Power of the Sword

Power of the Sword For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 Recommended Reading Acts 7:38 In his book The Lost Art of Disciple Making (Zondervan, 1978), Leroy Eims describes his personal battle with anger and a temper. It was not until he made a covenant with God, which included memorizing and meditating on Colossians 3:8 (“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath . . . .”), that anger loosened its grip on his emotions. He reviewed the verse daily and asked the Lord to bring it to mind whenever he was tempted to lose his temper. The Word of God became a sword with which he was able to win his spiritual battle. Jesus used Scripture in a similar way. When He was tempted for 40 days and nights in the wilderness by Satan, Jesus rebuffed every temptation by quoting an appropriate verse from Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:1-11). If you are in a spiritual battle, your sword is to be the Word of God—the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17b). If there is a persistent spiritual battle you fight, memorize a portion of God’s living and active Word to gain the victory. The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me. Martin Luther Read-thru-the-Bible Job 32:1 - 34:37