Henry David Thoreau is a well-known man, mostly for his book titled “Walden,” and his most famous quote taken from that book is; “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” and the reason this is true needs the thought, the sentence to be completed.
The mass of men and women lead lives of desperation [as folks are noisy and always distracted in volume by volume these days than in Thoreau’s time — no earbuds, smartphones, tablets, TV and nonstop banality and utter insanity as presently] BECAUSE they are devoid of the Holy Spirit of God residing within them. They are empty shells. Dry dead bones. The walking dead. Hollow men and women without the knowledge of, the understanding of, the peace of, the grace and forgiveness of God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Time has come to know what are the parts of the whole armor of God [Ephesians 6 ESV]. To put on every piece. Keep every piece on and maintained. For the escalating spiritual war is at hand. And the Lord Jesus has done and continues to do so much for every one of his disciples.
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The Arsenal of the Word of God
Thursday, November 4, 2021
By Joseph Parker
Reprinted from American Family Association
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).
[A]nd take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:14-20).
What is an arsenal? And how could the written Word of God contain one? Interesting question.
Definitions of the word arsenal include the following:
- A collection of weapons and military equipment stored by a country, person, or group.
- A place where weapons and military equipment are stored or made.
In considering the reality that life in this world is full of spiritual warfare, believers would be wise to do the following: learn and comprehend what the spiritual weapons are that are available to us and faithfully use them as a lifestyle in order to walk in victory.
In other words, followers of Christ need to know what is in our spiritual arsenal and we are to put those weapons to work in our lives daily.
We are to diligently start using them on the battlefields of life.
Some people may think “I don’t like the idea of having to deal with spiritual warfare!” Well, like it or not, we face it every day of our lives. Whether we like it or not, war has come to us…every day.
What are some of those spiritual weapons? And what are some of the ways we are to put those weapons to work?
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit according to Ephesians 6:17. Some of the ways to utilize the sword of the Spirit include:
- Reading the Word daily. (Psalm 1:1-6)
- Hearing the Word daily. (Matthew 11:15)
- Believing the Word daily. (Romans 1:16)
- Speaking the Word daily. (Matthew 4:1-11)
- Praying the Word daily. (1 John 5:14-15)
- Obeying the Word daily. (James 1:22)
- Meditating on the Word daily. (Psalm 1:2)
Praise and thanksgiving are spiritual weapons as well (see 2 Chronicles 20:22).
Joy is a powerful spiritual weapon (see Nehemiah 8:10).
Faith is a spiritual weapon (see 1 John 5:4).
Walking in love is a spiritual weapon (1 Corinthians 13:1–13).
Obviously, the spiritual weapons pointed out here are only a few. There are many more referred to in God’s Word.
A very important truth to know and understand is that when we put to use these spiritual weapons, we are building up the kingdom of God. Also, as we use these weapons, we are doing battle against the kingdom of darkness.
So this is one of the many reasons that every disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ needs to be a diligent student of the Word of God. We would be wise to continually learn more about the spiritual weapons found in the Word of God. We must continually learn more about how to do battle with every spiritual weapon we have because spiritual conflict is not something we deal with only from time to time.
In 2 Chronicles 20, we find a powerful example of a king of Judah (Jehoshaphat) who wisely used spiritual weapons to defeat a wicked invading army. This account in Scripture powerfully illustrates that when we faithfully and wisely use weapons from our spiritual arsenal, as found in the Word of God, we can see great victory in our lives.
We encounter spiritual warfare every day, and everywhere we go. Let’s be faithful to be kingdom warriors who know how to take some of the weapons we have in the Word of God and use them to walk in victory.
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