The Sword

Ephesians 6:17

[Take] the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

The Sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon mentioned in Ephesians 6. Everything else was defensive to protect against the enemy.

Without the sword (Word of God) you cannot attack the enemy. The better a person knows how to use the sword (Word of God) the better fighter they become.

I just want to use an Old Testament story as an illustration of this. You may have heard of King David's Mighty Men. Eleazar was one of the chiefs.

2 Samuel 23:9-10
Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. The the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

This dude is my freakin hero. Eleazar and David are taunting the Philistine army while everyone else is shaking and rattling in their armor. Eleazar is saying "Bring it." While the army of Israel is telling him to shut up. Whatever he did along with David to taunt the Philistines into battle it worked. It reminds me of the movie Braveheart where William Wallace offends the British guy to provoke a battle and rides back to the Scottish army and his buddy ends up saying. "At least we didn't get dressed up for nothin."

One thing I find amazingly interesting about this story is how hard Eleazar fought. It says that his hand was so tired from the battle that it froze to his sword. Oh that we would cling to the Word of God in that way. That we would till our dying breath be clutching without fear, without doubt, and with complete faith in the Word of God.

That verse says that the army of Israel only came back to strip the dead. It's the same type of thing when a person can only lean on the trust another has in the Word of God. "My Sunday School teacher said she..." or "My Pastor said that he..." but not have a story of their own. They do not fully understand the Word and so their revelation of God is small. A small understanding of God only leads to a forfeit faith. If we had an understanding what the Word of God can do for us we'd do more than just preach, memorize certain scriptures, or let it save our seat in the pew.

God's Word:

Generates Life | Creates Faith | Produces Change | Frightens Satan | Causes Miracles | Heals Hurts | Builds Character | Transforms Circumstances | Imparts Joy | Overcomes Adversity | Defeats Temptation | Infuses Hope | Releases Power | Cleanses Minds | Brings Into Being | Guarantees Our Future Forever

That's the reason this is our only weapon. We need to be so diligent and so proficiently savvy with the Word of God that we are like Eleazar with the sword; unwavering, unstoppable, unashamed, and unrelenting.

Notice this one last thing about the "Full Armor of God." There is nothing to guard your back. You can't run and hide from this. So the best option is to pick up your sword and become skilled at using it.