Sunday, August 19, 2018

SCRIPTURE: THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT





God might have given us great wisdom in the Word, but we remain needy and dependent sheep, desperately panting to sense the rod and staff of our Savior.

I hope He has taught you that this sense of intimacy doesn’t come from clearing your mind, by visualizing or imagining God (which is idolatry), or by accomplishing a great spiritual feat. Instead, it comes through meditating on His Word, the power of God (Romans 1:16) and the revealer of our inner self (Hebrews 4:12; James 1:22-25).

Today, I was feeling overwhelmed by life, and this resulted in one of my less-than-welcome meltdowns. I prayed, turned to the Word, and read a verse that seized hold of me:

·       For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. (Isaiah 43:3-4)

With the simple statement, “and I love you,” the Lord made His love so real that my fears fled for cover. What was it about this statement of God’s love? Well, it does seem to be a more direct statement of love than any of His other statements (John 3:16; Revelation 3:9). However, it hit me with an unforgettable force (at least, I mustn’t forget it).

And we shouldn’t be surprised by this. The Word is the sword of the Spirit:

·       and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, (Ephesians 6:17)

This suggests that the Word is used supernaturally by the Spirit to accomplish His purposes. The Word is powerful. It will either draw us to God or cause us to flee away:

·       “If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” (John 12:47-48)

The Word either edifies or the terror of its Light will cause us to flee into the darkness.

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