The Sword of the Spirit, Part 2

When God speaks to us through His word in prayer time, it is never meant to stay there. We are never to let the devil have the last word in our stories. Truth is always more significant than the facts we face. Over ten years ago, while on vacation, I was diagnosed with inoperable, terminal cancer. I was given a few months to live. While in the doctor’s office, when he finished the death sentence, I leaned over the desk and spoke into my situation. I quoted God’s Word back to him. “I shall not die, but live, [a]nd declare the works of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17). God had given this verse to me as the doctor spoke death. The moment he was done with his false report, I used the Sword of the Spirit. I heard that I would live and not die—the first half of the sword’s blade—and I spoke out that I would live and not die—the second half of the sword. I continued to wield the sword, quoting and praying that verse over and over again for the next month. In a month, I was healed of cancer and have been free ever since.

I know first hand that God’s word is powerful and living. God’s word is full of life. There might be a million great books in the world, but none of them has the power of God’s word. It is God-breathed. It pierces and divides, sorting out the good and evil. It heals and restores our souls and mind.  When God speaks to us, and we step out and say what we heard, we will see situations shift in our lives. We will see:

1. Provision come in our times of need.

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”

So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”

And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. (Mark 11:1-7)

Jesus gave His disciples authority to loosen what He needed so He could enter Jerusalem. All they had to do was to speak His Word, and Jesus transportation requirement was met.

Jesus has given us the same authority to loosen every tied up resource we need to bring Jesus into our cities. In 1990, when I started my church, I realized there were better musicians in the local bar than in my church, leading worship. (I was the worship leader, so that tells you something.) Instead of complaining about it, God told me to pray for musicians to find Jesus and come into the church. 

Within two weeks of praying and asking for better musicians, the owners of a local bar known for their music accepted Christ and began attending my church services. In one day, I had the top musicians in the city sitting on the front row of my church. 

After a time, I asked them to take over the music, and our worship music exploded. At the height of that season, the Phoenix New Times, a weekly newspaper that carries prostitute ads on the back pages, did a cover story about the best music in Phoenix—and it was in our church. For twenty-eight years, my church has never lacked in the area of music. He continues to bring in world-class musicians to this day. 

I am not bragging, I am showing you what you can do if you determine to speak the word of God in faith into the areas of lack in your life. People all around us are like colts, tied up, ready to do great things for God—but they don’t know it. It’s time for us to show people their purpose in life is to serve the King Jesus in their job, family, businesses, and churches. We have the power through the Sword of the Spirit to free people from drug addiction, sex addictions, gender confusion, depression, anxiety, and more. We must be bold and speak the word of God. We must wield the sword of the Spirit like Jesus so people can be freed to live out the call of God on their lives.

The devil has no defense against the Sword of the Spirit. We have to stop declaring how things are and start saying how things are going to be according to God’s word.