The Sword Of The Spirit

Today I was meditating on some words written by one of my favorite authors, Derek Prince. He was talking about Spiritual Warfare and in particular the Sword of the Spirit, and commented that it is the Sword of the Spirit. In other words, it is His Sword - not mine.

As I meditated upon this my heart got really stirred.

I began thinking about the reality that anyone who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them has the Author of the Holy Scriptures available to them at all times. However, that does NOT mean that I suddenly know every story, word or promise written in the Bible. Although the Spirit knows all Scripture, He does not impart that knowledge to me apart from my own free will. I must feed upon the Word of God by choice; taking His words into myself like food which brings strength to the Spirit inside of me. It is as though I am handing the Spirit His spiritual weapon, so that He can use it in battle for me.

But here's the interesting thing; just because I have the Word does not mean that the Word is being used by the Spirit. The Word of the Lord can, and is, used by all parties in the great cosmic battle for human souls. The Spirit, the Enemy and our own sinful Flesh all wield this powerful weapon on a daily basis. The problem lies in the fact that only when it is used under the leadership of the Holy Spirit does it produce anything good!

The sad truth is that many times I have taken the Sword of the Word and used it as a weapon against my fellow man. It was not the Sword of the Spirit that I was wielding, it was the Sword of my flesh, and unfortunately for me and those afflicted by these attacks, it is still a weapon of great might.

This is also true of our enemy, The Devil. He too knows the Word and is more then willing to use it against God's image bearers to bring them to destruction. So what does this mean for us? I would suggest that it means this; that just like the power of life and death are in the same tongue, so it is with the Words of God. They do not find their power merely in the fact that they were Divinely authored, but in the eternal authority of the One who administrates them. Let me explain:

Saying "Let there be light!" has no power in and of itself to produce anything. They are simply a collection of letters and sounds arranged in a particular order or sequence. They do not derive their power from that sequence, however, when they are spoken under the Amen of the Godhead they have the power to bring something forth out of nothing.

This is the reality of the Sword. It is always a weapon, but it is only a weapon of Divine productivity when used under the Authority of the Holy Spirit. If I begin to speak the words of Scripture out of a Spirit of Bitterness, Envy or Selfish Ambition, I can be assured that I will not produce the Fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because only the Spirit can produce His fruit.

The Word of God becomes the Sword of the Spirit when we do two things:

a) When we deliver the scroll to Him by choosing to meditate on the Bible
b) When we surrender ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and His Word

Apart from these two activities the Sword of the Spirit is non-functioning and powerless to us in our spiritual battles.

To put it into sporting terms, it is like having the best hockey player in the universe on your team, but He's not in the game because nobody's taken the time to give Him his stick!

The Sword of the Word has been given to you and I, and it is only when we choose to give it back to the Spirit that it becomes a weapon of mass production. Apart from it being in His control it is only good for starting quarrels, arguments and creating divisions.

Let's face it, the Spirit of This Age loves to use the Word of God. Why? Because people bow to it's words and ideas. But those words, apart from the Spirit, are nothing but empty religious ideology. It is the Spirit that empowers the Word. It is God backing Himself up with authority and power that makes the Word of God powerful.

It's time to put the Sword back into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him make war in the heavenly places. This is one of the ways that we "effectively handle the Word of Truth" and become ones who move with the Spirit in tearing down strongholds, arguments and all forms of ungodliness.

We need a revolution in our understanding of the partnership between the Word and the Spirit. How many of us are sanctified enough to administrate such a power weapon on our own accord? Surely not this Soldier!

Beloved, in the words spoken to the ancient prophets....

It's time to eat the Scroll.