Now is the time for battle......

7 – Use Your Sword

…and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Today I have the pleasure of spending the day with my two younger grand- children, Dan & Leah. It’s a gorgeous day and I have been watching Dan bouncing on the trampoline. He wasn’t doing his double somersaults which he often likes to do. Today he had a large plastic sword and was bouncing and wielding the sword in deep cut and thrust movements – no doubt as he’s seen happening on his computer games or in the movies. He sure knows how to use that thing!

His timing was great as an opening for my writing of today’s Daydrops because our next piece of God’s armour is the sword and Paul tells us that our spiritual sword is the word of God. So how do we use God’s word as a sword, and how do we use it skillfully?

Jesus is our best example of using the word of God as a weapon. When he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, (Luke 4), Jesus always used the scriptures to withstand or counteract the enemy’s temptations. When tempted to do a creative miracle and turn the stones into bread, he countered with “The scriptures say, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. He was saying that there is more important food, the food for our spirit that truly satisfies the deepest part of us.

When tempted with power and authority when Satan offered him rule over kingdoms of this world in return for Jesus bowing down to him, Jesus resisted the temptation and submitted to the headship of God his father. Acknowledging the truth of God’s word that “The scriptures say, you must worship the Lord you God and only serve him.” In his final thrust Satan tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the highest point on the temple and when he did he quoted scripture to support his ‘test’. Jesus recognised his subtlety and deception – we are not to test God with foolish actions. He said again, “The scriptures also say ‘You must not test the Lord your God’.”

Jesus had been brought up knowing the scriptures. Jewish boys learn from a very young age to memorize God’s word and talk about it and how it applies to life. We too must know the scriptures well. Colossians 3:16 invites us to “Let the word of God dwell in you richly…” If we will read the word and allow it to become a part of our thinking every day, it will dwell in us richly. The Holy Spirit can then draw from that storehouse of the word within us, when the need arises. At times when the enemy comes with temptations, the Spirit of God then has that rich store from which to draw to help us counteract the attacks of the enemy.

Allow the Holy Spirit to help you wield that sword with great skill and you will have all that you need, but we must do the work of putting the word into our hearts so that it can be drawn upon in time of need.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your holy and powerful word which is my weapon against the attacks of the enemy. Help me to study it and allow it to become a part of my daily life. Amen