Ephesians 6:17 - "The Sword of the Spirit"

Yesterdaywe looked at “the sword”. Today, we want to think about “the sword ofthe Spirit”. Paul calls this sword, “the sword of the Spirit”.Someone has said that the best understanding of this is that the sword is fromthe Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. We must alwaysremember that the Word of God that we have, the 66 books of the Bible fromGenesis to Revelation, are inspired by God's Holy Spirit, were breathed throughGod's Holy Spirit. 2Peter 1:20-21 tells us, "Knowing this that no prophecy of the Scriptureis of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in the old time bythe will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the HolySpirit." We're reminded in 2 Timothy 3:16, “all Scripture”,from Genesis 1:1 to the last verse in Revelation, “is given by inspirationof God”. The word inspiration means that it is God breathed. So, we mustremember that the Word of God, which is “the sword of the Spirit”,is not merely a human writing. It is divine truth. That means that every wordthat those 40 plus men put into the 66 books of the Bible, they were inspiredby God’s Holy Spirit to put those words down. TheBible is a living book. It's the divine truth. And because the Spirit wrote it,the Holy Spirit can use it. We find these great truths in John 14, where Jesus beganby saying, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it beafraid." He then gives several reasons why Christians and believers,as we face the challenges of the world, we should not have troubled hearts. Weshould not fear. We should not be afraid. InJohn 14:16-18, Jesus told the disciples, "I'll pray the Father, and Hewill give you another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit oftruth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knowsHim, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be with you. I will notleave you orphans. I will come to you." Jesus Christ comes to us inthe person of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say in verse 26, "But thehelper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teachyou all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I've said toyou." RememberJohn the Baptist had prophesied, when He was preaching as the forerunner ofChrist, in John 1:33, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. In Luke3:16, Luke recorded that John actually said it this way, “He will baptizeyou with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. Then we read that Jesus told Hisdisciples in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit hascome upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judeaand Samaria, and to the end of the earth." For the next 10 days thedisciples prayed in the upper room. And on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:1-4,the Holy Spirit came down upon them like tongues of fire. TheHoly Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, is the sword, is the sword of Godthat pierces the hearts of sinners and brings conviction. That's what Jesuspromised in John 16:8-11, “When He has come, He will convict the world ofsin, of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe onMe. Of righteousness because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. Ofjudgment because the ruler of this world is judged.”  Jesus went on to say in John 16:13-14, “However,when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; forHe will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak;and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take ofwhat is Mine and declare it to you”. Myfriend, when we take the sword of the Spirit, after we have put on the helmetof salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we have apowerful weapon in our hands. We'll talk more about this powerful weapon thenext couple days.  MayGod help us to realize today that we have access to this sword of theSpirit to do mighty works for God.