Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
After last week’s enumeration of the parts of our Armour it’s time to go into some detail…
Today I’d like to share some thoughts about the sword of the Spirit.
Take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…
Ephesians 6:17 (New International Version)
After having a quick look at our whole equipment again (a short repetition never hurts 
), we can observe something really interesting…
Nothing special… I guess… well… if we take a closer look at the purpose of every single piece we might be able to notice something.
There is only one thing in the list that can be used as offensive weapon. It’s the sword of the Spirit. You’re right, swords can be used to fend off attacks of our opponents but mainly they are used to actively attack the enemy.
But there’s more… the bible tells us that it’s the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Again the devil is in the details (a gross play on words 
).
This is a battle we fight with words! Words originating from and backed up by the Spirit of God. Sounds like a pretty powerful weapon to me!!
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (New International Version)
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (New International Version)
This one is for you online-bible-readers out there (I’m one myself, it’s not a bad thing )
Keep in mind that we haven’t reached the point where we have internet access all the time…
There might come the day when you need to look up a bible verse quickly. Not even knowing if the scripture is to be found in the new or old testament could become really embarrassing (just sayin’ ^^). It’s very important that you’re familiar with the print-out version of God’s word too!
Read the word of God and memorize it! Educate yourself so that you will be able to resist false promises and invalidate false claims and arguments.
There’s a valid reason why kids in Sunday school are taught to learn bible verses every week!
In a nutshell:
You can’t use a weapon effectively without reading the user’s manual. Make sure you keep your sword sharp and train your swordplay skills on a daily basis to stay in excellent form!
Wow! I could sing this one all day long
O Praise Him (All This For A King)
[ + ] Show Lyrics
>> Get the chords (page 4) <<
>> Get the piano intro <<
It is not the nature of love to force a relationship but it is the nature of love to open the way. (William Paul Young)
Then the devil took him [Jesus] to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4:5-7 (New International Version)
Believe it or not, like it or not… we are at war! Every single day of our lives!
This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Ephesians 6:12 (The Message)
We have a strong enemy, but God gives us the proper equipment to be able to face him and to defeat him!
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Ephesians 6:11 (New International Version)
Let’s have a look at the parts our armament consists of:
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:14-18 (New International Version)
In a nutshell:
It’s very important to know every single piece of our equipment to make sure we won’t forget to take it with us into battle!
And it’s also essential to make sure we know exactly how to utilize it to maximize it’s efficiency!
That gives me quite a lot of new topics to write about
Stay tuned… 
Today I’d like to share an AWESOME message titled “The key to improve our behavior”
by Dr. Juan Carlos Ortiz (Interim Senior Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral)
My God will meet all your needs. He will meet them in keeping with his wonderful riches that come to you because you belong to Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 (New International Reader’s Version)
One more happy song. 
Non one like you
[ + ] Show Lyrics
I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine about “Christians vs. the use of bad language“.
I did a lot of research on this topic, because I wanted to be really sure about what the bible has to say about this, before posting something here which could turn out to be wrong.
After reading a lot of bible verses and some articles written by other Christians I was left with one inescapable conclusion: “Swearing is definitely not the way to go for Christians”
Probably you are waiting for an explanation… sure… let’s begin:
John tells us the following:
Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 2:6 (Today’s New International Version)
This brings us to following question: “Did Jesus ever swear?”
The question is hard to answer, because we don’t have 24/7 spy cam footage of Jesus’ life. But we have the bible
Do some research on your own! I, for myself couldn’t find any records of Jesus using foul language.
(if you want to argue about the fig tree then you better read some bible commentaries)
My second argument is: We should be an example to others who are around us. It’s our duty to show them how living in Him effects our daily life!
You don’t believe me? Read what Paul wrote to Timothy:
Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. 1 Timothy 4:12 (New Living Translation)
Still not convinced? Peter has something to say too
Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives. 1 Peter 2:12 (The Message)
Argument three is a rather strong one… Don’t swear, because the bible tells us so
Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior.
2 Timothy 2:16 (New Living Translation)
… Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style. Thanksgiving is our dialect.
Ephesians 5:4 (The Message)
During my “investigations” I came across this nice proverb:
What’s in the well comes up in the bucket. If the well is clean, then all that will come to surface will be clean as well.
Just think about it!
I’d like to finish this post with the following request: If you ever happen to hear me swearing, please point it out. Thanks!
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