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Good Tuesday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends;
This is our last day in our battle-field training with our Commander in Chief, Jesus, as He instructs us about Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians 6:10-18.
We’ve tried to carefully understand each of the pieces of the “Armor of God” as Paul describes them thus far:
* “Stand firm then with the Belt of Truth buckled around your waist…”
* “…with the breastplate of righteousness in place…”
* “…and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace…”
* “…take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows the evil one…”
* “Take up the helmet of salvation…”
If for some reason you’ve missed any of our previous reflections, may I urge you to consider going to the archives tab on our web site and reviewing them both in written and audio format?
I’ve imagined we are among a large number of Christians assembled together and Jesus is explaining how HE has personally designed and fabricated all of these precious and powerful pieces of spiritual armor for us, His followers, to use for our protection… and the protection of others. He explains we are Jesus’ Ambassadors, representing Him among humanity where-ever we live, work and socialize. We are also His armed warriors, battling the forces of evil who seek to hold, in sin bondage, every person, born anywhere in the world. And finally, we are Jesus’ army, battling on behalf of every discouraged Christian, who is under attack of the dark kingdom and is not able, for what ever reason, to fight victoriously.
The armor, thus far, has largely been defensive armor that we can use to defend ourselves, our children and families, our friends or anyone under oppressive attack of the dark kingdom. You’ve seen the pictures of soldiers coming to the aide of fellow soldiers wounded in battle, or under such intense enemy fire they can’t move. That’s the picture of how we, Jesus’ followers, can come to the aide of anyone as we battle the dark kingdom on their behalf, and put our arm around them, bringing them to a safe place, tending to their wounds, and helping them regain their confidence in their battles.
Today we read in Ephesians 6:17&18 “…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” I wonder how many pieces of armor or warfare tactics you see in these two verses?
“The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” Is a very powerful weapon of God for us in our spiritual warfare, and the first one which is both an offensive weapon and defensive weapon. We’ve seen sword fights where swords are used both to protect from the slashing attacks of the enemy, but also how the sword is a powerful attack weapon that can penetrate or cut with a sharp edge or even bludgeon with the flat side of the sword. Until the development of guns and bullets, swords were the primary weapon in hand to hand combat.
Why do you suppose Paul writes it this way… “The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”?
We understand “the Word of God” is what we have today as our Bible. 66 books. It’s important we understand the AUTHOR of the Bible is God Himself. Two significant verses make this clear: Paul who God used to write much of the New Testament says in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Do you hear the clear statement that God breathed or spoke all Scripture into the hearts and minds of those humans, who wrote down what God led them to write? ‘Scripture’ is the word used for that which has been revered as God dictated to mankind, which was written and preserved over the centuries.
The Apostle Peter also wanted this to be clear and he wrote in 2 Peter 3:20,21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Peter was a fisherman, he understood how the wind was so important in moving his fishing boat across the Sea of Galilee and that’s the picture he uses here. He and others who wrote our Bible, were moved by the Holy Spirit of God, to write the words which are our Bible and have been now translated into hundreds of languages.
The very existence of our Bible, in this 21st century, is nothing short of miraculous, of course, since so many have tried to destroy it over the centuries. Moses wrote the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy in the years around 1450bc. John the Apostle, wrote the final book, Revelation, around 95ad. Do the math… our Bible was compiled by many different human writers, writing in several places, over a period of almost 1600 years, and all of it is authored by the Holy Spirit of God, who led these human scribes to write, what God wanted the human race to understand, about God, about humanity and the story of the relationship between God and us humans.
Jesus used the Scripture as a spiritual weapon when He battled Satan in the desert as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11. Three times Satan attacked Jesus with temptation, and all three times Jesus responded by quoting Scripture. Then Satan fled from Jesus. Hold tightly to that my friends. That’s a tangible example of Jesus using the Holy Spirit empowered Word of God as a sword and defeating Satan! We can do the same!
Peter did the same when he explained, by quoting Scripture (Acts 2:14-24), what was happening in the miracle of Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus. Doubt was dispelled and 3000 people were convinced, and trusted Jesus that day, and were baptized (Acts 2:37-41).
Matthew quotes the Old Testament Scriptures more than the other Gospel writers, in proving Jesus is the long awaited Jewish Messiah. Paul, of course, was an expert in the Old Testament Scriptures, and quotes them often in his letters. Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write 13 books of the New Testament.
Jesus said “…the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26). Friends, we can own that… the Holy Spirit will teach us all truth, and will help us understand God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will remind us of what we’ve studied, read and memorized in God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will help us use God’s Word as a sword to battle all the confusion and untruth the dark kingdom is spreading in our world.
The main reason we are on this “Walking with Jesus” journey together my friends, is to immerse ourselves in the Word of God so we understand it, we allow it to convict and shape our lives, and then use it as the “Sword of the Spirit” to battle the dark kingdom and refute lies, distortions, doubt, and fear.
Now here’s a very important point my friends... the Holy Spirit is the author of all Scripture, and therefore the Holy Spirit can illuminate our minds to understand it as we read it. The Holy Spirit can teach us, through what He authored, and the Holy Spirit can empower us, and encourage us, and strengthen us through the inspired Word of God.
Now here’s a vital question: have you learned that God speaks to us, human beings, MOST often through His Word as we read or listen to it? That’s the miracle of the Holy Spirit working in our minds and hearts, as our eyes read the Scriptures or our ears listen to the Scriptures. Have you developed a big appetite for God’s Word my friends? This is one of the greatest miracles of being a Christian, a follower of Jesus! And it’s available to us anytime day or night!
Do you see why it’s so very powerful to memorize Scripture, so you don’t have to be holding a Bible for the Holy Spirit to speak God’s truth into your heart and mind when you need guidance or conviction or teaching? If we’ve memorized it, the Holy Spirit can bring it to our recollection and we can meditate on it and God can speak to us as we reflect on the Scripture we have in our minds!
Now finally do you see Jesus’ invitation to stay in very close communication with HIM as we walk the journey of our lives? “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions…” As we understand, communication is essential to life, in marriage, family, work, and friendships. In battle it’s absolutely vital. The Holy Spirit is key to our communication with God. He lives in us, and being God, He can guide us or instruct us or caution us or convict us, according to what He, the Holy Spirit, knows is going on in the heart of both God the Father, and God the Son, our Savior and Commander.
But sometimes do you find yourself struggling to know how to pray in a particular situation. Listen to what Paul wrote to the Roman Christians: “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us…” (Romans 8:26). So we can be confident that God loves communication with us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, He made us! And the Holy Spirit living in us is speaking to the Father for us. But He loves to hear us voice what’s in our hearts… so He’s always listening, ready to hear us, and He’s often ready to speak to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word… if we are hungry to LISTEN.
Finally, in the last few verses of Ephesians 6, we see how Paul is sending this letter to the Christians in Ephesus and his final words of encouragement and love to them. As we have seen, this is one of the most powerful books of the Bible.
Tomorrow, we’ll begin looking at Philippians, the next letter Paul wrote while imprisoned in Rome (Acts 28:30,31). Oh I thank you my friends, for joining with me as we “walk with Jesus”.
Lord Jesus thank you for this great letter which Your Holy Spirit guided Paul to write for us. We’ve learned a lot through it. Help us to live it now…
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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