Standing Firm

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. [1 Corinthians 16:13]

Biblical TeachingsPodcast EpisodeTen Essentials

Sword of the Spirit – Essential #7

Cathy

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. [Ephesians 6:17b]

Sword of the Spirit – The Word of God
Repair Kit/Tools
Essential #7

We are continuing today with our ten essentials for surviving in the backcountry and our ten essentials for victory in the spiritual world.

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So back to our regular scheduled program! We are on essential #7 out of our ten essentials. This is yet another critical essential to make sure that you have. When you go into the backcountry there are specific tools or things you would want to consider having in your “repair kit”.

Backcountry: a remote undeveloped rural area, that can be remote, undeveloped, isolated, or difficult to access. These areas are typically rural or mountainous and sparsely populated, beautiful wilderness areas.

So, depending on whether you are biking, hiking, or backpacking you would carry different “repair kits”. For example, if I’m biking, I would want extra bicycle tubes, an air pump for flat or low tires, and also tube repair accessories. If I were backpacking, I would want to make sure I have tent repair accessories, extra straps, and buckles for my pack. Hiking I would carry my trusty pocketknife and duct tape which is the base for all kits! You can fix or repair just about anything with these two tools.

But just like our map and compass, if you never take it out of your pack or don’t know how to use them effectively, they become useless tools and extra weight in your pack. With a knife and duct tape, I could repair a tire, fix a rip in a tent or clothing, build a shelter, I could remove a splinter, or make a wrap, sling, splint, or even a cast. I could make a clothesline, repair a cracked water bottle, fix broken glasses, reseal food packages, or even mark the trail. With the pocketknife, I could cut rope, open food packages, cut up cheese and pepperoni, spread peanut butter, and make fuzz sticks for fire starting, or I could use it for protection if needed.

There are endless ways to survive in the wilderness with the proper tools and my two favorites are duct tape and a knife! But again, the key is having the tools in our packs and knowing how to use the tools effectively to survive!

In the spiritual wilderness/backcountry, we are fighting against unseen forces and principalities, the stupid devil; so, we are going to need a different type of tool! We are talking today about my favorite, the “sword of the Spirit”. This is our only offensive weapon! Girlfriend, this is our powerful, two-edged sword, that cuts between the soul and spirit! This is the almighty Word of God. The most powerful weapon we have, IF we know how to use it properly.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. [Hebrews 4:12]

This is our offensive tool that we can use to cut, wound, hurt, and make the devil flee. In a battle, having defensive weapons which we talked about in the first six essentials is a great asset to any warrior. However, if you only go into battle with only defensive weapons, you may be able to protect yourself from being hurt, but there is no way that would be able to win the battle.

The Word of God is what we use to be victorious and stay on top! Remember we are already on top, we are the head, not the tail, we are on top not the bottom – but the goal is to stay on top. Yes and Amen!

If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. [Deuteronomy 28:13]

How we listen to God today is being in the Word! Several Greek words are used for the “Word” of God. The Greek word used here is “RHEMA,” and it literally means a spoken word–specifically, a spoken word appropriate for your situation.

So, here’s the truth girlfriend, you can’t have your Bible sitting on your coffee table as a pretty display or carry your Bible to church on Sunday. You have to do something with this weapon and know how to use it effectively, to make the enemy flee. He’s not afraid of the Bible, in fact, he distorts it all the time. Going back to our main scripture for today it says: Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

That means there is action on your part to make this tool become your greatest tool. When you OPEN your Bible and read it, it will change your life forever. The goal is to know the Word and get it inside of your heart and soul, instead of just swirling around in your head. Then when it’s activated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and YOU SPEAK it to situations; that’s when it becomes effective. That’s when it becomes your most powerful offensive essential for this spiritual backcountry journey.

Why is this essential the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God so effective? The Word of God supersedes all authority of the church, of reason, of intellect, and even of satan himself. It has authority and effectiveness because it is GOD’S SPOKEN WORD.

