The result of yielding to Satan’s temptation is always destruction. But wielding the sword of the Spirit fends off the thoughts and impulses that the enemy plants in our minds to lead us into death. The Word of God brings life.

Author, David Jeremiah observes,
The biblical context for viewing all of life’s events is called spiritual warfare—the age-old conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light….Biblically and practically speaking, we are in a spiritual war. The Christian’s spiritual enemy is not in uniform, and he doesn’t meet us on an identifiable battlefield. He uses ruthless and unconventional tactics such as deceit, deflection, and disguise…. The church of Jesus Christ needs to know its enemies and his strategies. Above all, Christians need to know how to gain victory over this enemy.(The Spiritual Warfare Answer Book).
In this episode, we take a practical look at HOW YO USE the sword of the Spirit to resist thoughts and temptations that seek to entice us off of the path of life and onto the road of destruction. As we continue the series, Winning Spiritual Battles Because We Use Our Spiritual Weapons, we come today to Paul’s admonition to take up… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:17). One of the best things about this weapon is that unlike the others, we actually get to see Jesus using it in Scripture. We’ll dig into a study of Jesus’ combat with Satan, in a moment but lets first get to know a bit about this weapon.
This weapon is the Word of God, which is so powerful for transforming human minds and hearts that it is called “living.” For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  (Heb 4:12-13). As we will see, even Jesus did not battle Satan with his own thoughts but only by quoting Scripture.
The Greek word for sword, MACHAIRA does not describe the swash buckling kind of sword used by Zoro. Rather, it was quite short, more like a dagger. It was used by the Romans in close hand-to-hand combat. This weapon is for personal attacks. This truth is underscored by the Greek word Paul chooses for Word (of God). It is not LOGOS, which connotes broad, general principles. Rather, Paul chooses RHEMA, which refers to specific “utterings.” NT scholar W. E. Vine writes,
The significance of RHEMA as distinct from LOGOS is exemplified in the injunction to “take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” Here the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual Scripture passages, which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need, a prerequisite being the regular storing of the mind with Scripture (An Expository dictionary of NT Words).
Identifying the word of God as the sword of the Spirit is consistent with what we know about the work of the Holy Spirit. Not only does He indwell Christ-followers so they have the presence of Christ with them at all times (abiding in Christ), the Holy Spirit’s work is to help us overcome our sinful nature and transform our hearts into Christ-like attitudes—love, Joy, peace, patience…etc. So, the Holy Spirit is right inside us to help us when thoughts come into our minds, designed by Satan to lead us away from Christ and his righteous path. He is there to help us recall the right truth in Scripture to combat Satan’s lies. But of course, we can’t recall, what we have never read or committed to memory. Let’s zoom in to the wilderness of Judea and watch Jesus wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
First Temptation: Use your power to command these stones to be bread.
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Matthew 4:1-4).
Satan begins the temptation by appealing to Jesus’ power, If you are the son of God use that power to turn stones into bread. What many don’t realize is that Jesus’ hunger after a long fast meant that he was close to death. Those who have practiced long fasts point out that after 6 or 7 days, hunger pains go away. If they have water, a human can fast about 40 days, but when his hunger pangs return, he must eat soon, or he will die. Jesus was being tempted not to have to depend upon his heavenly father, but to use his spiritual power to take care of his own needs. The passage he cites is Deut 8:3. The verse before it provides important context.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
Dependency upon God for your daily bread reflects the humility that is vital for depending upon God’s moral law every day. Jesus refused the temptation to stop depending in humility upon his heavenly father. The first Adam refused to depend upon God to satisfy his hunger for food, failing to trust God’s instruction not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. Instead, he allowed the delicious fruit to entice him into rebellion against God. He violated God’s restriction and ate. The first Adam put his physical appetite ahead of obedience to God. The Second Adam, though at the point of dying because of his need for food—refused to take matters into his own hands. He humbled himself depending on God. In quoting Deut 8:3, man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, Jesus is saying real life comes not just through physical sustenance but also by obedience to God. That is the lesson God wanted to teach the Israelites in the wilderness.
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We are all part of the same body, striving towards the same goal—eternal life with God. The Church Triumphant serves as a constant reminder of this goal and a source of encouragement for us in our earthly struggles. Their victory is our victory, and their joy will one day be ours as well. As members of the Church Militant, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 

