Part 3
The Roman soldier’s sword was kept in a beautiful scabbard, which hung from his loinbelt; the scabbard was either made of leather or specially tooled metal. The sword hinged entirely on the solders loinbelt.
Likewise your, rhema, that word you need from God for your life today, is directly related to the presence or absence of the Word of God in your life. That rhema you need for God will be received because you have the written Word at your disposal.
Some people have been waiting and waiting to hear from God and wondering why they have never heard from Him.
God speaks through his Word! The sword of the spirit hangs from the loinbelt so if you want your sword then get in the Word! Until you have the Word, there will be no “Sword of the Spirit” available to you. “The Sword and the Loinbelt are inseparable.
If you are walking in the “Word” in the loinbelt of truth, it doesn’t matter what you are facing; the Spirit of God will yield exactly the Word you need when you need it!
That word will come directly out of the Word you have been studying, meditating, praying over. After you have studied, meditated, prayed over and permitted it to become a part of you, the Holy Spirit will exercise his option to use it as a sword against the enemy.
You will not have a rhema from God – you will not have a sharp two edged sword – you will not have a blade that will cause the enemy to flee – simply by waiting somewhere for God to speak to you mysteriously!
Psalms 119:130 says, “The entrance of thy words giveth light…” Isaiah 8:20 says, “…if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” These two verses teach us that those that do not have the Word of God have no light in them. I people do not have the Word they sit in darkness. Why? David said, “The entrance of thy words giveth light…”
When you take in the Word of God into your heart and mind, that word begins to bring light and direction to your life. That Word will arise up from within like a sword; as a word of direction to you. It doesn’t matter how dark it is; when this sword comes out of your Spirit; it will show you the way to go.
It doesn’t matter what the enemy has thrown against you in the way of lies, allegations, and accusations; when this divine light is working in you it will rise up like a mighty blade right out of your mouth, and it will give you the very words and direction you need to overcome the devil’s attacks at that precise moment.
Your ability to walk in this supernatural direction is determined by how much Word you have inside you. People who receive frequent rhemas from the Lord are people who have made the Logos, the written word, a central part of their lives.
In the fourth chapter of Matthew, we see where Jesus was tempted un-restlessly by Satan while he was in the wilderness. His temptation lasted Fourth days and nights.
Because this temptation was so extreme and intense the Lord Jesus Christ needed a rhema, a “Sword of the Spirit,” to withstand these attacks of the Devil.
Matthew 4:1-3 says, “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and fourth nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”
Jesus faced the enemy in the same way that we face the enemy in life. In this portion of scripture, the devil was saying to home, “If you are who you say you are, show me!”
How did Jesus answer Satan? The next verse tells us “But he answered and said, IT IS WRITTEN….” The Holy Spirit, in his power yielded a verse in due season. He drew a verse right out of Jesus’ spirit, speaking it with great power, and authority – yielding it like a mighty blade – and the enemy could not stand against it.
Why was the Holy Spirit able to pull a sword up out of Jesus’ inner man? Because Jesus had spent time studying, meditating, and praying over the Word of God! As a child he was raised in the Synagogue, hearing the Word of God week after week. Over a period of time, Jesus in His humanity had taken the word deep into his soul.
Thus when Jesus needed a “Sword of the Spirit” the Holy Spirit reached directly inside that reservoir if the scripture inside of Jesus, and quickened one of those verses to His mind. When that Word passed through his memory and out of his mouth, it becomes a two-edged, two mouthed sword which the enemy, even though he tried, couldn’t withstand!
Notice that Jesus said, “It is written…” What passage of scripture was Jesus quoting? He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 – a verse which the Lord had obviously committed to memory at some time earlier point in His life! Because this word was a part of him the Spirit simply brought that Word to the forefront of his mind and used it to repel this attack.
Notice too that the Devil attempted to pull a mind game on Jesus, just like he tries to pull mind games on you! The devil said, “…If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down…”
You need to keep in mind that Jesus just stabbed the enemy with “It is written…” How did the devil react to this stabbing action of the Word of God? What did the devil say in response to Jesus? The devil threw the Word of God right back into Jesus face. The devil himself said, “It is written…”
Talk about playing mind games! Satan started quoting scripture! He said, “…for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, it is written AGAIN…” (Verse 6, 7)
Jesus had to know the Word otherwise the game Satan was trying to play would have succeeded; the devil can quote the Bible better than any believer on the face of the earth! The fact that Jesus knew the written Word and its discerning power was at work in him, kept Him on course when dealing with these temptations.