Look what Jesus says in John 6:63, all the words that God speaks are spirit and they are LIFE: The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God does not mean you physically throw the Bible at someone as your offensive weapon. But it’s speaking of a book as a RHEMA (spoken word). We must take the Word of God and speak it to our situations as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit within us! The Word by itself doesn’t make us free. It is the Word we know and speak that will deliver us and make us victorious!!

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free [John 8:32].

Remember, it’s the Holy Spirit that wields this Word as it is spoken in faith. Speaking God’s Word in faith brings the Holy Spirit into action.

Let’s take a look at Luke 4 because Jesus is always the best example to use when trying to make a point. When Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days, it was the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, that Jesus used to defeat the stupid devil during His temptations. Jesus constantly met His temptation by speaking from God’s Word as He repeatedly said “It is written” in some translations, and in the NLT it says For the Scriptures say. The bottom line is He reminded the devil what the Word of God says.

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone. Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.” Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him. Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, He will order his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God. When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came. [Luke 4:1-13]

That right there girlfriends is how we not only keep the enemy away but it’s also how we defeat him using The Sword of the Spirit – The Word of God.

So, let me ask you a question, if Jesus spoke the Word of God to defeat the enemy; why would you think your Bible is going to work for you when you are not reading it or KNOW what the Word says?

This spiritual battle that we are talking about its not in the physical realm, so our duct tape and knife are not going to work. We are fighting things in our MINDS and this is serious business and nothing to take lightly. We cannot fight effectively when our thinking is not in line with the word of God. We are not going to use the Word of God IF we don’t know what the Word says, or the power that it has. We must take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. [2 Corinthians 10:4-5]

Take captive every thought… when we remember who God says we are, and we know what the word of God says – there is nothing we can’t do (in Christ) and the enemy must flee. Take every thought under consideration and don’t let it stay one moment if it is against what the Word of God says.

Simply put: Positive thoughts are of God, and Negative thoughts are of the enemy.

How do you take every thought captive? Before we go too much further let’s talk about the word captive. It is defined as:

  • One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved.
  • One held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion.
  • Held in bondage
  • Enslaved
  • Kept under restraint or control
  • Confined

We want to learn how to control and restrain our thoughts. If you have to make them a prisoner to behave then that’s what you do. YOU DO HAVE CONTROL OVER YOUR THOUGHTS…

Whenever you are trying to develop a new habit, you typically want to replace the old habits with good habits. So the same is true with your thoughts. To train your thoughts from being negative to positive the best way is to fill your mind with positive thoughts. There is one passage that clearly shows us how to train us how to think based on the Word of God.

And now, dear [brothers] and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you [Philippians 4:8-9]

By the way, taking our thoughts captive is not a one-time event- it’s a lifetime process until we meet Jesus face to face. Sometimes it’s a moment-by-moment occurrence!

When I was a new believer, I did something that made this concept tangible for me. I live in the mountains of Colorado so this was easy for me to do. I gathered up a bunch of rocks. On each rock, I wrote one negative thought that I had. I took this (large) backpack full of rocks for a hike. Have you hiked with rocks? Those suckers get heavier as you go. Just like those negative thoughts do – they get heavier as you go and they slow you down.

When I reached my destination, which was a very deep mountain lake. I took one rock and one negative thought at a time and I threw it as far as I could into the lake and watched it sink. When I finally had an empty pack, I felt light and free. I may have even run back down the hill because I was so excited to get rid of those rocks and most importantly those negative thoughts. This worked for me because those thoughts are no longer strongholds in my life.

I’d encourage you to find something that you can do in your outdoor environment to get rid of those negative stinking thoughts, those stones that are weighing you down. You need to rid of those stones because they are keeping you from receiving ALL that God wants to give to you, and do in, and through you.

Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. [Ephesians 6:17b]

We as believers and mighty warriors must be soaked in the Word of God from the top of our heads to the souls of our feet, and into our hearts and souls so that the Holy Spirit can the RHEMA Word out of our mouths at the appropriate times to accomplish a complete and total victory! In Jesus name amen 😊

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