Sword of the Spirit

Protection is built into the world of nature. God has so designed each animal with certain ways of protecting themselves against predators. Turtles, for example, carry their 'safe place' on their backs, a shell to which can retreat when facing dangers. The same is true in the spiritual realm. We have a spiritual armor that protects us from our predator. But if this is our entire armor, we would be 'turtle' Christians with no way of fending off our adversary. That's why we need to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. But with all weapons of protection, it must be used properly. It must be used specifically, spoken, and under the control of the Spirit. When used properly, our adversary will flee. We know this to be true because our weapon was tested by Jesus Himself. When under satanic attack, Jesus counters by quoting Scripture which caused Satan to retreat. He demonstrates how to effectively use the sword of the Spirit in spiritual conflict. But its important that we have a reservoir of Scriptural truth from which the Spirit can draw in the face of the battle. To be prepared, we need to be in the Word (reading and studying) and the Word needs to be in us (memorization0.