I want to take a few posts to talk about the greatest weapon that we’ve been given. Without it we’ll never overcome the enemy. Unfortunately, many Christians have never even picked it up.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17
This verse is talking about the authority and power of God. He wants to work this through us. In order for that to happen, we must use what He’s given to us. The greatest gift we could be given is the sword of the spirit – the rhema- word of God.
Remember, we’re talking about the armor of God. This is His personal armor and weaponry. That means that this is the sword of the Lord.
Our knowledge of this got watered down over time; especially since the advent of the printing press. With the proliferation of Scripture we have come to assume that whenever we read word of God, it means the Bible.
Please don’t turn me off before I explain this next statement. It may come as a shock to you. You might even think that I’m in error. But the fact is that a careful reading of Scripture will bear me out.
The Bible is not our sword of the spirit. The sword Paul is talking about is a spiritual weapon that wreaks havoc on the enemy.
It’s clear from the Bible and our experience that the devil doesn’t fear the Bible. He actually has it memorized. He even does his best to use it against us. He tried to use it against Jesus – and failed miserably.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Matthew 4:5-6
The devil doesn’t fear to hear or use the Bible. According to the verse from Ephesians it’s the rhema of God that’s our spiritual weapon.
Does that mean I don’t need the Bible? Absolutely not! We’re to study to show ourselves approved.
“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
John 5:46-47
In the literal Greek of this verse, Jesus said, “If you don’t believe what was written, how will you believe my rhema?” It’s the knowledge of Scripture that gives us the foundation we need to hear, trust and obey God’s word to us.
That’s what the sword of the spirit is all about. The Greek word Rhema is the revealed word of God to me…and to you. That’s the greatest weapon of the church – God speaking to us.
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Matthew 16:16-18
Christ is building His church on the rock of the revealed will of God. It’s that word of God that brings the victory. The gates of hell can’t stand against it. It’s this revealed word of God that I want to talk about for a few posts.
Question: How has God spoken to you personally in the past?
© Nick Zaccardi 2016
Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ! Welcome to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”!
We continue discussing that we should be filled with and live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. There shouldn’t be any weariness in the life of Christians, if they continually feed on God’s Word.
Yesterday we started talking about Prophet Elijah who was actually ready to give up. Despite the fact that he had just destroyed all the prophets of Baal and was mighty, after some time his heart was filled with fear and he grew spiritually weak. Elijah got tired and fell asleep because he did not have it in him to go forward; he was weary of all the fighting. He did not want to live and asked God to take his life. But God told him that he was asking for the wrong thing. God told him to eat. After he had eaten, Elijah became stronger. Every time when I read God’s Word I understand that it is spiritual food that invigorates me. I read it until I feel stronger. Every day comes with its cares and in order for me to go through it successfully I need strength. None of us know what we might face during the day; so we need to eat both physically and spiritually. We must get nourished to be strong enough in dealings with different problems we can face during our daily walk.
Have you every experienced joy and encouragement after reading the Word? Have you ever felt like a victor filled with faith and power after getting filled with God’s Word? His Word truly makes us victors. God has given us His Word so that we would use it on a daily basis.
We already saw that God’s Word is called the following things:
• light,
• water,
• mirror,
• and spiritual food.
It also says in the Bible that God’s Word is a sword.You and I are in the middle of spiritual battle and we need the weapon that would help us fight and overcome the enemy. God’s Word is His weapon, His sword. If the Word is in us, we will always be able to easily overcome temptation, sin and enemy.
If God’s Word abides in us, we will be able to say as Jesus said: «It is written! It is written! It is written!» But if you are not ‘in shape’ and do not know what is written in the Word, you won’t have the necessary courage to proclaim God’s Word over your life and situation.
«I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one» (1 John, 2:14).
God desires for us to be strong and overcome the wicked one. The Church must be filled with powerful people that are able to overcome all the deeds of the wicked one. But we can be strong and overcoming only when the Word of God abides in us. How can the Word abide in us, if we do not read it and if we treat it lightly, and do not really pay attention to it?
The Word that abides in us makes us strong and victorious. Our strength depends not on what we know, but the word that abides in us. The more of the Word you have in you, the stronger you will be. God intends for us to be filled and nourished by God’s Word. We will continue on this tomorrow.!
May God abundantly bless you!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
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we are often surrounded on every corner
at times the fight looks so real like the burner
when we think we can catch a breath
at the point we are got up in the fight
they say we will never sit down and rest
they say that the burden is too much and they is no helpers
they say we are a bunch of losers, we can not kill an ant
they say we are lairs, Gods word is not real
we’ll be standing victorious and advancing
we’ll be singing the warriors song and that forever
we’ll be walking in the aisle with the chanting of the angels
we’ll be using his word to defend ourselves for his word is our weapon
Hebrews 4:12 King James Version (KJV) 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.(Proverbs 21 v 30 & Isaiah 54 v 17)
Interpretation of the verse obtained from meditating on the scripture: (Will provide shortly)
The word of God has three major characteristics according to Hebrew 4 v 12.
