The Sword of the Spirit

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:17

I love how Paul clearly explains here what he means - the sword of the Spirit is the word of God.  There's not just a word picture or metaphor, there's a strong explanation.  That must mean it's important!

I don't think we can under emphasize how important the word of God is.  This week I'm helping with VBS at church, and every night, when we discuss the point of the lesson, I say, and how do we know this is true?  Because God's word tells us so!

Notice also that the sword is the one offensive weapon we are equipped with.  That tells me that the Bible is all we need!  It tells me how strong and powerful and - can I say - macho God's word is!

When we come up against the enemy, we need to speak God's truth - God's word!  But we cannot speak it if we do not know it. 

Having a "devotional time" each day is one of my pet peeves.  It evokes a picture of 15 minutes a day, a quick read of a scripture, a quick story, a quick prayer. 

Time with God is so much more than an item on our agenda, a part of our daily checklist.  Our time with God is our living, breathing time.  We get to the point where we cannot go on without Him!  And the best way to connect with him is to read, study, and meditate on his word.  That way when we need this weapon in our spiritual battles, we can quickly and easily pull it from within.

A final thought, from freebiblestudyguides.org:  "Swords are used for close combat, not long-range warfare. Could this imply the nature of the battle a Christian fights?"