Daily Blast - Armour of God: Day 7
Scripture
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Reflection
The sword of the Spirit, now we’re talking. I think the sword of the Spirit is the part of the armour which most people would jump to as it’s a sword - who doesn’t think a sword is cool?! But a sword is a weapon, isn’t it? The rest of it is armor but the sword is what we attack with? Well in old battles where they used swords and shields instead of guns a lot of their defense would be done by their sword as they would use their shield to protect their body their sword would be moving the opponent’s sword out the way.
I would like to reflect on a beloved movie of mine, Thor, in this movie there is a scene where Odin (ruler of the Asgardians) is teaching a lesson about the war to his son Thor and adopted son Loki. In this scene, Odin says “a wise king never seeks war but is always ready for one”. But Joe, how does this teach us about the sword of the Spirit?
Well actually this is something that we may find when we take up the sword of the Spirit is that we always need to be ready to use it. The sword of the Spirit is referring to the word of God. The word of God is key to our walk, it can help us with many parts of daily life, and actually, although it was written thousands of years ago there's a lot in it that can help us with problems that we are having today. I’m not saying that remembering every word in the exact order in every verse and chapter and book is what you have to do. However, being familiar with a few verses that bring you joy, peace, and/or comfort for a time where you are stressed can bring things back into some sort of realisation that God is with you to help you in those times, as well as verses which can help you in other circumstances. We should always aim to continually learn more about God’s word.
Although this is the only attacking part of the armour as opposed to the five defensive parts of the armour, this one takes the most practice to be able to use it well. Therefore forgetting a few days a week can really slow down our practice, as remember the old saying is, practice makes perfect.
Challenge
My challenge for you today is for you to pick up your bible and try and memorise one verse. Don’t make it a short one such as “Jesus wept” but pick one which helps you when you are struggling.