The Word of God to Equip

They Equip Us For The Fight - Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

When Paul described the armor of the believer, he only mentioned one offensive weapon: The sword of the Spirit, or the Word of God. The word sword comes from the Greek word “rhema”. It refers to what was called the “Roman short sword”. It was much like a dagger. This short sword was on the belt of every Roman Legionnaire. They carried wherever they went and used it in many tasks from preparing their food to hand to hand combat.

It is interesting that Paul should use this word for the Bible. In some other places, the word “logos” is used. The word “logos” refers to “the whole Word of God”. It is the same word used in John 1:1, where Jesus is called the Word of God. The word “rhema” refers to a “specific word”.

Think of it like this, the “logos” or the whole Bible brings to mind the idea of a complete armory. In that armory, there are weapons of every description. When a battle arises, we should be able to walk into that armory and select the perfect “rhema” or specific sword we need to fight that particular battle.

This is just what Jesus did on the Mount of Temptation, Matt. 4:1-11. Three times Jesus was tempted and three times Jesus walked into the great armory of the Word of God, entered the Deuteronomy room and walked out with the perfect sword with which He could stick the devil! (Ill. “It is written”, Matt. 4:4, 7, 10.)

Of course, before you can do this, you must be familiar with where the right swords are located within the armory! This means that you need to study the armory and familiarize yourself with placement of all the swords. Then when temptations and trials come, you can walk into the armory and find the perfect weapon for the day of your battle!

By the way, when you try to fight the battles of life and the enemy of life in your own strength, you will fail, 1 Cor. 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.. But, when you fight the battles of life with the Sword of the Spirit, you are assured of victory, Matt. 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him!

Learn the layout of the armory; it will enable you to fight far more efficiently!