(Om Orientation) Our Weapons the Word - Part 1 — George Verwer

The Word of God as the Weapon of Spiritual Warfare

Orientation session number three, the subject of this session, is the weapon of our warfare, the Word of God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the Word of God. We thank Thee that Thou hast given us the Word of Truth, that the Bible is true and that it is the base of our faith and we can put our trust in it as one of the weapons in this great warfare against sin and self.

And Lord Jesus, as we go into Thy Word again, we would want to exalt Thy precious name. We would want to lift Thee up and to praise Thee, for God, unless Thou art exalted, unless Thou art honored and praised, all that we say and all that we do is in vain.

And so, Savior, we pray, lead us as we look into Thy Word, as we look into history, as we look into the fields of science and see that Thy Word is true and that we can trust it and that it is one of the great weapons in this warfare.

For we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. I'd like us to open this session by reading together 2 Corinthians, the 10th chapter, beginning at the 3rd verse. Now as we come into this 3rd session, we need to remember that which is past.

We need to remember that we're in a warfare. It's good. It's good to ask ourselves if we've really been living the past two weeks as if it were a warfare, as if we were engaged in something more desperate, something more drastic, something more dreadful than World War II or World War I or the Korean War or any war or revolution that's ever been entered into here on the earth.

We've been engaged in something more titanic, more hellish, as we've waged war against the powers of darkness and the powers of self. Have you realized that this past week? And have you been using, have you begun to use in a more definite way the great weapon of prayer?

Oh, I pray it so. For going through these sessions, going into the Word of God week after week and going through Bible school or any other particular training is going to do us no good unless it becomes reality in our hearts and lives.

How foolish it is to go through school and never have these things become real. How foolish it is to go through these orientation sessions and never allow these things to become real to us. Like a medical doctor who studies eight years of medicine but never goes out and has his first patient.

Like a chemist who studies a lot in the books on chemistry but never goes out to work in a laboratory or uses chemistry. Like a fisherman who learns all about how to use the fishing pole and how to use all of the other fishing gear but never goes out and even tries to catch one fish.

How foolish, how ridiculous. And so it will be with these sessions. We can listen to many blessed truths from the Word of God and we can week after week look into the scriptures and go to prayer concerning these things but unless it becomes real to us, unless we plunge into this warfare, unless we give ourselves to prayer, it's all just a mock and it means very little.

And so let's open our session by reading 2 Corinthians 10 starting at the third verse. Here we read, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. There it is again. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

What a tremendous weapon we have. Casting down imagination and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. How it should be the desire of the heart to see every thought brought into captivity, everything we ever think of, every stream of thought that ever flows through our minds brought into captivity by Jesus Christ and by the weapons of the warfare.

And without any doubt, one of the great weapons in our warfare is the word of God. We read in Joshua 1 .8 these words, jot down the reference, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. And we all know the story of Joshua. We all know how Joshua faced Jericho, and how the walls of Jericho went tumbling down.

We all know the victories that Joshua wrought in the promised land, and we read in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews that Joshua was reckoned righteous because of his faith. Yes, Joshua meditated in the word of God day and night.

It became his weapon, it became his rock and his anchor, and because of it he saw victory after victory in the promised land. We read in Ephesians 6 .17,. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The word of God, the sword of the Spirit, in which we can slay the enemy, in which we can move forward in power, in which we can move forward and destroy the powers of darkness and win victories for our God and Savior.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty unto God. Do you believe that, young person? Do you believe that this weapon that you hold in your hand is mighty and is powerful? It says in Hebrews 4 .12,.

For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, or of the spirit and the joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and the intents of the heart.

What a weapon has been given unto us. What a powerful weapon has been entrusted unto us to enter into this tremendous warfare. Yea, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. I think of Matthew 24 .35, where it says, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.

How true this has been, as atheism down through the years, as tyrants and dictators down through the years, have tried to destroy the word of God, they've burnt copies of the Bible, they've nailed the translators of the Bible to crosses and burned them at the stake, and all through history there's been men who've tried to destroy the Bible, and yet it goes on and on and on.

Yea, the word of God, endurant forever. How true it is. Praise be to God. Isaiah expressed it so clearly in the 40th chapter and the 8th verse, when he said, the grass withered, the flower faded, but the word of our God shall stand forever.

Yes, this is the weapon that has been entrusted unto us, a mighty weapon, and yea, might in this time together tonight, we learn just what we need to do to effectively make use of this weapon. For it's one thing to know about it, it's one thing to know that it's powerful, it's one thing to know that it can be used in soul winning and evangelism, it's one thing to know that it can be used to bring every thought into captivity, and it's another thing to go out into the warfare, using it effectively.

Knowing the Word as a Soldier Knows His Weapon

And as we think of the use of this weapon, we can make a comparison with the use of worldly weapons in physical warfare, and there's three main things that every soldier needs to know about his weapon, there's three main things that a soldier needs to be conscious of concerning the use of his weapons.

