When you fight in a battle it is important to have armor to protect you from the attacks of your enemy. It is also important to have something to fight back with. A weapon. Something you attack with. You have to have a weapon to fight with or you are going to lose.
When we talk about the spiritual battle we are in against Satan and sin we not only need armor to protect us but also need a weapon to fight back with. Thus far in the previous articles we have looked at the armor we are to put on: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. The next thing we need to go along with our armor is a sword: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD” (Ephesians 6:17b).
Our weapon, our sword is the Bible. God’s holy Word. Remember, we are fighting a spiritual battle. Of the heart, mind, and soul. We are to be fighting against the evil of this sinful world with the truth of righteousness that we find in the Bible. Look at what the Hebrew writer said of God’s Word, “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. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13).
Read what Paul told the Corinthian Christians about our spiritual warfare: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). We fight against the devil and sin by using the knowledge God has revealed to us in His Word.
As we face the evils of this world we call it out for what it is. It is sin. The Word of God is plain and simple. Straightforward and true. With it we can defeat temptations. We can fight against false teaching. We can stand strong in our faith in Jesus Christ.
Remember this: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
A Cord of Blue 