Take the …the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God. 
Ephesians 6:17 

In January, we launched our Write the Word series on the Armor of God. If you are a regular reader (and writer) of our monthly verses, you have followed us through each element of the armor: 

• Belt of Truth 
• Breastplate of Righteousness 
• Gospel Shoes of Peace 
• Shield of Faith
• Helmet of Salvation

This month we come to the last piece of the armor: the Sword of the Spirit, and Paul makes it clear in verse 17 that the sword represents the Word of God. 

Paul was most likely chained to a Roman soldier while composing his letter to the Ephesians, so the military analogy was literally right in front of him.  

Because the context is war, we must remember we have an enemy who wants to utterly destroy us. If we know Christ as our Savior, Satan cannot change our eternal destiny – we are sealed for eternity. Because he can’t take us to hell, he will settle for making us ineffective on earth.  

The Word of God is our means of fighting back. Jesus Himself modeled this for us during His temptation in the wilderness. When the enemy tried to attack, Jesus fought back with the Word of God.  

Satan went to Jesus the same way he comes to us: by trying to exploit our vulnerabilities. Jesus was hungry. He had fasted for 40 days. He had the power to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger, but to do so would have given in to the temptation of Satan. Jesus resisted. 

The gospel of Matthew records Satan’s words, “If you are the Son of God…” as he tempts Jesus. He uses this ploy twice: 

If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. 
If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. 

Satan tries to get Jesus to doubt His very identity … and he does the same to us! He only has so many tricks in his play book, and he continues to recycle and reuse his same old tactics and schemes. He wants you and me to doubt our identity in Christ.  He wants us to believe the lies he whispers in our ears: 

• You aren’t good enough.
• You aren’t worthy enough.
• You aren’t doing enough.
• You don’t know enough.
• God has forgotten you. He doesn’t see … He doesn’t care … 

Jesus replied to Satan’s words of temptation by quoting Scripture. Our response needs to be the same: “It is written…”  The Word of God is our defense against all of the ways Satan would deceive us! 

Unlike Jesus in the wilderness, our enemy doesn’t challenge us directly. The battles we encounter are spiritual. They cannot be fought in the flesh; we need the Word of God. Like Jesus, we claim the truth of Scripture as we proclaim:  “IT IS WRITTEN!”

The battles we face should make us desperate for God’s Word. They should change how we read the Bible and how we pray.   

A physical sword gets dull as it us used; it needs to get sharpened and re-sharpened. Not so with the Sword of the Spirit – the more it is used, the sharper it gets. 

The Roman solider would keep his sword tucked inside his belt, close, ready, and accessible. Used for hand-to-hand combat, it was his only offensive weapon. We keep our sword accessible when we memorize Scripture, and have it hidden in our hearts. It’s readily accessible from there, ready to come to mind and be on our tongues as we teach, discipline, mentor, and train our children and encourage our friends. Be prepared to pick up your sword!

We invite you to read and write the Word of God with us, not only in October but every month, because there is no better way to be ready for war than to have a sharp sword. Whatever your challenge may be today, ask Jesus to provide a passage to address it, to refute the lie, and help resist the temptation.

The woman of God proclaims, “IT IS WRITTEN” when battling the enemy!

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Write The Word: Word of God — Standard Bookmark

Write The Word: Word Of God — Large Print Bookmark

Write The Word: Word Of God — S.O.A.P. Study Pages

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