A Prayer to Begin Using the Sword of The Spirit to Our Advantage
By Alisha Headley
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intention of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
The Word of God is a book that is readily available at our fingertips and yet some of us don’t realize the power behind it. Perhaps we read it as a duty off our checklist each day, or maybe you don’t read it at all, and it accrues dust on your bookshelf. Yet, for some of us, we have seen the living and powerful tool work miracles in our lives providing freedom and direction, and we have learned that it’s a weapon we don’t leave home without.
We have a choice to pick up the sword that was freely given to us, or we have the choice to allow the enemy to continue to wreak havoc in our lives. We have a tool at our fingertips to begin using to our advantage breaking the enemy’s plan down along with all His strategies He has ready to fire at us as He plots against us daily. He wakes up every day with the agenda to come for us as he comes to “steal, kill and destroy.” (John 10:10) anything and everything in our lives in an effort to take us further away from the Lord and His purpose for us.
As we meditate on today’s verse, we can begin today using the Sword of the Spirit to our advantage and as the tool it was designed for, and no longer let the enemy defeat us. Today’s verse talks about how the Bible is living meaning it’s not meant to sit on your bookshelf. It is living and active as it moves to you, through you, and is shown out of you in your life. It is so powerful that is sharper than any two-edged sword as it pierces through to our soul and spirit freeing us of things that have held us captive as it directs us helping us discern our thoughts as we navigate through this world. It has the power to “break and pull down all strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God… (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
What a gift and tool the Lord left us with while we walk this earth!
We need to use our sword as the true weapon it is, just as Jesus did. He used the sword of the spirit as His weapon against Satan. Luke 4 shares the story where Satan came to tempt Jesus while He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and the way Jesus overcame the enemy was with the Sword of the Spirit. Every time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus fought Him back and ultimately won the battle with the weapon of Scripture – the weapon of the living and powerful Sword of the Spirit. Let’s begin to navigate the enemy in this dark world too with the greatest weapon at our fingertips and dive into the Word so we can use it to our advantage.
Let’s pray:
Dear Lord, Our Father, we thank you. We thank you for not leaving us stranded and empty-handed in this world pulling us in so many directions with an enemy of this world trying to lure us away from you. Thank you for leaving us with the greatest gift and the most powerful weapon with the Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God. Thank you for all the treasures hidden within the pages, and for all the direction it gives us. Thank you for the freedom it provides and thank you for having a resource that allows you to always speak to us as Scripture is “God breathed” directly by you as 2 Timothy 3:16 says.
We ask that you would give us wisdom every time we open up the Word. We ask that the next time the enemy comes to battle with us, you would bring to memory the Scripture we read so that we can combat the enemy and use our powerful weapon to discern our thoughts as we come against the enemy’s attacks. Give us a passion to read your Word daily by giving us “our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) filling us up each day on your Word first before the world. Prompt us to spend time in your Word and give us the desire to feed on it daily so we can be ready for combat with an arsenal of Scripture ready to battle when the next time comes.
Thank you that we are already victors in this life as you defeated the enemy that day on Calvary that you sent your son to die for us (Colossians 2:15). But while we still live on this earth with an enemy who roams the earth along with us, you’ve given us the greatest tool and weapon to defeat him each day in our lives until you come back to free us from the enemy forever. Until then, we ask that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit and the strength to begin using the Sword of the Spirit to our advantage today.
In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.
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Alisha Headley is a writer + speaker who has a desire to meet the everyday woman in her everyday life with biblical truth. Stepping into her true calling, she left the corporate world behind as a former-financial VP to love on her family as a stay-at-home wifey + dog mama, while also being able to pursue her passion as a writer. Healing from a chapter of life consumed with lies she once believed about herself, she is inspired to point women to Christ to experience the freedom + power to overcome those lies with the truth written in God’s word. In her free time, Alisha enjoys road trips around the country, working out so she can eat her favorite foods, and creatively styling her outfits with a craft for fashion. Alisha is a proud wifey and dog mama living in Scottsdale, Arizona.
You can follow her blog by visiting her website or connect with her on facebook + instagram.
Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.
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