Ephesians 6:17 - "Endure Hardness as a Good Soldier of Jesus Christ"

In 2 Timothy 2:1, Paul toldhis son in the faith, Timothy, to “be strong in the grace that is in ChristJesus.” So I encourage you—be strong in grace. This grace comes throughhumility, through confession of sin, through recognizing every moment your needfor the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood to cleanse you, to help you, and togive you everything you need to be all that you should be for the glory of God.That is the grace of God—the unmerited favor of God. You do not deserve it, butyou come humbly, asking for it. And my friend, when you resist the devil, andhe will flee from you. ThenPaul goes on to say in verses 2-3, “The things that you have heard from meamong many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teachothers also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of JesusChrist.” Today, I want to encourage you to be a soldier who knows howto use the sword of the Spirit skillfully. You cannot use something skillfullyunless you practice with it. You must take time to read the Word, to study theWord, to memorize the Word, to apply the Word to your life, and to share itwith others. We also find that the Word of God helps us grow in the grace andknowledge of Jesus Christ. That growth happens as we remain in the Word of God. Anotherthing to remember is that the Word of God is what fuels reformation and revivalin our churches. Think of Martin Luther in the 1500s. It was the Word of God—“Thejust shall live by faith”—from the book of Romans that stirred his heart totake a stand against the heresies being taught by the church in his day. Ifthere is going to be reformation in the church, it will always come through theWord of God. The church has always been reformed and revived by God’s Word—notby entertainment, not by cleverness, not by the trends of the day, but by Hisholy Word. It is always the Word of God, which brings transformation,reformation, and revival to our personal lives, our churches, our homes, andour nation! Sohow do we take up the sword? We take the helmet of salvation, and we take thesword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You must pick it up. You mustchoose to use it. You must carry it. You do that by reading God’s Worddaily—every day (Matthew 4:4). You study the Word carefully. As you read, youask questions: What does this mean? What is the context? What is God saying?How does this apply to my life today? Youmemorize the Word, as we have discussed. You speak the Word out loud in faith.We read in Mark 11:23-24, that whatever you say in faith, believing, you willreceive. That happens when you are praying the Word and the promises of Godback to Him. Oh, how important that is. Then you obey the Word. You are notlike a man building his life on sand; you are building on the foundation of theWord of God. Why? Because Jesus said the wise man is the one who hears Hiswords and does them (Matthew 7:24-27). Myfriend, let me give you a final of encouragement today from this passage inEphesians 6:10-17: You do not have to live a defeated life. You do not have tobe confused. You do not have to be tossed about by your feelings. God has givenus everything we need to stand—the whole armor of God. And as we conclude withthe offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, we are reminded again of itspower. Take it up. Open your Bible. Believe what God says. Use the Word tofight temptation. Use the Word to resist lies. Use the Word to encourage others.Use the Word to witness and tell others who Jesus is. Most of all, use the Wordof God in prayer. Spend time in prayer. We will see in the next verses theimportance of prayer connected to the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word ofGod. Myfriend, Satan cannot defeat you when you are standing armed in God’s Word. Howwonderful that is—because he is dealing with a soldier who is equipped. So,take up the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit and by the grace that is givenyou in Christ Jesus.