If you want to thrive in Honduras, you should probably learn Spanish. If you want to do well at basketball, it would be a good idea to practice dribbling. If you want to succeed at work, you should get trained. If you plan on fighting a battle, you’d better be armed.
As Saul’s army went to fight the Philistines, they faced a well-armed army…and they had nothing.
There were no blacksmiths in the land of Israel in those days. The Philistines wouldn’t allow them for fear they would make swords and spears for the Hebrews. So whenever the Israelites needed to sharpen their plowshares, picks, axes, or sickles, they had to take them to a Philistine blacksmith. (The charges were as follows: a quarter of an ounce of silver for sharpening a plowshare or a pick, and an eighth of an ounce for sharpening an ax, a sickle, or an ox goad.) So on the day of the battle none of the people of Israel had a sword or spear, except for Saul and Jonathan. 1 Samuel 13:19-22 (NLT)
I think the same is often true of us. Our enemy does not want us armed for battle. He puts many obstacles in our way, and we make up plenty of our own. But we must get “armed” or we won’t be as effective as we should be in God’s army. In our case, our weapon is the Word of God.
Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17 (NLT)
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)
If the Word is our weapon, we need to get proficient with it. We need to be comfortable with it so that we are ready to use it if need be. We need to let it penetrate us and become part of us. That can only happen by regularly training with it. If you don’t have a regular time to let yourself be armed by God’s Word, I would encourage you to start today. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- A basic bible reading plan.
- A resource for knowing and praying the names of God found in Scripture.
- A previous string of posts about having a quiet time (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
- Join a Life Group.
- Take a Grace Point University class sometime soon.
Are you armed? The battle is here and it is never too late to pick up your Sword!
