This word is submitted by "Trevor Jenkins" (Trevor.Jenkins@suneidesis.com)

Daggers and Swords

As a holiday souvenir my children bought a wooden replica dagger. Whenever I look at it I feel the Lord saying that that's how many of His people use the Scriptures. A dagger is meant for close-order fighting. To hurt your opponent you have to be near---only a hand's length away. Whilst looking at the dagger I also see a sword. A huge sword that may be heavy to wield but it inflicts great damage to one's opponent from farther away.

God seems to be saying that many of His people are too close to the things of the world. Only a few are called for such close-order combat and it's a specialism that He gives to few of us. Satan, our enemy, wants us to fight close so that he cam murmur in our ears because short weapons are his stock in trade. Lots of little hurts that will eventually kill us. God, our father, wants us to move further away from the things of this world but not so far that we cannot reach them with a sword. There is then no way to hear those murmurs. There's less opportunity of those little wounds.

The sword requires practice to wield properly. A "double-edge" sword is not a light weapon. When the tip is placed on the floor the hilt comes up to the chest. It requires skill to use. When we use our swords in battle our brothers and sisters will hear the clash of metal on metal. If we only use a dagger then there's little or no sound. The noise will attract others to the fight and we will then not fight alone.

I believe that there's a call to repentance in this imagery. Firstly, that we've been too close to the world. For some of us this is because we are not skilled swordsmen; for others we are lazy and will not take up the sword at all. Secondly, that we've let our sword's edge become dull. Jesus requires a sharp (two-edged) sword. For some of us the dullness is because we have not studied the scriptures enough; for others we are lazy and will not study the scriptures at all. For some of us the dullness is because we have we have relied upon tradition or incorrect doctrine, that is we've let other people hone the edge on the sword assuming that they know what they are doing.

The armorer of Heaven wants us to be ready for battle. And before the battle He might spring an inspection upon us, let's not be caught with a dull or rusty sword.

Regards, Trevor