{"id":6425,"date":"2020-05-27T08:22:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T22:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6425"},"modified":"2020-05-27T08:22:50","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T22:22:50","slug":"the-sword-of-the-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/the-sword-of-the-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sword of the Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Armour of God Part 5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Andrew Gad<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIf you abide in Me, and My words abide\nin you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you\u201d \u2013 John 15:7\n<\/em> <\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A priest tells the following story\nregarding the value of reading the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student received an offer to\nstudy interstate, accepted it and left his whole family behind to pursue his\ndream course. His father missed him very much, and would write him letters\nevery week, checking up on him, updating him and most importantly, letting him\nknow how much he was missed. Initially, the son would eagerly wait for his\nfather\u2019 letters, replying almost instantly and cherishing each and every word\nwritten in these letters. However, as time passed and life\u2019s distractions got\nthe better of him, the son began to neglect reading his father\u2019s letters. At\nfirst, he would read one letter and skip the next one, but eventually, he would\nnot even open the letters- leaving them to pile up on his desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The father missed his son very\nmuch, and was extremely worried, wondering why his son stopped replying to his\nletters. Filled with immense love for his son, he took time off work and\ndecided that his son was due for a visit. The son woke up one morning to loud\nknocking on the door- to his surprise, it was his father! \u201cDad I\u2019ve missed you\nso much!\u201d the son exclaimed, as the pair embraced upon their reunion. The\nfather then sat down in his son\u2019s room, and saw a pile of unopened letters\nsitting there on his desk. Immediately, he was extremely saddened and taken aback,\nwith tears in his eyes- \u201cSon, for months I\u2019ve been writing to you with no\nresponse. I was extremely worried about you. Have you not even been opening my\nletters?\u201d. The son was greatly humiliated, and sat their speechless, unable to\njustify or explain himself to his father. The father had spent a great amount\nof time writing these letters, and the son could not even find five minutes\nevery week to read them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now replace the son with yourself,\nthe father with God and the letters with the Bible. Isn\u2019t this a story which\nsounds all too familiar? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many times have we come back\nhome after a long day of lectures or study and thought to ourselves\u2026\u201cI\u2019ll\nprobably just give the Bible a miss today\u201d or \u201cI already read the Bible\nyesterday, I\u2019ll read it again tomorrow\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we often complain that we have no direction in life? That our prayers aren\u2019t being answered? That we feel anxious, worried or distressed? That we haven\u2019t overcome that annoying, repeated sin, no matter how much we try? Why does God always comforts and reveals things to other people, yet never to me? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the answer is simple?\nPerhaps we have the key in our hands, but we refuse to use it? Just like our\nbody needs food in order to survive and function, so too do our souls need the\nword of God in order to survive and thrive throughout the dilemmas, decisions\nand hardships that we face each and every day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a woman from the crowd saw\nJesus walking through the streets, she cried out, glorifying St. Mary and\nexclaiming: \u201cBlessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed\nYou\u201d (Lk 11: 27).<\/em>  Jesus, instead of\nagreeing with her, turned around and corrected her, saying: \u201cMore than that,\nblessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it\u201d (Lk 11:28).<\/em> That\u2019s\nright! Even though St. Mary was considered blessed enough to be the Mother of\nGod, Jesus Himself says that there is an even greater blessing available to\nthose who hear the word of God (which is the Bible) and keep it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be as blessed as St. Mary? This\nalone should be enough encouragement for us to read the word of God, study it\ndiligently and transform our lives!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we know the great\nblessings available to those who read the Bible diligently, let\u2019s talk about\nsome of the ways in which the Bible can genuinely transform our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The Bible is a \u201clight to\nour path\u201d:<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    In life, we are all faced with big\ndecisions- what university course to study, what job offer to accept, whether\nit\u2019s really worth moving away from home- and the list goes on and on. Many\npeople make decisions based on fear, others based on advice they\u2019ve heard, and\nothers just leave it all up to chance! But in Psalm 119: 105, David the\npsalmist teaches us that the word of God can and should be used to direct our\nsteps and guide each and every decision that we make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThy word is a lamp unto my feet\nand a light unto my path\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But how can the Bible be used to\nguide such decisions- it just doesn\u2019t seem to make any sense? The word of God\nis just like a lamp- it won\u2019t show you the whole path all at once, but it will\nprovide you with enough light to see one step, and then the next step, and then\nthe next step. The Bible tells you to \u201cLove your enemy\u201d- that\u2019s the first step.\nTake it, then the Bible will tell you to \u201cwatch and pray\u201d- that\u2019s the second\nstep. Then the Bible will tell you: \u201cThe lamp of the body is the eye\u201d. That\u2019s\nthe third step, and so on. And so, by following the words of the Bible step by\nstep, you\u2019ll find that God has just directed you along the entire path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n