ArmorOfGod7of7SwordOfTheSpirit

Sword of the Spirit
Paul finishes in his description of our Armor of God with, “Sword of the spirit, which is the Word of GOD.” (Ephesians 6:17) You may have noticed, and so have I, that with our Armor, this is the only offensive tool noted by Paul. Now the Roman soldier in Paul’s day would have, and carry a variety of weapons. The soldier would carry a broad sword, a half broad sword, daggers, darts, various lengths of spears, a bow and/or a sling; I’m sure I’m missing a couple weapons in there as well. But Paul felt all we needed was one sword, the sword of the spirit. Not only did he tell us the single weapon we would need to wield, but he gave us the single ingredient for its construction, the Word of GOD. Our sword, our offensive weapon, our tool of attack is quite simply, the Bible. The Bible, written by men who were inspired by the Spirit of God; the literal Word of GOD!
The power of the Word of GOD! The Universe and all it contains was created by the Words of GOD, “Let there be”, and there was! GOD spoke, and there was, it doesn’t get much simpler, yet any more powerful! “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our GOD will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8 GOD our Father has given us, provided for us, His written Word; black and white, there right in front of us, for our study, for our guidance, for our encouragement, for our light. As if that was not enough, he sent his only beloved, begotten Son to spell it out for us! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5) John was referring to Jesus as the Word! The living, breathing, walking, talking Word of GOD! We have Jesus as our example, as our light, as a living testimony to the Word of GOD!
Our sword; our weapon against the forces of evil, the forces of darkness, against our sinful nature, against our flesh; our sword provided to us through the Word of GOD. Any soldier, any officer of the law, any martial artist will tell you it takes years of intense practice before you can be considered a master of a weapon. How much time have we put into mastering our weapon? How much time have we put into the care of our weapon? How strong is our sword, how sharp is our sword? How well are we able to yield it when we need it, when confronted with our enemies? How well do we know our sword? What is our relationship with our sword, what is our relationship with the Word, what is our relationship with GOD the Father, His son Jesus and His Holy Spirit? The weapon has been provided to us, it is up to us to learn to use it, to become proficient with it, to know it inside and out! “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 the intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)