February 17 2026

Tuesday February 17

“The Sword of the Spirit”

Ephesians 6:17

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Today we're looking at Ephesians 6:17 where the Apostle Paul, after he tells about the defensive armor, He's now encouraging us to take up our offensive weapon, which is, “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God”.

Yesterday we looked at “the sword”. Today, we want to think about “the sword of the Spirit”. Paul calls this sword, “the sword of the Spirit”. Someone has said that the best understanding of this is that the sword is from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. We must always remember that the Word of God that we have, the 66 books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, are inspired by God's Holy Spirit, were breathed through God's Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us, "Knowing this that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in the old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." We're reminded in 2 Timothy 3:16, “all Scripture”, from Genesis 1:1 to the last verse in Revelation, “is given by inspiration of God”. The word inspiration means that it is God breathed. So, we must remember that the Word of God, which is “the sword of the Spirit”, is not merely a human writing. It is divine truth. That means that every word that those 40 plus men put into the 66 books of the Bible, they were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to put those words down.

The Bible is a living book. It's the divine truth. And because the Spirit wrote it, the Holy Spirit can use it. We find these great truths in John 14, where Jesus began by saying, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." He then gives several reasons why Christians and believers, as we face the challenges of the world, we should not have troubled hearts. We should not fear. We should not be afraid.

In John 14:16-18, Jesus told the disciples, "I'll pray the Father, and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be with you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you." Jesus Christ comes to us in the person of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to say in verse 26, "But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I've said to you."

Remember John the Baptist had prophesied, when He was preaching as the forerunner of Christ, in John 1:33, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. In Luke 3:16, Luke recorded that John actually said it this way, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. Then we read that Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." For the next 10 days the disciples prayed in the upper room. And on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit came down upon them like tongues of fire.

The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Word of God, is the sword, is the sword of God that pierces the hearts of sinners and brings conviction. That's what Jesus promised in John 16:8-11, “When He has come, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin because they do not believe on Me. Of righteousness because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. Of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.”  Jesus went on to say in John 16:13-14, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you”.

My friend, when we take the sword of the Spirit, after we have put on the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, we have a powerful weapon in our hands. We'll talk more about this powerful weapon the next couple days.

May God help us to realize today that we have access to this sword of the Spirit to do mighty works for God.

God bless you, and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.