The Word of God had better be in you, living, active, and powerful. It had better be more than mere head knowledge, because if all you have is head knowledge the devil will confuse you and ultimately pull you down into defeat.
The devil knows how to use the Bible! He knows how to teach you the bible the way he wants you to know it. The devil is a very good Bible teacher! He will tell you everything that’s not there, and then he will send someone along to supposedly “scripturally prove” every one of his lies!
Don’t be deceived! The devil is well able to declare, “It is written…” he will teach you the bible the way he wants you to know it, filled with error and misunderstanding that will rob you of the blessings of God. You need to get the word of God down inside you. When the Word is down inside you, and your mind is renewed by it, you can discern these lies and mind games that the devil would try to use against you. The Word of God is a discerner!
The devil tried to play a mind game on Jesus by misquoting the Bible. Jesus, knowing that these scriptures had been misquoted, said, “NO, IT IS WRITTEN AGAIN…” It was as if Jesus said, “Satan, listen to what the Word of God really says…”
Jesus told the devil, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” How did Jesus know to quote that scripture from Deuteronomy 6:16? This was already stored up inside of Him; the Spirit of God could draw it out of Him like a deadly blade!
The story continues, “Again the devil taketh him up into an exceedingly high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and glory of them”(verse 6).
The gospel of Luke records this scenario. However, Luke tells us, “And the devil said unto him, Al this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it” (Luke 4:8).
Talk about an invitation – the devil gave Jesus the most inviting anyone have ever been offered! The glory of the earth – authority of the earth – all of this had been handed over to Satan by Adam. That’s why the devil said all of this had been delivered to him. The word delivered means to hand something over by disobeying God, Adam handed the earth and the authority over it to Satan.
Jesus came to seize control of the earth, and mankind from Satan’s hands. This is why John said, “...For this purpose was the son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
Jesus knew he would die on the cross; he knew he would take sin and sickness upon Himself and die a sacrificial death. In and effort to appease Jesus’ flesh, the devil said, “Hey Jesus! You can skip every bit of that and I’ll give you this whole place – If You will just worship me. I’ll give it to You without your ever having to be crucified!
I’ll give it to you without you ever having to go to the grave! Ill give it to you without your ever knowing what sin is!”
What a mind game – that would be an invitation hard to refuse! How did Jesus respond to this seducing temptation of Satan? Jesus said, “Get thee behind me, Satan…”
What gave Jesus the power to resist this temptation? The Word of God! Jesus said, “For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Once again, Jesus told the devil, “It is written…” The Spirit of God withdrew another deadly sword to answer the devils offer.
After the Holy Spirit continuously drew on the reservoir of the Word that was stored up in Jesus – causing that word to come alive – raising up a terribly dangerous sword – the Word says, “ … and [the devil] departed from him for a season.”
When you reach out into the spirit realm to take new ground for the Kingdome of God, the devil will try to stop you! When you begin to grow in knowledge of God’s Word and begin to make spiritual progress, the enemy will try to slow you down he doesn’t want you to make any spiritual progress in your life!
Most believers just sit around and let the devil batter them to pieces. They forget that they don’t only have defensive armor but they also have offensive armor. God has given you a “Sword of the Spirit,” but it will not work for you until you have taken the first steps to get the written Word of God down into your heart.
If you allow the written Word to have an authoritative role in your life, then when you face the wiles of the enemy, the Spirit of God will have a large reservoir of scripture within you from which to draw the exact needed sword to repel attacks.
Rather than being beaten down into defeat by the devil every time he comes with his lies and accusations, you should allow the Holy Spirit to wield the word of God – like a mighty blade of a sword – and send him on his way.
If you want to be guaranteed of a “sword of the Spirit” to answer the devil’s mental assaults, you must position the “loinbelt of truth” firmly in your life. That word is the source from which your sword will be drawn!
Remember, like the Roman soldier of old, your “sword of the Spirit” hinges upon the presence or absence of Gods Word in your life.