Pick Up Your Sword!

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Since May 17, 2003, I have immersed myself in the task of learning my Father’s business. It seems the more I learn, and the more that is revealed to me, the more I realize how much I do not know! Of course, the Author of Life is intelligent, wise beyond our understanding (in these bodies, anyway) and He works in ways we do not always comprehend (at first)...

"... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection!” (Phil. 3:10)

God told me to teach His people, and more than expressing His great love for each of us as His dear kids, it includes expressing the importance of the Holy Spirit, and the need of each believer to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It is the power to enforce the will of our Lord in this present evil age, to prevail with goodness, or as Paul said, to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). It is the power of God’s goodness, His very Spirit, working within us. 
 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you , and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. - Jesus (Act. 1:8 HCSB)

You know the events that took place... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and curing all who were under the tyranny of the Devil, because God was with Him. (Acts 10:37-38 HCSB)

Notice here that Jesus received the power of the Holy Spirit to do “good”! God anointed Him and He has made that anointing available to us. In fact, Jesus told us to do what He did:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons...(Matt. 10:8 HCSB)

I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. - Jesus (John 14:12 HCSB)

    Suddenly there is new meaning to Jude 20-21: ‘But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.’ This experience of praying in the Spirit will prove to be one of your greatest sources of inspiration and power, a key to unlock the operation of the various gifts of the Spirit and a marvelous way to enhance the presence of Jesus in your life.

    In Paul’s famous discussion about the spiritual armor of God, he wrote in the following: '... and [take] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit'".     (Ephesians 6:17-18)

    - The Glorious Disturbance, by Ernest B. Gentile

 

By the direction and guidance of the Lord, I have studied the wars of the Bible, the armor, the sword, in great detail. Yet, as many times as I have read those words and spoken them aloud, “And I take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!”, it was only recently while I was reading the above-mentioned book, that I saw those words: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”. Praying in the Spirit! Praying in God’s Spiritual language!

Praying in the Spirit IS THE SWORD of the Spirit... Most amazing is that I have devoted myself to that verse and I had never seen that the Sword was the Spiritual prayers, the Words of God, spoken by us in prayer and thanksgiving to our Lord. That is our weapon.

    “No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison’ (James 3:8). God controls the most rebellious member of the human body (and by implication, all the others). Bypassing the mind, the Spirit uses the tongue to glorify God in words unknown to the person’s brain and, thus, not corrupted by any self-serving motivation. Speaking in tongues allows an individual to pray words undefiled, because it is the Spirit Himself who directs the utterance.”

    - The Glorious Disturbance, by Ernest B. Gentile

When I heard the words of God, to teach His people “to fight”, I thought, “Well, what are we fighting?” Considering the peace of Jesus’ ministry, it seemed to me, at first, a strange commission. But I immediately dug into the Word and found out that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood but evil, spirits in high places” (Eph. 6:12). We fight the “good fight for the faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). We “contend for the faith” (Jude 3). We stand, girded as if in preparation for battle with the “belt of truth” (Eph. 6:14).

    For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:3-5 HCSB)


What does Paul speak of ‘waging war’ against in this verse? Thoughts and arguments which exalt themselves against the truth of God’s Word. Arguments which keep us from ‘the obedience of Christ’. In other words, we are to fight FOR faith in God’s word so that we will obey His word.

Jesus Himself said “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)

What do we fight with the Sword which Jesus brought to the earth?  (And remember, Paul said in Eph. 6:17 that the “Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God”.)

We fight to know God, the Truth, to not be deceived. As Jesus said, “the Spirit will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Our fight is to BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD. Paul said that “faith comes by hearing” so as we speak God’s word, we HEAR and our faith grows.

James 4:7 gives us a very simple overview of the battle which we are all waging (whether we realize it or not, we are all in a war):

Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  (James 4:7 KJV)

"Resisting" here is better understood in the original Greek.  It is more than simply standing against something, as in a defensive position.  It is actively fighting against what the enemy brings.  Offensive as well as defensive: 

"Anthistemi, verb:  To set one's self against, to withstand, resist, oppose, to set against" 

Why can we not fight or resist the devil on our own, without the Spirit's help? Because “the flesh wars against the spirit and is continually antagonistic toward it” (Gal. 5:17). The flesh cannot receive the truth; it doesn’t understand the things of the Spirit.
    Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16).

    For the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so... And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you. (Rom. 8:6-12 HCSB)
The gifts of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit and the working of the Spirit did not stop suddenly sometime in the past. He is alive and well and it is the power of God made available for all believers! As Peter said:

    For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call... (Acts 2:39).

According to John Osteen way back in 1960 [Full Gospel Business Men’s Voice, 8 (June 1960)]:  “Pentecost is not a denomination, it is an experience.”

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. - John the Baptist (Matt. 3:11)

I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (Mark 1:8)

For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. - Jesus (Acts 1:5; fulfilled to all the believers present on the day of Pentecost)

Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. - Peter (Acts 11:16; explaining why he water baptized Gentiles after they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit)


To me, the following excerpt embodies the directive of the Most High: "To Arms!"

Recently I had the privilege of seeing the deliverance and the restoration of a young woman who was an ex-satanist. We met together for several months in securing her freedom. During that time I would ask about the strategies of this demonic organization.

She told me that Halloween marks the beginning of the religious year for the satanic church. It is at this time that the leaders, among many other abominable practices, train followers to invade key churches in America. Their sole intent is to divide and destroy these churches.

Her next bit of information is what really fascinated me since it concerns the principle of praise and worship.

"These infiltrators have the most difficulty weaving the destructive web in churches where they speak in tongues and where there is true worship," she said.

"Why?" I asked , and she responded, "Because praying in the Spirit, or true worship, throws the kingdom of darkness into confusion."

I got up out of my office chair and immediately began worshipping and prayiing in tongues. What a phenomenal revelation if we can just get hold of it.



- The Quest for Revival, by Ron McIntosh, page 177

Praying in the Spirit IS our greatest offensive weapon. (See Ephesians 6 - the "Sword of the Spirit" and "Praying in the Spirit") This is "power" and "arms" to defeat the wickedness in high places...

If you are ready for a closer relationship to God and Jesus through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you are to be commended for your obedience to God’s Word.

A few books that might be of interest to you:

    The Holy Spirit - The Missing Ingredient, by Dr. Frederick K.C. Price

    A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism, by Don Basham

    The Walk of the Spirit, The Walk of Power, by Dave Roberson,     www.daveroberson.org

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked HCSB have been taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (R), Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible (R), Holman CSB (R), and HCSB (R) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.



 

"And look, I am sending you what My Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high." - Luke 24:49 (HCSB)

Word Of Victory Ministries