This is from Charles H. Spurgeon:
“Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”—Ephesians 6:17.
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.”
Difficulties meet us even in standing our ground; for the apostle, two or three times, bids us—”Stand.” In the rush of the fight, men are apt to be carried off their legs. If they can keep their footing, they will be victorious; but if they are borne down by the rush of their adversaries, everything is lost. You are to put on the heavenly armor in order that you may stand; and you will need it to maintain the position in which your Captain has placed you. If even to stand requires all this care, judge ye what the warfare must be! The apostle also speaks of withstanding as well as standing. We are not merely to defend, but also to assail. It is not enough that you are not conquered; you have to conquer: and hence we find, that we are to take, not only a helmet to protect the head, but also a sword, with which to annoy the foe. Ours, therefore, is a stern conflict, standing and withstanding; and we shall want all the armor from the divine magazine, all the strength from the mighty God of Jacob.
It is clear from our text that our defense and our conquest must be obtained by sheer fighting. Many try compromise; but if you are a true Christian, you can never do this business well. The language of deceit fits not a holy tongue. The adversary is the father of lies, and those that are with him understand the art of equivocation; but saints abhor it. If we discuss terms of peace, and attempt to gain something by policy, we have entered upon a course from which we shall return in disgrace. We have no order from our Captain to patch up a truce, and get as good terms as we can. We are not sent out to offer concessions. It is said that if we yield a little, perhaps the world will yield a little also, and good may come of it. If we are not too strict and narrow, perhaps sin will kindly consent to be more decent. Our association with it will prevent its being so barefaced and atrocious. If we are not narrow-minded, our broad doctrine will go down with the world, and those on the other side will not be so greedy of error as they now are. No such thing. Assuredly this is not the order which our Captain has issued. When peace is to be made, he will make it himself, or he will tell us how to behave to that end; but at present our orders are very different.
I’m a warrior. Are you?
Every child of the Most High must remember we are in a war and it’s bloody, exhausting and if prepared well with the Word, victorious! Always.
We have a Captain and He surely knows the plan… we need to take orders from Him alone and follow His direction (not an easy task); do not drop the sword and give up to the enemy and lose ground.
It’s not worth the defeat sisters and brothers–keep fighting the good fight as our reward will be wonderful; wipe the sweat from your brows, stand firm and wield your swords and take your position for battle.
Be assured… He has our backs! K
“Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the rhma of God.”—Ephesians 6:17.
can any of you folks point me to an article or website which clearly exegetes the difference between the use of logos and rhma in their translations to “word”?
@ Chrystal
The sword of the spirit is the Word of God.
You have this prophetic movement that actually go to the extreme and take this scripture way out of context. They have samurai swords, and commission with these swords. Bill Hamon, Sarah Palin church, Rick Joyner and many more. They do all this spiritual mapping, prayer walking, strategic levels of intercession, or different level prayers and taking dominion over this and that, all the crazy stuff.
As a true believer, I guess I am confused on what are we suppose to do “within” the word of God. The Word of God is our only defense. I am confused, please help me on this one.
Teresa–you got it right, sister, the Word of God is all you need as your defense… no weird and silly stuff–plain and simply put! K
http://beyondgrace.blogspot.com/2010/10/logos-v-rhema-round-two.html
A big THANK-YOU to all of you my brothers and sisters who have practiced their swordsmanship through your comments on this blog! Your practice of applying the truth of God’s Word to the issues that face us has been a blessing to me.
It’s funny that when THIS sword cuts me, it gives me life and does not take it away.
Praise the Lord for giving us the precious gift of His Holy Word!
I think that the sword of the Spirit first has to be used to search your own heart.
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive 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.”
And the sword has two sides. I always think about Jesus who came with grace and truth. I think that may be that are the two sides of the sword: use always the side with grace to cut into the heart and let the truth come in. Just my idea.
First use it for your own heart and than use it to discern.
I once made a sword for a series of biblestudies about using the Word of God. Some ‘charismatics’ use the sword to fight demons, but that is not the right way. We have to learn to use the Word of God in the right way: to bring grace and to discern between lies and truth in our own heart. The Word of God is the truth,
This article is more true than ever today. The battle is getting bloody and only those whose hearts are sold out in true allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ will stand and fight. Watch and see other self professed ‘christians’ fall by your side as you move forward into the battle line until the day comes you realise it really is just you and your Lord afterall, and the occasional call of a fellow sojourner far off in the distance faithful in their own battle. Let us all join together to love one another and encourage one another as the days get darker, as we are afterall fellow soldiers in the one and the same battle for the Lord (speaking of true disciples.)
May God bless you all.