The Sword of the Spirit

 

 

 

And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17b.

 

The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of spirit and soul and of the joints and marrow (body) and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (spirit). Hebrews 4:12.

 

Christ Jesus our high priest has left us with His word, which is spirit and truth. With it He gently attempts to apply it to our lives, and as it enters into our spirit man it begins to separate the soul and spirit which have been inseparable up to the point in time that our deliverer conquered our enemy who had complete control over the triune man, who had been completely lost and in bondage to the kingdom of darkness.

 

Up until Jesus our conqueror arose from the dead as our substitute we were held powerless and unable to break free from the chains of sin, sickness and disease. In other words the curse of the first Adam held us down like a lead blanket unable to help ourselves or anyone else.

 

When deliverance came from the sacrifice of the Lamb of God it came in the form of a spiritual sword, but even more so. This word that brings life is quick and powerful and when we receive revelation from it, this means that we have allowed it to pierce our spirit man and this in turn allows God the Father to quicken our minds and they in turn receive His wisdom. Which is simply how He thinks concerning the new creation and our deliverance. The completeness of God’s word is centered on the deliverance of mankind. The word says, but we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16.

 

The word says His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. But now through the word of life we are able to step up to the table and indulge ourselves with His wisdom and knowledge. Jesus said I am the bread of life. John 6:35.

 

The soul in man had worked tirelessly with the flesh to keep the spirit man subdued for so long that man was unaware of who he really was created to be. No one had the knowledge until now concerning Adams life before the fall. He walked in complete fellowship with the Father in want of no earthly thing.

 

Man has always had a conscience but it was suppressed to the point that he was unaware of its existence. Therefore God had to implement His law into the earth just to make us aware that we were indeed lost souls in need of deliverance.

 

The lost soul in man has been trained by Satan through deception to resist anything that pertains to righteousness. Even after we receive regeneration we still have to deal with this out of control entity known as the soulish realm.

 

Even though our spirit man has been reborn through the acceptance of redemption via the cross we have a process that we need to walk through which is the walk of faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7. We put our complete trust in our High Priest and we give Him who has the power free access to the inner man to do with as He sees fit.

 

Colossians 2:6 –7 reveal to us what I like to refer to as the process of salvation faith, it says this: As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

 

Because He was here and experienced all that we experience, He knows all too well what we are going through on a daily basis. He said sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Evil). And surely He has been touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

 

Our complete deliverance is based solely on the free will principal. Will we allow His word which is sharper than any two edged sword to pierce our inner man and begin to discern our thoughts and intents, which if they are not in line with His, will we allow Him to sever them completely and thrust them into outer darkness never to be entertained again by the ones who have chosen the path of maturity from faith to faith? (Romans 1:17) As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

 

Brother Paul wrote to regenerate people and he made this statement, “By now you should be teachers but you are yet carnal, I can only feed you with milk because you are unable to digest solid food.” Hebrews 5:13.

 

These believers had not allowed their High Priest to care and nurture them as a shepherd cares for his sheep. They were still lost in this fact, that the carnal nature was most evident among them.

 

These converts had obviously lost sight of the cross and what its deeper meaning was, that was presented before them on the day they were enlightened. Remember the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those in unbelief but to us it is righteousness and true holiness.

 

Walking through the door of salvation or deliverance is an ongoing process of the application of the word of life for as long as it takes the individual to reach spiritual maturity.

 

When God delivers it is a complete deliverance which is based entirely on believing His word delivered by His chosen man.

 

When the children of Israel were pleading and begging God to set them free from bondage in Egypt, they at first rejected Moses when he appeared before them as the instrument chosen by God to lead them out of captivity.

 

Why?

 

Because they knew who he was and they were in unbelief as to him being appointed as the one. But then after a few signs and wonders they slowly began to accept the fact that God can choose whoever He wants to choose.

 

Likewise with Jesus of Nazareth, when He arrived in His hometown the word says He could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58. The Amplified says, He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief – their lack of faith [in the divine mission of Jesus]. We must have faith in order to please God. 

 

Look at the Jewish religious community during the time of His earthly ministry. They fought Him every step of the way beginning with His profession in the Synagogue as to who He was and His purpose on earth. Most were enraged and had a strong desire to put Him to death.

 

But the Master knew His sheep and they knew His voice. When He asked Peter who do you say that I am? Peter quickly replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16.

 

Jesus replied very distinctly so those around would remember later on and discern exactly what He was talking about.  He said to peter, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but this revelation has come down to you from my Father in heaven directly into your spirit man.” Of course Peter did not have a clue what he was saying until the moment that he was born from above by the same Spirit of truth.

 

Only then did he realize that yes he and the others had been living and eating with the one who had been prophesied about for thousands of years, the true light of God, our Messiah.

 

Today, as the body of Christ, we are blessed beyond measure with the revelation of Paul concerning our dealings with the master sculptor. We give Him our whole being and He molds us into individual vessels for His use in the body as He sees fit.

 

2 Timothy 2:21 says – if anyone cleanses himself from iniquity he will be a vessel of honor sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

 

How does one cleanse himself?

 

By the washing of water by the word.

 

Everything revolves around our application of the word into our spirit man and allowing it to do its work as we speak if forth with faith and confidence, hence the sword of the Spirit.

 

Written by: R W Nagle.