Jordan and his Master's Thesis

Today’s post is going to be really short.

Just an answer to the following question:
“Why do you read the bible in English even though your native language is German?”

Actually my native language is Hungarian.
Well… to be precise: I grew up bilingual. I started learning German in school at the age of five.

To cut a long story short… I read the bible in English not because I don’t like the German language (’cause I do like it ). Neither do I read the bible in English because I like the English language (even though I do ).

I read the bible in English because it helps me to focus. There are some verses I just don’t understand after reading them the first time. Sometimes there are some words I don’t know yet which forces me to use a dictionary. By doing so it’s easier for my brain to process what I just read.
So basically it’s just a little trick I use to ensure that God’s word receives my best attention.

There you go… now you know!

Maybe you should try it too and read the bible in a language which isn’t your first language.
Just sayin’…

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…

• Belt of Truth
• Breastplate of Righteousness
• Sandals of Peace
• Shield of Faith
• Helmet of Salvation
• Sword of the Spirit
• Prayer and Supplication

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!

During the research for this post I came across a very informative and well-written article from
‘The Living Word Library‘. Check it out!

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:

• Belt of Truth
• Breastplate of Righteousness
• Sandals of Peace
• Shield of Faith
• Helmet of Salvation
• Sword of the Spirit
• Prayer and Supplication

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…