The Sword of the Spirit

The Sword of the Spirit

Ephesians 6:17

Our one "offensive" weapon is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the living Word of God...our Bible

The Explanation of the Sword of the Spirit

There are two Greek words which are translated in the Scripture as the term "word." The first, logos, found in John 1:1 refers to Jesus Christ as the "Word."  In Revelations 19:13, His name is "the Word of God." But in Ephesians 6:17 Paul uses the Greek word rhema, and it is essential to discover the difference if we are to understand and arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit. The rhema of God literally means "the sayings of God," and it refers to the fact that God has available wisdom for your specific situations. In other 
words, the Bible is like an armory, and inside are all sorts of swords that you can pull out when you need to attack the enemy.

In Romans 10:17 the word rhema is also used: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the rhema of God."  As you read God's Word He will pull out sayings that just become alive and touch your heart. When you experience that, your faith becomes alive. The rhema, or saying of God, became a revelation for you. that is the same sense Paul was getting at in Ephesians 6.

We aren't fit to fight unless we can pull out the rhema, the sayings of God, that are appropriate and effective for the need at hand.

The Effect of the Sword of the Spirit

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."  That passage is militant about the Bible. It says the 
Scripture is alive, active and powerful and can pierce the hearts of men, even causing an enemy to retreat.  It is useful for discerning truth, and it's the most dreaded weapon we can






use against the enemy. A metal sword may pierce the body but the Word of God pierces the heart. A metal sword gets dull as you use it, but the Sword of the Spirit is sharpened with use. A metal sword wounds to hurt, the Sword of the Spirit wounds to heal.

Consider how effective it is. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:37 and the sword of the Spirit worked wonders. "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The 
sword was turned loose that day by Peter, and he preached the Word of God concerning 
sin, and judgment, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Sword pierced the hearts of the people who listened in such a way that the Scripture says they gave the invitation instead of the preacher! They asked, "What are we to do?"

Christ is the master swordsman when it comes to using this weapon. In Matthew 4:1-11 we read about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness that took place right after His baptism. At the end of chapter 3 God said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Right after that the Spirit leads Him into the wilderness where Satan tempts Him to question what God said about Jesus at the baptism. There are three temptations that are all along the same lines he has used since the beginning of history. He always uses the same old temptations, the lust of the flesh, "the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). It's the same way he tempted Eve. He said the fruit was good for food (the lust of he flesh); he said the fruit was pleasant to the eyes (the lust of the eyes); and he claimed it was able to make one wise (the pride of life). He never changes.

After being in the wilderness fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came to Him and said, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, " It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word (rhema) that comes from the mouth of God. The key word in this verse is "alone." In other words, man shall not live apart from the will of God. He is to walk in dependence upon God. Jesus was telling Satan He was willing to walk according to His Father's will. Jesus beat back the devil with the sword of the Spirit, the Scripture.

The first temptation was the "lust of the flesh". The second temptation was the "lust of the eyes". The devil took Him up to the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give 
His angels charge over You,'and'  in their hands they shall bear you up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.' " Satan quoted the Bible, but did so inaccurately. He left out the phrase from Psalm 91:11, "For He shall keep you in all your ways."  He perverted the text by leaving out that part of the passage that would remind Jesus that His Heavenly Father was in control and would take care of Him no matter what. The devil is very shrewd. In the first temptation, Satan was trying to get Christ to distrust His Father and act independently. In the second temptation he was trying to get Christ to trust God more than he should, to be presumptuous and jump from the roof so that His Father would catch Him. But the Lord had His sword ready and , reaching in, came out with, "It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Matthew 4:7, Deuteronomy 6:16).

Temptation number three was "the pride of life". Again, the devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of he world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship 
me." He used his power to appeal to the Lord's personal ambition. Satan was telling Jesus the end justifies the means. He was encouraging the Lord to take a shortcut to His goal.  After all, Jesus came to set up a kingdom, so Satan offers an immediate physical kingdom in place of the spiritual kingdom. "Forget about death, sacrifice, and salvation," the devil suggests. "Why suffer? You can gain your kingdom without the cross." Once more Jesus reached into the sheath of swords and pulled out the right one: "it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve' " (Matthew 4:10, Deuteronomy 6:13). And do you know what happened? Verse 11 tells us, "then the devil left Him."  Jesus won! He used the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. He used the rhema, the sayings of God which He knew were appropriate for the situation.  James, the brother of Jess, tells us in James 4:7, "Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

Finally, the sword of the Spirit exhorts us to memorize key passages of God's Word.  Most temptations don't come when we have a Bible in our hand, so we need to store up His Word in our mind so that when temptation comes we can call them forth to use in warding off the attack of Satan. That's what Paul meant when he said, "Let the Word of God dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16) and David wrote in Psalm 119:11, "Your Word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You." Be filled with God's truth so that when temptation comes you will know how to deal with it. Get a grip on your Bible: read it, hear it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. If you don't, you don't have a sword, and that means you are walking into battle unarmed.

Taken from David Jeremiah's study guide, Spiritual Warfare, 2002
The next. Praying Always With All Prayer

~Annie~