Ephesians 6:16-18
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Today marks the conclusion to our study of the Full Armor of God. I pray that some portion of this devotional series has spoken to your heart and fed your spirit. As we close today, we will take a look not at a defensive piece, as we have in the last 5 installments, but at the only offensive piece Paul included in our Christian armorment.
Let us begin by looking at the Roman sword of Paul's day. The "Gladius" was a relatively short sword measuring 18-24 inches in length. It was once thought that the gladius was used only for stabbing or thrusting, but research has shown that tactics taught with this type of short sword included slashing attacks as well. One such piece of documentation comes from the Roman, Dionysis. Dionysis wrote about a battle set in 300 B.C. in which he described the training practices of the Roman army. These practices included the slashing motion to the legs and exposed portions of the enemies body.
It might seem strange to think of a fighting force intetionally waging war with a smaller weapon than their opponents. When looking closely at the Roman's style of battle the use of a short sword makes sense. The Roman legions would attack, typically ramming the enemy first with their sheilds. When this stunned or recoiled the enemy, the Romans would then slash or stab forward at the off balanced foe. The Romans understood that although the sword was the main weapon, it was only effective if everything at a soldier's disposal was used in unison.
It is very interesting that Paul calls the sword, the offensive weapon, the word of God. I find it fitting that we are armored with so many things to protect us and in the end it is God's word that will do the fighting. If ever there was a let go and let God statement it may be here in Ephesians. See, humans like to feel in control, we like to do things our own way. Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 6 that we are not able to fight this battle alone.
We must clothe ourselves in things of God in order to protect our spiritual lives, and in the end we must let God be the one to fight for us. How do we attack the enemy? By reading, studying, obeying, and teaching others about the living, breathing word of God. A sword is no good if it stays in it's sheath. If you do not oil it and wipe it down it will rust and grow weak. So is the spirit of man. If we do not read and explore the Word of God, we grow weak. If we keep our Bibles on the shelf they gather dust and it is not the Word that grows weak, but us.
As I have said earlier in this study of Ephesians, make no doubt that we are in a spiritual battle. There is good and there is most assuredly evil lurking in this world. God has given us the tools to wage war, and to win in his holy name. We must answer the call, we must be diligent in preparing ourselves for battle. An army that never drills will not be ready for combat. A Christian that never studies will not be prepared when we face life's battles. Let us take away from Paul's words a desire to make ourselves true Christian Warriors clothed by God's gifts, grounded in his word, and ready to march when the orders come down. Amen!
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