- 3 days ago
We continue to meditate on the offensive weapons of the Spirit of God, which will break down the spiritual strongholds of our unseen enemies, Satan, and his dark angels and demons. Paul, the apostle, compared the Word of God to a sword of the Spirit. Martin Luther, the great reformer, experienced a similar moment when the Word of God powerfully came to him. He read the Scripture, “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17), but the Roman Catholic Church that he was part of at that time believed that a person could enter eternal life through their good works.
During a trip to Rome, as part of a religious effort to seek peace and forgiveness, he was told he could find peace by climbing the twenty-eight white marble steps of the Lateran Staircase on his knees. As he moved from step to step, the Spirit of God reminded him of what he had learned from the Scriptures: “The just shall live by faith.” He realized that justification — God's act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin — was through faith in Christ’s work on the cross alone, not by trying to earn salvation through good works. These truths contradicted everything taught at the time, and the Lord called him to stand firmly for God's Word over human traditions. This revelation marked a turning point for him and for those who would hear his words as he returned to Germany, now a changed man, ignited with a fresh understanding of the Word of God.
We have another example of the power of God's Word in the Scriptures. After Christ's resurrection, on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. They stepped outside the building to find several thousand Jews gathered, drawn by the sound of a rushing wind (Acts 2:2). Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter preached God's Word to them. The result was powerful: “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37; emphasis added). The Word of God, spoken through Peter, was like a sword that pierced to the very core of their hearts.
Do not underestimate the power of the Word of God at work in and through the believer in Christ:
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12; emphasis added).
In nineteenth-century America, God touched the life of Charles Finney. He was a man devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God. The Lord used him to preach from church to church. The presence of the Spirit was on him so strongly that those who heard him felt deep conviction and were affected at their very core. One time, Finney was preaching in a schoolhouse, and “Suddenly an awful solemnity fell upon the assembly, and the congregation fell from their seats, crying for mercy.” Finney said, “If I had had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them off as fast as they fell. I think the whole congregation was on their knees or prostrate in two minutes.” The shouting and crying of the people were so loud that they couldn’t hear Finney's plea for them to turn to Christ. “Finney seemed so anointed with the Holy Spirit that people came under conviction of sin just by looking at him. He visited a large factory while holding meetings in Utica, New York. At the sight of him, several workers broke down and wept, overwhelmed by a sense of their sins. So many were sobbing and crying that the machinery had to be stopped while Finney directed their attention to Christ."[1] May I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord to work similarly in our cities? Keith Thomas
This meditation is a condensed version of the more in-depth study, "What Are the Believer’s Most Powerful Weapons?"