1) Quick
2) Powerful
3) Sharper than a two-edged sword
Let’s examine each characteristic respectively:
The first characteristic is that it’s Quick implies that the word of God is quickly manifested as God watches over his word to quickly perform it according to Jeremiah 1 v 12.
The second characteristic is that it’s powerful, the Word of God is God himself and it was he who existed in the very beginning and he is omnipotent (all powerful), hence the word of God itself is powerful, it’s so powerful that when heaven and earth will pass away the word God remains forever. In fact the word God is immortal and can never be killed. In conclusion the very existence of the universe today and all its elements therein are a result of the awesome power of the word of God. All things came into being by the spoken word of God, as seen in Genesis 1. God said let there be and there was.
The third characteristic is the word of God is the sword of the spirit according to Ephesians 6 v 17, the sword of God breaks the rocks in pieces. The word of God is more powerful than weapon fashioned by man, in fact no weapon fashioned against God’s word can prosper. A great war solider was delivered from death because the word of God was in his pocket. Please read the excerpt below:
SAVED BY HIS BIBLE
Private Bush had his devout Christianity to thank for saving his life when, in 1917, two bullets destined for his chest were stopped by a Bible he kept in his breast pocket.
Pte Bush was knocked off his feet and into a shell hole on the ravaged battlefield in Ypres, Belgium, and nearly drowned before being dragged to safety by his comrades.
They feared Pte Bush had been mortally wounded but instead found a bullet lodged in the brown Bible. Another had ricocheted off the Bible and passed through his collarbone.
Following the war Pte Bush worked in a paper mill in Bristol. He died in 1960 aged 76.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2739338/The-Great-War-Soldiers-saved-pocket-Bible-whistle-camera-Incredible-stories-three-heroes-cheated-death-revealed-time.html#ixzz4DwuvnsfZ
Wow! That was amazing right? The word of God is powerful isn’t?
George Washington said it is not possible to rightly govern the world without God and the bible. This is another attestation to the tremendous power of God’s word.
Life Principle:
Read the Bible daily, meditate on it day and night and see the awesome power of God manifesting in your life.
Nuggets:
In 6 weeks time you will see a remarkable difference in your spiritual life. No man who read the word of God constantly was a failure. All the kings of Israel that failed were none bible readers, they didn’t study the word constantly as in the injuction of Moses in Exodus 17 v 18; The secret to david’s success was that he studied the word of God 7 times according to Psalm 119 v 164. Scientist recommend that we should drink water 6-8 times a day to stay hydrated, as 70% of our body is made from water. We are 100% created from dust which was created by the word of God hence, if we take as much as 6-8 glasses a day we might need to take more to stay spiritually hydrated.
Prayer Points:
1) Oh Lord make me a reservoir of your word in Jesus name.
2) Every evil SUN choking the word of God from my heart, sword of God kill it, in Jesus name.
3) My father speak to me today through your word in Jesus name.
4) Sword of Gideon and of the word of God slay my Midianites today in Jesus name.
5) Oh sword of the word of God pierce through any evil deposit in my body in Jesus name.
6) Oh sword of the word of God pierce through everything that is not of God in my body & spirit in Jesus name.
7) Oh sword of the word of God discern every evil thought and intent of my heart and destroy it, in Jesus name.
Oh sword of the word of God cut down any evil tree in body, soul and spirit, in Jesus name.
9) Sword of Gideon and of the word of God slay my midanites today in Jesus name.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ~ (Hebrews 4:12)
The Two-Edged Sword of God’s Word
The Bible truly functions as a “sword” in its ability to cut through to the innermost depths of a person’s heart and soul. God’s Word can penetrate through all the layers of impurity and get to the true central issues of life.
In line with this conception, we can see that the Bible truly has two edges: condemnation and restoration. These two edges represent the beauty and wonder of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me explain.
First of all, the Bible condemns us. Now, this may sound rather bleak to you, but it is a critical part of your journey toward enjoying a full relationship with God. Before you can truly connect with God on an intimate level and enjoy His presence in your life each day, you must recognize the depth of evil in your heart. When we read God’s Word, we get a clear picture of just how bad we are in light of God’s holiness. We must get this. We must have an accurate picture of our own state of heart.
Once we understand our need for a Savior and His forgiveness, we can experience His restoration. When we confess our sins to Him, He will forgive us and redeem us (“buy us back,” i.e., receive us back to Himself; 1 John 1:9).
I’ve heard it said, «we must be lost before we can be found.” In other words, you won’t turn to your Savior until you realize your need to do so. You won’t confess your sins until He shows you the true darkness of your heart.
The Word of God acts as a mirror by giving us an accurate picture of who we really are (James 1:22-25). Once we see that image, God can begin to change us into what we really ought to be. So dig into His Word to experience both the sobering reality of your own condition as well as the healing forgiveness that you need to walk with God.
What to pray: ask God to show you your true condition through His Word, and then confess the things hindering your journey with Him.
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