A soldier in warfare without a weapon isn't going to do very much, but a soldier in warfare who has a weapon and yet who fails to realize all that's involved in using that weapon is not going to find himself very effective in warfare.

The first thing I think we need to realize concerning this great weapon is that we need to know our weapon, how vital it is in warfare to know our weapon. Can you see a soldier moving forward into battle and he has a submachine gun in his hand and he sees the enemy moving toward him and the warfare becomes intensive and he's ready to open fire on the enemy and yet he hasn't learned how to release the safety, he hasn't learned how to pull the trigger, he hasn't learned how to put in the ammunition, and so of what value is his weapon?

It is of no value, rather at that very moment the weapon becomes a mock, the weapon becomes a stumbling block, the weapon becomes the offense, and it becomes of no value. And in turn, when he doesn't know the weapon, he can easily be conquered.

The enemy can take the weapon and with their knowledge of it, can use it to continue the battle against him. Yes, it's vital to know our weapon. Many of you who are listening to my voice are enrolled in Bible school.

Others are enrolled in Christian colleges where you are having Bible courses. Others are at the university where although you don't have as much opportunity to study the Bible, you still, if you are diligent, will find opportunities to study the Word of God.

And it was when I was at a secular university, a secular college, supposedly religious but really quite secular, and I had hardly any Bible courses, that I really got into the Word of God, probably more than any other time of my life.

Yes, God will give you time to get into his Word as you hunger and thirst for it. And so there's no excuse for us not knowing the Word of God. For those of you in Bible school or at a Christian college, you are without excuse.

You have a golden opportunity, and I beg of you in the name of Jesus, to take advantage of every class you have in the Bible. Some of your classes might seem dull, and some of the things might seem unimportant, but oh, might God make you diligent in the study of his Word, in the study of the Old Testament, in the study of the New Testament.

Might God make you diligent because your knowledge of the Word of God is going to make a lot of difference as you enter into this warfare. One of the important things in Operation Mobilization and in all of our crusades, and one of the great needs, is young people who have a knowledge of the Word of God, who can counsel other young people from the Word of God, who can give advice from the Word of God, who know how to present devotionals from the Word of God, who know how to use the Word of God in an all-out offensive against the enemy.

Oh, I beg of you, redeem the time there at school in your study of the Word of God. As you walk down the halls, as you sit in the classroom, might you be redeeming the time to learn and to know more about this great weapon, the Word of God.

Reading and Meditating on Scripture

There are many ways we can get to know the Word of God. There are many ways. In 1 Timothy 4 .13, Paul tells Timothy to give attention unto reading. To give attention unto reading. Reading is one of the ways we can get to know the Word of God.

I especially recommend reading a whole book of the Bible through, maybe once every day for a month. Really get to know that book. Really get to know what it's about. Really get to understand what it's about.

Yes, reading is one of the ways we can get to know the Word of God. Another way we can get to know His Word is by meditation. I'd like to read you a few paragraphs from Dale Roton's little book, Christian Strategy, that talks about meditation.

I believe it will be a blessing to us. There, on the 18th page of this little book, we read these words. To the Hebrews, meditating meant concentrating so much on a thought that one speaks it out in words.

A disciplined devotional time should result in an overflow of spiritual feeding throughout the day as one rethinks the thoughts and the words he received from the Bible. Finally, in order to do this, something more than grasping a concept is needed.

The very words must be memorized. Our minds ponder words with greater facility than abstract ideas. Great stress is laid in the Bible on the very words rather than on general thoughts and concepts. Read all of Psalm 119.

The Jews love to memorize their scriptures. They experience their peak of worship by meditating devotionally and speaking God's words in praise to Him. This attitude is carried over and strengthened in the New Testament as the writers rejoice in quoting and meditating on Psalms and on Christ's words, as it tells us in Ephesians 519 and in Colossians 316.

But when can one meditate on the Word? Deuteronomy 6 -7 gives four times when one should meditate aloud on the Word. Please jot that reference down. Deuteronomy 6 -7. When you sit down, breakfast, lunch, or supper, when you walk around to and from school, work, etc., when you lie down before sleeping, when you arise after you wake up.

By practicing this verse, one will be able to meditate consciously and subconsciously on His Word day and night. God promises great spiritual fruitfulness for this. I think it would be good if we read Deuteronomy 6, 7, and 9.

Turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 6. Here we read, starting in verse 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently, speaking of the laws and precepts of God and the words of God, unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and thou shalt be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. Oh my God, grip us with the tremendous importance of meditating on His Word day and night.

For as God promised Joshua success, so He promises us success if we will meditate on His Word. And closely linked with this, of course, is memorizing the Word of God. I can testify that more than anything else that I know of in my spiritual life, it is the scriptures that have been hid in my heart that have kept me from sin.

