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Archive for January, 2011
The sixth part of the Full Armor of God is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!
We have been studying Ephesians 6:10-18, where God tells us about the Full Armor of God. Ephesians 6:17 says, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This is perhaps the only part of our armor as Christians that we use offensively against the enemy Satan. All of the other parts, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation are used to defend us against Satan’s temptations. This sixth weapon enables us to make an offensive attack against Satan. If we can attribute the emotion of fear to Satan, I would say that this is the weapon that Satan cowers in fear from the most! The other parts of our armor only protect us when Satan tempts us. This mighty weapon, the Sword of the Spirit, allows us to make a frontal charge and attack on Satan when he dares to deceive and torture us with his lying words. God’s word, the Sword of the Spirit, is infinitely sharper than Satan’s lies!
As women, we can boldly quote memorized Scripture verses when we are tempted. When we do this, we are not helpless, little gals. We have the mightiest weapon available for our use from the Lord of lords! This sword is not something we create ourselves. This sword is used of God and can be used by us as He graciously reminds us of His words at an opportune time. In Ephesians 6:17, the English translation for the Greek word “rhema” is “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice.”or “the spoken word of God”. God speaks to us by the Holy Spirit in offense to Satan when we are being tempted by Satan. God supplies the needed words of defense and offense. We can take God’s words and speak them ourselves in offense to Satan and his temptations when we are under attack.
For our swordsmanship and offense against the enemy to be more effective, we have to be in the word and let His word abide in us, studying it, memorizing it, and allowing God to write it in our hearts and minds. Then we will have a mighty sword available when it is most needed. If we focus on His written word daily and yield to it, God will change us to be like Himself through our study, but, as I already said, we must yield to His word!
To make your yielded life a reality, I challenge you to put obedience to God and His word on your daily to-do list, as I have begun to do today. Like myself, you can list things like: live or abide in Christ; let Christ and His word live in me; obey always; don’t nag or complain. You can make your own reminder/to-do list! It will set your mind on obedience, which will become the most important task of your day! Obedience will determine what all your other daily tasks will be! This will help make you be a doer of God’s word and not a hearer only!
Satan wants to defeat every praying, Bible-studying Christian. Satan is the worst enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Word, and every Bible-toting Christian. But alas, Satan’s measly power is nothing compared to our omnipotent God and His word! Those very same Bible-toting Christians are the ones that have the strongest weapon against their worst foe!! We are safe and secure as long as we, in faith, take up this Sword of the Spirit, which is the spoken word of God.
Just how powerful is the Word of God? In Revelation 19:15, ”Out of His (Christ’s) mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…” Jesus is the Word of God. With His word and His tongue, He will smite the nations who come together in the War of Armageddon against Him. He will destroy them and win the final battle with just His word! This is the kind of weapon that we have to wage war with against Satan when he comes to tempt us. God’s word will crush his temptation and make you the victor! Read here how Jesus will win the final war against those who hate Him in Revelation 19:17-21:
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.”
(Final Doom of the Beast and False Prophet)
It’s amazing, but also fearsome how simply and quickly God will conquer those who try to war against Him! Do you trust in Him? It’s time to now! He’s the God of love, but He’s also the God of judgment.
20 “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image ; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.“
But how is God’s word (the Sword of the Spirit) powerful to us today? In The Age of Grace, which we live in now, God’s word is and has been strong enough to save the most wicked sinner, including me. By God’s word, a sinner is turned from a life of destruction headed for hell… to eternal life in Christ. Saul, on the Road to Damascus, was saved when Jesus appeared to him and spoke to Him. – Acts 9:1-19.
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” - Romans 10:17. A person can be saved from an eternity in hell when he/she hears the word of God, the Gospel (Good News) about Jesus and His saving grace. God’s word can also raise the dead, as when Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth”, and Lazarus came out of the tomb! – John 11:1-44.
God’s word is also powerful enough to save you if you are a teenager who is trying to “find herself”. God can also use His word to lead you and your husband to salvation if you are a wife in a marriage headed for wreckage and divorce!
But what is this Gospel or Good News that I’m talking about? Please read as I explain it “in a nutshell”.
Mankind was made by God to know and worship God. Man & woman chose to turn from God when Adam and Eve sinned. There had to be provided a way back to fellowship with God, or we would be destined for eternal death (or separation from God) in hell. God sent a Savior, the eternal Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, part of the Trinity (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to take the punishment for our sins, which He bore on the cross. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Good News is that all we have to do is receive God’s free gift of eternal life by believing in His work on the cross as payment for our sins and then praying to receive His gift. This faith necessary to believe in Christ is also a gift from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8,9. Then after Christ saves you, He will help you live in obedience to His Lordship. – Ephesians 2:10 goes onto say, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
If you are already His follower, He will speak to you the answer you need for your life, as you ask in expectant faith in Him who is faithful. He will supply you with the right words for the moment. You will come away with your heart warmed and refreshed, as the two on the road to Emmaus had their hearts burning within them as the resurrected Jesus spoke to them about Himself in all the Scriptures! – Luke 24:13-35. Be sure to thank Him for His merciful provision, then go with Christ to use your newly loaded arsenal to fight against Satan and his miserable lies. God and His Sword, which is the spoken word of God, will triumph and so will you!
We can wear this holy weapon of war as we put it on daily. Since Christ is the Word of God, we put Him on when we wear the Sword of the Spirit (the word of God)! We can wear Christ and be safe from the enemy. Christ is truly and eternally all-powerful compared to Satan, who is only partially and temporarily powerful, making Satan actually weak and revealing God as Almighty! 1 John 4:4 says it well! “…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
My question to you is, “Do you have Jesus in your life as your personal Savior and Lord?” If you do, put Him on as your defense and offense against Satan, and win! If you don’t know Him, please trust in Him today; then tell me and others!!
