How Sharp is Your Sword?....

As the next generation rises to take it's place at the head of the battlelines, we have a serious challenge that faces us in the days ahead: Our swords are dull. What do I mean by this, do you ask? We are not a generation that has a love for the Word of God. I am not sure that it is because we find it boring, or that we are busy or that we are religious and so we only give it enough attention to assuage our troubled consciences, but as I have listened and interacted with those that are in this generation, I have found that we are not a people that are submerged in the Word. Is it that there are to many things that are trying to grab our attention? Is it that we only love Him marginally? Is it that we are afraid to face the Word because we might have to face our sin and have it dealt with so that our lives will match up with our words of love and devotion for Jesus? How can we say that we are passionate for Jesus when we don't want to spend time in His Word? To fulfill the call of God on our lives, we will have to go beyond just, "reading my Bible" to "studying to show ourselves approved" as Paul told Timothy to do. In this hour, we are in desperate need of those that, though may not have been formally trained, "have been with Jesus" as the Pharisees observed when they encounter Peter and John in the early chapters of the book of Acts. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO HAVE JUST HAD AN EXPERIENCE WITH HIM, WE NEED TO FIND HIM IN THE REVEALED, UNCHANGING WORD OF GOD! Our encounter must match up with what is revealed in that Book, or else it is worthless and possible deception. The other thing is that, without the seeking and searching in the Word of God, we will never have true revelation of our own. If we are not immersed in the Word, then we will end up becoming robots that regurgitate what we hear from the pulpits on Sundays, from someone else that has dug out truths from the Word. It was the Bereans that were more noble then the Thessalonicans when they searched the Scriptures to verify that what Paul was saying was the Truth from God and not the philosophy and good ideas from a man.
The Word of God is the blade that we have been given to face the battles of our age. If that blade is dull because we think that it is an outdated weapon, then we will be left to face the war to come with weapons of our own making and that are not authorized by the King of Heaven, facing a ruthless Enemy that has never once played fair. The battle is hopeless unless we sharpen our swords and take our place in the battleline of the end of the ages...