FRIDAY March 22, 2019
Are You Weaponless?
Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; and the charge for a sharpening was a pim for the plowshares, the mattocks the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads.
1 Samuel 13:19-21
The Philistines gathered a multitude of fully armed men against Israel. They were ready and equipped for war. The Philistines were the ones who had modern technology in war. They had many chariots and other weapons––swords and spears. Saul’s army trembled in fear; they were unequipped to fight against the Philistines. Israel, as a nation, had no real weapons among them to go out into the battlefield––they were extremely weak. Only the royal family, Saul and Jonathan, had swords.
In fact, the Israelites were controlled by their enemies. There were no blacksmiths found among the people of Israel, so they could not make swords or spears. The people of Israel had to go to the Philistines to get their equipment for work in the fields, sharpened.
How many Christian ministries or believers find themselves unequipped for spiritual warfare? They have absolutely no defense when the enemy gathers a great army against them. I pray that none of us would fit this category, but there are candidates in every church and generation.
The Apostle Paul explained to Christians how every piece of the weaponry is available to them to fight the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18). Do not find yourself in a situation where you are weaponless; take Paul’s instructions seriously: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). Think on today’s message and allow God to speak to your heart.
We live in a perpetual battlefield ...The wars among the nations on earth are mere popgun affairs compared to the fierceness of battle in the spiritual unseen world.
~Billy Graham~
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