The Sword 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 intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12) In defining a sword we know that it is a bladed weapon, used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The sword consists of a straight blade with two edges, usually extremely sharp. The objective of a sword in battle was to maim or inflict painful and severe wounds to the body of their enemy, by means of mangling, mutilating, and injuring to render the opponent helpless, and if these methods were unsuccessful, the last resort was to take the life of their opponent by killing. Just as the natural sword had its uses, even so the spiritual sword? The natural sword may maim or kill physically, while the spiritual sword renders the demonic host helpless through its destroying power. We must always keep in mind as believers that we have authority through the word of God which is symbolized by the sword. In history, the sword is said to be the emblem of military honor, such as in the medieval times when someone was honored as a knight by a monarch or political leader for service to their country. This was carried out by touching the shoulders of the honored person with the sword. Though there are many types of swords, the main concept was the same throughout history, to protect and defend. In the above mentioned scripture, the sword was used as a symbol of the word of God! A proper sword in its making was tempered very carefully, meaning that it was heated at a certain temperature, beaten into form by a sword-smith on an anvil and cooled at a predetermined degree to ensure its effectiveness. The reason for fashioning the sword in this manner was to ensure that when the combatant entered into battle, the sword would be able to withstand all the attacks of their adversary by absorbing the shock of their weapons without shattering. Even so when we’re engaged in spiritual warfare, we cannot afford to have our emotions interfere with the operation of the spiritual weaponry. It is not the Word of God that ever falters, but when one deals in unrighteousness, such as forgiveness and bitterness, these character flaws causes the word to become ineffective in our hands. Just as the natural sword has to be tempered for effectiveness in battle, in like manner, we too must be tempered by bringing our bodies into subjection to the will of God. Not being tempered enough in our selves, gives the allusion that the sword is not pliable; however it is we that are unstable and when the word is not activated in our lives this causes us to break as well. Often times when dealing with conflict it may be difficult to discern who is telling the truth because the parties having the conflict are both liked in their circle of associates. Before there were lie detectors, there was God, giving the discerning of spirits and the word of knowledge to help bring about truth. The sword is also a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Let me share a story with you about a boy who said to a girl friend of his, “I will give you all of my marbles, if you give me all of your candy.” So the night before the exchange, the boy took out some of his favorite marbles. The next morning the exchange was made, but the young man was unsettled all day. The question is why was he unsettled? The reason was, the boy had taken out some of his favorite marbles, and was wondering, if the girl had taken out some of her favorite candy. The truth is, if the girl had asked the boy if he had given her all the marbles and he said yes, he would have lied. The Sword of Solomon will teach you how the Word enables you to become more sensitive in the Spirit to rightly divide who is dealing with truth and who is dealing in deceit. The sword as a discerner of truth, is able to pinpoint whether something is proceeding out