By: Dale Weckbacher
Eph 6:17
The sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God;
NKJV
TO BE A CHRISTIAN is
to be a warrior. The good soldier of Jesus Christ must not expect to find ease
in this world: it is a battle-field. Neither must he reckon upon the friendship
of the world; for that would be enmity against God. His occupation is war. As
he puts on piece by piece of the panoply provided for him, he may wisely say to
himself, "This warns me of danger; this prepares me for warfare; this
prophesies opposition." Charles Spurgeon (1)
The great actor Errol Flynn made a career of doing
swashbuckling movies like The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, and The
Adventures of Don Juan. Even though his
private life was full of controversy and even a statutory rape charge in 1942,
his life is most remembered for how he skillfully handled a sword on the silver
screen. (2)
The Roman soldier’s only offensive weapon was his
sword. Without his sword all he would be
able to do is fend off the attacks of the enemy but with his sword he would be
able to defeat the enemy and render him powerless. However, the sword would be useless to the
soldier if he were not skilled in its use.
To train for battle a Roman soldier would practice daily
using wooden swords and shields. These
swords and shields were deliberately much heavier than those the soldier used
in battle. (3) This use of heavier weapons in training
would enable to soldier to more skillfully use his sword and shield in
battle. As spiritual warriors we too
must train to become skillful in handling our sword by
1)
Finding a Church that teaches the Word of God.
2)
Become part of a small group Bible Study where
we can interact with the teacher and ask questions.
3)
Read and study God’s Word daily. This does not mean we have to study for
hours. God’s Word is powerful and even a
few minutes each day will produce great results.
As the Son of God, Jesus is the best spiritual swordsman in
the Bible and it was His swordsmanship skills that helped Him defeat the devil
at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus
had just been baptized by John the Baptist and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness (Matthew 4:1). After fasting
forty days and nights, the Devil came to tempt him (Matthew 4:2). In this weakened state, Jesus would have had
little physical strength with which to do battle but Jesus prevailed by using
the Sword of the Spirit. Here is the
account of the temptation as told in the Book of Matthew. I encourage you to read it for it provides a
perfect example of how to skillfully use the Sword of the Spirit.
Matthew 4:3-11
3 Then the Devil came and said to
him, "If you are the Son of God, change these stones into loaves of
bread."
4 But Jesus told him, "No!
The Scriptures say,
'People need more than bread for
their life;they must feed on every word of God.' "
(Deuteronomy 8:3)
5 Then the Devil took him to
Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, 6 and said, "If you are the
Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
'He orders his angels to protect
you.And they will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot
on a stone.' "
7 Jesus responded, "The
Scriptures also say, 'Do not test the Lord your God.' "
(Deuteronomy 6:16)
8 Next the Devil took him to the
peak of a very high mountain and showed him the nations of the world and all
their glory. 9 "I will give it all to you," he said, "if you
will only kneel down and worship me."
10 "Get out of here,
Satan," Jesus told him. "For the Scriptures say,
'You must worship the Lord your
God;serve only him.' " (Deuteronomy 6:13)
11 Then the Devil went away, and
angels came and cared for Jesus. (NLT)
Jesus skillfully used the Sword of the Spirit as the Devil
attacked him until finally the Devil left Him.
Some may argue however that of course Jesus could do this because he was
the Son of God and in fact is God. However,
Jesus experienced this temptation as a man, in fact a weakened man after forty
days and nights of fasting, and successfully defeated the devil. We too can successfully defeat the devil by
learning and studying God’s Word and using it when we find ourselves under
Spiritual attack.
We recently saw how a man can skillfully use the Sword of
the Spirit to defeat the enemy when under Spiritual attack. I am speaking of the recent attack on Phil
Robertson of Duck Dynasty by A&E leading to his suspension from the
show. Granted, A&E has the right to
suspend anyone in their employ but Phil Robertson was smart. The statements of his beliefs against gay
marriage were Biblical and Phil backed his statements up with scripture using
the example of Jesus.
When he spoke out after the suspension, many believed he
would apologize but instead he stuck to his beliefs. After all, why would a believer in Christ
feel the need to apologize for what is contained in the Word of God. Phil Robertson’s standing on the truths in
the Word of God encouraged other believers that watch the show Duck Dynasty and
A&E soon experienced the power of the Sword of the Spirit and ended Phil
Robertson’s suspension. .
Persecution of Christians has occurred since the beginning
of the Church. Fortunately, in the
United States the First Amendment of the Constitution has traditionally
protected us from governmental persecution.
However, many of our government’s leaders have little regard for the
Constitution and that means we are seeing an increase in persecution of
Christians in our nation, including some governmental persecution. We now realize we are in a battle, a
spiritual battle requiring us to put on the armor of God. However, in addition to putting on the Armor
of God, we must also do what the scriptures tell us in Ephesians 6:17-18
Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance
and supplication for all the saints — (NKJV)
Armed with the Armor of God and by maintaining constant
communication with or commanding officer through prayer we can be strong and
invincible in the spiritual battles ahead.
Join me in putting on the armor of God and daily training for the
battles ahead by praying, studying the Word of God, and engaging in spiritual
battle against the enemy.
1. Spurgeon, Charles. The Sword of the Spirit. www.spurgeon.org.
[Online] The Spurgeon Archive, April 19, 1891. [Cited: January 7, 2014.]
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2201.htm.
2. Channel, The
Biography. Errol Flynn Biography. www.thebiographychannel.co.uk. [Online]
[Cited: January 7, 2014.]
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/errol-flynn.html.
3. Barrow, Mandy.
Roman Army Training. primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk. [Online] [Cited: January
7, 2014.] http://primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/romans/training.html.
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