The biblical concept of the Church as existing in two distinct but interconnected states—the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant—is a profound scriptural truth. It encapsulates the ongoing spiritual journey of Christians and the ultimate goal of eternal life in the presence of the Triune God. As the writer of Hebrews exhorts, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
The Church Militant: Running the Race
The Church Militant comprises the community of believers currently living on earth. Hebrews 12 was written to such believers but it relied on those who had already passed into glory as the context (Heb 11).  We are akin to runners in a grand race, encompassed by a “cloud of witnesses”—the faithful men and women recounted in Hebrews 11, the “hall of faith.” Their examples encourage us to persevere even when faced with challenges. Their striving was directed towards a goal, a goal that Jesus, their Savior and ours, secured for all of us.  It is important to note that this passage (Heb 11-12) and the rest of Scripture sees God’s people as one people united in Jesus.  God’s people in all of time is the church: Jews and gentiles, one people in Christ.
From this vantage point, death is not the absolute cessation of life but rather the passing of the physical body, allowing the disembodied soul to enter into the presence of God in a unique, but not a final manner. The magnificent promise of Jesus is that at the resurrection, we, like Him, will be given new bodies fit for the new creation, a realm where sin is entirely eradicated. Until this momentous event at the culmination of the present age (last days), we as members of the Church Militant will embody several key characteristics:

Engaged in spiritual warfare: We contend against the world, the flesh, and the devil, resisting temptation and striving to align our lives with God’s will.
Striving for holiness: We pursue a life of virtue, seeking to deepen our relationship with God through prayer, the sacraments, and acts of charity.
Spreading the Gospel: We proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to others through both our words and our actions.
Serving the needy: We actively express our faith by serving those in need, recognizing the presence of Christ in the faces of the poor, the sick, and the sinner.

The Church Triumphant: The Finish Line
The Church Triumphant consists of all those who have completed their race and crossed the finish line into Heaven, which signifies being in the very presence of God. Heaven is where God resides; God defines heaven, not the other way around. Remember the Garden of Eden?
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When Jesus said, take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me, he was not inviting us to a life of misery. He was calling us out of ourselves to the most extraordinary life possible: knowing God. There is no greater glory and no greater joy, but we must root our life in his truth, not ourselves or the pleasure of this world. If we aim at anything less than God himself, we have settled for lesser things and will end up with nothing.

There is a commonplace religion that invites its followers to do the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. It is a religion of self-help, and it likes to go to church. We see it in many popular manifestations of cultural “Christianity.” It has a thin veneer of truth but lacks substance. It gives lip service to following Jesus, but its heart is chasing the American dream.
In many cases, it is thankful that Jesus has provided forgiveness, but now that is out of the way, it can get on with more important things. It has rejected the word of God as its authority and has replaced it with self. Putting self on the throne appeals to many because they believe it is how they will find the fulfillment they seek, but instead of nourishing their souls, it only deadens them further.
It does not take much for the man or woman rooted in scripture to see through the façade. It thinks it can find what it wants by being the master of its destiny, so it replaces biblical truth with personal growth tactics. It is looking for happiness, so it replaces preaching with pop psychology. It is looking for glory, so it turns pastors into celebrities and worship leaders into headliners.
It loves to be the hero in every bible story. It is David defeating the giant. It is Joseph overcoming betrayal to see his brothers bow down to him. It is Moses leading the people out of slavery. It is Nehemiah using all of the correct business principles to build the wall and protect Jerusalem. It also loves to sing about itself. It revels in songs about overcoming, victory, and being more than conquerors. It shouts, “I can do all things through Christ,” and “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” but it replaces the spiritual and eschatological reality of those truths and applies them to worldly success and other earthly longings.
The problem is its followers will never find the satisfaction they seek because it tells them to look for it in themselves and the things of this world. Instead of waiting on the Lord to bring the holy city, adorned like a bride, down to us, it attempts to build its own city with a tower up to heaven. It will never work.
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