Swing Your Sword

Ephesians 6:10-11, 13-17

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Hi, it’s Pastor Nelson, and my son is letting me borrow his sword because for a few devotions here, I want to look at how to use your sword. And I’m not going to teach you fencing or anything like that. But let’s start by looking at Ephesians

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power… Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 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. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-11, 13-17)

So we hear God tells us to be ready for this. We are engaged in a battle and it’s not a physical battle against flesh and blood, is it? It’s against spiritual powers of this dark world. It’s against Satan and the demons who are coming to try and claim our souls for hell.

But God gives us all of these protections. He gives us mostly defensive armor, doesn’t he? But he also gives us an offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit, to go and not only protect yourself, but go out onto the attack. And how do we do that? With the word of God. So I want to encourage you to study God’s word, to read God’s word. He gives us this word. And we sometimes have struggles about how can we do this? Maybe some of your struggles are I’m not sure where to start in this big book or I’ve gotten started before and I just I kind of gave up after a while. A lot of times it’s the time or the busyness in our schedule that we just aren’t able to make time to read God’s word.

Maybe you’ve heard pastors tell you this over and over, and by now you’re just starting to feel guilty about it because you aren’t studying God’s word regularly. That happens to us too. Jesus gives us the encouragement to read God’s word, not because he says over and over, do it, do it, do it, but because he’s done it perfectly in our place.

Think about some of the things that Jesus did in his life in Matthew chapter 4, we see Jesus doing battle against Satan, standing in our place using God’s word to defeat him. (Matthew 4:1-11) And now God looks at us and he sees his son, Jesus, defeating Satan using God’s word. When he looks at you and I.

I think of Jesus, 12 years old, in the temple, going and sitting among the rabbis and talking about God’s word. Didn’t you know I had to be in my father’s house? (Luke 2:42-52) Even as a pre-teen, Jesus is standing in our place perfectly loving and delighting in God’s Holy word, over and over. You see in the Bible how Jesus gets up early in the morning while it’s still dark to go and worship and pray and talk with his father and get strength for the journey ahead. (Mark 1:35-39) God looks at you and sees the perfect prayer because he has to see Jesus first.

When God looks at you, he doesn’t see someone who is empty in their prayer and devotional life. Instead, he sees someone who’s connected to Christ, who he looks, and he sees the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, (Galatians 5:22) full of spiritual life through Christ. When Jesus was baptized, God, the father said to him and of him, this is my Son, whom I love with him, I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:13-17) Through your baptism, through your connection with Christ, through his powerful word. God, the Father says the same thing of you. Not a failure, not someone who is just always struggling and missing the mark in their devotional life, but someone who is baptized into Christ. My child with you I am well pleased.

And I know that this all applies to us because God says that Galatians chapter 3, verse 26. In Christ you are all children of God through faith. (Galatians 3:26-27) For all of you who are baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ. Jesus perfect life covers us even in our devotional life. There’s nothing to prove to God. This is just another opportunity to go to him for strength and power. So swing that sword of the Spirit, God’s word that Christ gives.