'And receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplications in the Spirit..' Ephesians 6:18
As children of God, our life in this world consists of a constant engagement in battle. You may not have signed up for battle when you first believed. Yet we are marked for battle, by virtue of the fact that our right standing with Christ means we are in conflict with the enemy. The enemy with whom we wrestle, would rather we weren't aware of his existence or his strategies to steal, kill and destroy our joy and peace in the Lord. Yet, we take refuge in knowing that this battle is not ours to physically fight in our own strength, but rather we frustrate and overcome the plans of the enemy aligned against us, in the name of Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 6:10-20, Paul shows us what our spiritual wardrobe should look like for battle - the complete ensemble; a spiritual armour for a spiritual war. He admonishes us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, because our wrestle is not with flesh and blood (v12) i.e. humans or physical forces but against evil and satanic forces with clearly defined levels of activity - powers, principalities, rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual wickedness in high places. So we are not easily detoured by wrestling with human adversaries, but we take authority in Christ through the whole armour of God (v13) to bind the lie and onslaught of the evil one until we breakthrough.
The Sword of the Spirit (v17), is the piece of the armour that affords us the ability to stand, and having done all to stand (v14) during trials. From a physical perspective, swords can be both defensive and offensive weapons of war. They protect the soldier or warrior from attack by the opposing side when used effectively. We rightfully use the Sword of the Spirit when we divide the word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17) with authority through its reading, declaration and continuous prayer. Praying through God's word, the Sword pierces our owns hearts, transforming us until we grow in the image of Jesus. This Sword is also the means by which we engage in battle to demolish strongholds and to claim our personal and corporate victories so the will of God is advanced through His church and here on earth.
So soldier, our prayers have to be continuous because spiritual warfare is continuous. Let us pray for wisdom and guidance as we wield the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God in our daily walk with the Lord.
Lord, we pray that we would be strong in You and in the power of Your might.
Empower and strengthen us daily through Your word to stand against the wiles of the devil as we put on the whole armour of God each day, in Jesus mighty name, amen.
The art of the enemy is to distract the Saints from what God has already provided - His armour. This sword works 100%, we just have to learn to use it!