Sword of the Spirit

Believing ON Jesus Christ By R. A. Torrey John 1:12 KJV But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: God does not promise to answer the prayers of those who merely believe ABOUT Jesus Christ even though their faith is perfectly and rigidly orthodox. He does promise to answer the prayers of those who believe ON Jesus Christ. A person may believe perfectly and correctly ABOUT Jesus Christ, and yet not believe ON Him at all.  Satan himself believes ABOUT Jesus Christ, and is doubtless perfectly orthodox;  he knows more ABOUT Jesus Christ - who and what He is - than we do;  but Satan certainly does not believe ON Jesus Christ. There are many today, who, because their view of Jesus Christ is perfectly orthodox,  imagine that they believe ON Jesus Christ.  However, that is not what believing ON Jesus Christ means. To believe ON Jesus Christ means to put our personal confidence in Jesus Christ in what He claims to be,  an

Divine Healing 2 of 13 By Andrew Murray   Because of Your Unbelief “Then came the disciples to Jesus apart,  and said,  Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them,  Because of your unbelief:  for verily I say unto you,  If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain,  Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you" (Matt. 17:19, 20). When the Lord Jesus sent His disciples into different parts of Judea,  He endued them with a double power,  that of casting out unclean spirits and that of healing all sickness and all infirmity (Matt. 10:1).  He did the same for the seventy who came back to Him with joy, saying,  “Lord, even the spirits are subject unto us through thy name”  (Luke 10:17).  On the day of the Transfiguration, while the Lord was still upon the mountain,  a father brought his son who was possessed with a demon, to His disciples,  beseeching them to cast out the evil spirit, but they cou

Divine Healing 1 of 13 By Andrew Murray Pardon and Healing “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins  (then saith he to the sick of the palsy),  Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house”  (Matt. 9:6). In man two natures are combined.  He is at the same time spirit and matter, heaven and earth, soul and body.  For this reason,  on one side he is the son of God,  and on the other he is doomed to destruction because of the Fall;  sin in his soul and sickness in his body bear witness to the right which death has over him.  It is the twofold nature which has been redeemed by divine grace.  When the Psalmist calls upon all that is within him to bless the Lord for His benefits, he cries,  “Bless the Lord, O my soul, who . . . forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases”  (Ps. 103: 3).  When Isaiah foretells the deliverance of his people, he adds,  “The inhabitant shall not say,  I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiv

The highest lesson a believer has to learn is humility. Oh that every Christian who seeks to advance in holiness may remember this well! There may be intense consecration and fervent zeal and heavenly experience, and yet, if it is not prevented by very special dealings of the Lord, there may be an unconscious self-exaltation with it all. Let us learn the lesson: The highest holiness is the deepest humility. Let us remember that comes not of itself, but only as it is made a matter of special dealing on the part of our faithful Lord and His faithful servant. - Andrew Murray, Humility

We know that whatever a man sets his heart on exercises a mighty influence on the life, and leaves its stamp upon his character. He that follows after vanity becomes vain. He that trusts in a god of his own fancy will find his religion an illusion. He that sets his heart upon the living God will find the living God take possession and fill the heart . It is this that makes it of such infinite consequence that we should not only have a general idea of the Christ through whom God speaks to us, but should know Him aright and have our heart filled with all that God has revealed of Him. Our knowledge of Him will be the food of our faith, and as our faith is will be our experience of His saving power, and of the fellowship with God to which He leads. Let us listen to what we are taught of the Son in whom God speaks to us. - Andrew Murray, The Holiest of All  

Building Audiences Instead of Armies By Don Dickerman I believe focus is the issue, fear is a consideration, and faith is the missing ingredient.  What do I mean by that?  The focus of most churches seems to be in building an audience instead of an army.  A large audience seems to make everyone happy—pastors, deacons, and finance committees.  We all go home and say, “Wow!”  But maybe we should look closer.  Maybe it should be “whoa” that we are saying.  Aren’t we supposed to be building soldiers, equipping them for battle?  How can we build an army when the church is not aware of the reality of the enemy? The focus is wrong.  The main objective is out of focus.  Somewhere along the way we dropped an important part of the gospel message.  I will tell you, without blinking or without consideration of backing up, that the average local church has so limited the work of the Holy Spirit that it is virtually impossible for God to bless what we do!  This is sad! This must be corrected.  

Audience or Army? (Excerpts) By Don Dickerman There is gross ignorance of demons as it relates to Christians.  Why is there so much ignorance in the body of Christ about spiritual warfare?  A pastor and his wife were in my office recently.  He had brought a member of his congregation to see me.  He could not bring freedom to the man through wise counsel and scriptural encouragement.  After the deliverance session was over and the man had been freed of many demonic spirits, the pastor and his wife asked to stay and visit awhile. They had many questions.  The pastor’s wife was almost angry that she had not been taught about this.  “Why is this not being taught?”  she questioned.  “Why has this been kept from us?”  The pastor who had just finished his seminary training posed much of the same type questioning.  “I have not heard one word about deliverance in my three years of schooling. I knew it was real. I knew from experience that demons were active in the lives of believers, but I am i