Putting on the Sword of the Spirit in response to hostility towards the Spirit

1 Samuel 25:12-13

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.” 1 Samuel 25:12 The messengers of David, asking for a goodwill favor from the sheep shearer, was harshly and abrasively denied. They immediately turned around and went back and told David. This is like the followers of Jesus Christ letting Him know how abrasive and harsh this world is to the decency of the human spirit and to His Spirit.

To “turn on the heels” means to immediately stop and retreat in the opposite direction. As followers of Jesus Christ, we turn on our heels away from an obvious situation which would lead to conflict, aggression, and an ugly confrontation. Those who shear the Spirit thrive on conflict and confrontation as their way of defeating the decency of the human spirit and the Spirit of Christ. It is their way of hardening a person to the humble and peaceful Spirit of Christ.

Although we turn on our heels away from the ways of this world, we never turn away from the Spirit of Christ but instead we put on the Sword of the Spirit.

“Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.” 1 Samuel 25:13 In the same way that David told his men to put on their sword, Jesus Christ tells His followers to put on the Sword. That is our response to the hostility against our devotion to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We put on the Sword of the Spirit, which is word of God. In fact, the response to the thing which wants to enable the image of the beast to live and speak through us is to put on the whole armor of God. The image of the beast is given life by the thing which forms what we think, feel, and do, and this is what the Spirit tells us,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 

and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.Ephesians 6:10-20

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11