Many a time in the past eight years of my Christian life, the devil has tried to throw me over. In these eight years, and I say it, believe me not with bragging, but in these last eight years there's never been a day when I haven't known what it was to rejoice in Christ my Savior and to walk with Him as His witness and as His child.

Oh, there's been sin. There's been minutes. There's even been at times an hour or so when the devil has tripped me up and thrown a dart. But oftentimes when the devil tripped me up, when the devil moved in and tried to get me discouraged and tried to get me off the road, the Word of God would come flooding back.

One of the verses I memorized early in my Christian life was, be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Many a time when the devil would move in and try to get me to fall into this sin, to fall into the lust of the flesh, to fall into some carnal sin or something else, I would think of those words from the book of Galatians, be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Let us remember this as we go forward in this warfare, that it's the scriptures hidden up in our heart that are going to enable us to carry on an offensive and a defensive against the onslaughts of the devil who comes as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to the Word. I have hidden thy word in my heart, says the psalmist, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119, 11, and how true it is. And yet in all of this, in this important area of knowing the Word of God, in this important area of letting the Word of God penetrate us, we must realize that our biggest problem always will be not rebellion.

No, we're not living in the day when so many people are rebelling against the Word of God. And I'm sure that most of you who are listening to my voice are not in rebellion against the Word of God, but the big problem of our day is spiritual blindness.

We're blind to the reality of the Word of God. We read passages and we sing hymns and we even memorize verses at times and we go through theology classes and we go through doctrine classes and yet we're blind.

We're blind to the revolution that should take place if we dare to believe God's Word, if we dare to stand upon the principles of the Word of God, if we dare to lay hold by faith of these things that we're reading and that we're coming in contact with daily.

And indeed, we must fall down before God and say, the devil has blinded us, spiritual blindness. But praise God, we can pray the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 119, verse 18, when he said this, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Is Bible study dull to you? Is the Word of God not real to you? It doesn't grip you? It doesn't burn in your heart like a flame? It doesn't cause you to leap from your bed in the morning in a desire to know God and to know His Word?

Then I beg of you to pray the prayer that this psalmist has in this 18th verse, Open thou mine eyes, open thou mine eyes, that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law. And God will open your eyes as you pray it in sincerity and truth.

Each time you go into a Bible class, each time you go into church on Sunday morning, each time you go into the Word, pray, O Lord, open thou my eyes, that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Esteeming God’s Word Above Wealth

How we need to get a proper sense of values, as the psalmist gives it in the 127th verse of this same psalm, Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. If someone told you that you could find a few hundred pounds of gold if you were willing to walk a hundred miles, if you were willing to get up early in the morning, if you were willing to exert yourself, would you do it?

Why, of course you would. Some of us, perhaps with our financial situations, would walk far more than a hundred miles to find a pot of gold, and yet the psalmist says, I love thy commandment above gold, yea, above fine gold.

Can you say that, young person? Can you say that, theological student? Can you say that, Bible school student? Your esteem is commandments, your love is commandments, more than fine gold, more than any of your possessions, more than anything you have.

You love his Word. Oh, might we read the whole Psalm 119 every day for a week, so that we begin to live as that psalmist lived, and that our relationship to the Word of God might be like his. Oh, that the Word of God might become real to us, that we might know it, that it might become a part of us, so that we can enter in to this warfare.

Trusting the Divine Inspiration of Scripture

The next thing we need to remember concerning this great weapon, the next thing that is of vital importance, is that we must come to trust it. We must come to believe it with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

We're living in a day when liberal theology, and false theology, and watered-down views of the Bible are very prevalent. And it's the most damning thing, it's the most hellish thing, and the great enemy of the Church, today, more than Romanism, or the cults, or communism, or Islam, is this infiltrating, watering-down of the Word of God.

And if you don't believe that the Bible is the Word of God, if you don't believe that the Bible is God breathed from cover to cover, then I don't think you're going to find any happiness or any place in this movement that finds its base in God's Word.

And all you'll find in these orientation sessions, week after week, is that we continually refer back to the Word of God. And the only thing I ask of you to do in your notebooks, above anything else, is to jot down the references that I give you from His Word.

And if you meditate on these references, a revolution will take place in your life. If we dare to begin to believe His Word, a revolution will take place, a revolution of love based on the truth. That's what Christianity is, a revolution of love based on the truth, based on the Word of God.

And so the next thing we need to come to grips with, we need to realize, is that we must trust the Word of God as our weapon. We must believe it. Second Peter, Second Peter 1, 19 through 21. Let us read this together.

Second Peter 1, 19. Here we read a verse that tells us clearly that the Bible is inspired of God. We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And in Second Timothy 3, 16, we read that all the Bible is inspired of God and is profitable for doctrine, teaching, etc.

Yes, the Bible is God breathed. It's God inspired. It doesn't mean that human personality is not brought into it.