There are two great offensive weapons given to us by God: they are prayer and the Word of God, or Sword of the Spirit. We can tend to think of Ephesians 6 and the armor of God when we think of warfare. The armor of God is the defensive suit we wear into battle.
The use of our offensive weapons starts with meditation so that the Word of God that is living inside of us is coming out of us like a sword. Too often we are trying to wield a butter knife of the Spirit and not a sword. We need more than Bible verses on post-it notes around us; we need Bible verses in us.
It is as Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” It is the abiding word living inside of us that releases power. As John 15:7 declares, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
The use of the sword begins with receiving the knowledge of God’s will through the Word. If we want to receive the Word of God, if we want to speak the Word of God, if we want to pray over another with the Word of God, we have to cultivate a life in the Word.
We have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us; God has made our bodies His temple. We have the third person of the trinity living inside of us, and He wants to cultivate the spirit of prayer inside of us. Romans 8:26-27 shows us that we do not know how to pray as we should. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and prays with us and intercedes with us in groanings too deep for words.
John 16:12- 15 says, “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” The Spirit guides us into the truth. Jesus will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears from the Father He will tell us.
I Corinthians 2:10-16 says, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except for the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
The Spirit searches all things; the deep things of God. Now we have received not the Spirit who is from the world but the Spirit who is from God. Why? So that we might know the things freely given to us by God.
It is like we have a million dollars living inside of us and we are living on 10 cents a day. Is it time to break free? Is it time for that million dollars, the riches of His glorious treasure in our earthen vessels to break out of us? How do we access the riches? How do we lay hold of the life of God in us? We start with meditating on the Word.
Do you talk to the Holy Spirit? Do you whisper to Him how much you love Him? Do you tell Him how much you need Him? We walk in the Spirit to the degree we talk to the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Pray to have a hunger for the Word, so that we read ourselves full. Know the depth of the context, the background, and clarity of the Word. Think ourselves clear, clarifying what the text is saying. Questions are the doorway into revelation. Ask God what He is saying to us today. How does it fit into our current landscape, in the nation, and in the culture? When we know what God is saying from the Word, we will have a burden from the Word that will cause us to pray with clarity and wisdom.
