afford to ignore our fears any longer. Each of us must take a stand against what makes us afraid, and with faith in God, launch an orchestrated assault both on our fears and against the fearsome issues with the mighty, powerful, living Word of God.
May God direct and increase you as you dive into His precious Word.
Dorothy
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12, NKJV
…[He] upholds all things by the word of His power…. Hebrews 1:3b, NASB
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11, NKJV
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