FRIDAY August 2nd
Ephesians 6:17
‘. . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. . .’
We come to the final item listed in this incredible armour that God has given us to wear, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
In Hebrews 4:12 we read ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’
The sword of the word of God is sharper than any other weapon, now we could picture ourselves as holding the word of God in our hands (something that is increasingly becoming an uncommon sight now, in the age of modern technology, when many just use an app on their phone) but we could also picture ourselves speaking out through our mouths the word of God. (Perhaps I could add in here, how much better it would look if we all still brought physical bibles with us to the house of God).
In Luke 4 we see Jesus yielding the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, and he didn’t have a scroll under his arm which he had to suddenly open and find what he wanted to read, he spoke it out verbally, you will recall the occasion, we call it the time when he was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. On three occasions Jesus quoted the Old Testament scripture, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone”’; ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’; ‘It is said “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”’.
And in the wilderness the devil was no match for the two-edged sword!
Incidentally, the next time we see Jesus quoting the word of God he did so by reading from a scroll, a physical copy, it is found in the same chapter.
We have a powerful weapon at our disposal, the word of God. It is living and it is powerful. We need to read it, mediate upon it, believe it and speak it out.
In Jeremiah 23:29 we read ‘Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?’
When the enemy comes up against you, give him a good hammering with the word of God, send him packing with his pants on fire.
I will end with a quote from Charles Spurgeon ‘The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and it will defend itself.’