An inspired scribe once called it the sword of the spirit, a powerful tool to use in any battle one would face. Yet mine lay by my bedside table; unused. I eyed it warily, aware of its power yet unable to utilize it. How could this leather-bound, collection of letters, historical events and biographical writings hold such a power? Surely there must be a secret to how it must be interpreted in order to gain access to the power within. Can it even be trusted? Do the words within this ancient book really possess so great a power that they can completely change lives? Or is there something more to it all…
~Excerpt from The Sword of the Spirit – 1st Draft ~
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;
in addition to all, taking up the SHIELD OF FAITH with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the SWORD OF THE Spirit, which is the word of God.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
This is a novel I have been working on for over a year now based on Ephesians 6: 10-20. I must admit that its been an erratic journey and the inspiration ebbs and flows and at times I stop and wonder where it’s all going. However I will not stop working on it because I love what it represents to us; protection all the time. We rely on a strength that is not our own in order to stand firm against an enemy greater than us but nowhere near as great as the source of our strength. We prepare ourselves for the daily battles we face, courageously, knowing that God has put in place means by which we can stand firm and again those means rely heavily on Him who provides those means. It’s like an endless circle (redundancy for EMPHASIS hehe) of submission and faith on our part, trusting God and His promises, which is something I want to explore and present in this novel. It is one thing to know what the pieces of armour are and one thing to pray them on each morning in preparation for the day, but it’s another thing to see what having that armour on looks like. Let me end with lyrics of a wonderful song that I hope encourages you! Have a blessed week!
O church, arise and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our captain;
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We’ll stand against the devil’s lies;
An army bold whose battle cry is “Love!”
Reaching out to those in darkness.
Our call to war, to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on ev’ry side,
We know the outcome is secure,
And Christ will have the prize for which He died—
An inheritance of nations.
Come, see the cross where love and mercy meet,
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This vict’ry march continues till the day
Ev’ry eye and heart shall see Him.
So Spirit, come, put strength in ev’ry stride,
Give grace for ev’ry hurdle,
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old still line the way,
Retelling triumphs of His grace,
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When, with Christ, we stand in glory.
~ Image courtesy of: http://godsbreath.net/JUNEDEVOTIONS.aspx ~
A-Scribe To Describe 