Dear Amy,

What are the two complementary ways to become an expert swordswoman?

Take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

― Ephesians 6:17

For the first, Sunday school teachers have known since forever the value of memory verses for the spiritual battle. Jesus himself refuted Satan with such when tempted in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:1-13).

‘Man does not live on bread alone.’

― Deuteronomy 8:3

‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’

― Deuteronomy 6:13

‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

― Deuteronomy 6:16

There is enormous power in such verses in the midst of the spiritual battle. Build up your arsenal, Amy, commit them to memory, and make them your own. Here’s just one of mine that I lean on when tempted to doubt and despair in the waiting time.

You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.

― Joshua 23:14

But such verses are not enough. For the second then, we need understanding of the full breadth and depth of Scripture. We won’t get this from isolated verses. We get it from extensive reading and studying of the Bible. This is the only way to handle the word of God with integrity.

The greatest help I have found in this intimidating task is a book I bought while at university, shortly after becoming a Christian.

Because the Bible is God’s Word, it has eternal relevance; it speaks to all mankind, in every age and in every culture. Because it is God’s Word, we must listen⸺and obey. But because God chose to speak His Word through human words in history, every book in the Bible also has historical particularity; each document is conditioned by the language, time, and culture in which it was originally written (and in some cases also by the oral history it had before it was written down). Interpretation of the Bible is demanded by the “tension” that exists between its eternal relevance and its historical particularity.

A text cannot mean what it never meant. Or to put that in a positive way, the true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken. This is the starting point. How we work it out from that point is what this book is basically all about.

― Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, Chapter 1

Understanding the Bible in its entirety is surely the journey of a lifetime, but may it never become a dry and dusty chore, nor one that leads to intellectual vanity. Let us engage in this task with all of our mind and a surrendered will, joyfully anticipating new depths of insight into the Father’s holiness, majesty, love and faithfulness, and into the magnitude of our rescue by our wonderful Saviour. A right response to our increasing knowledge and understanding will be holy reverence, awe and wonder, gratitude, and adoration and worship of our Lord and Saviour.

Immerse yourself joyfully in the written word of God, Amy, and learn to wield the sword of the Spirit with integrity and understanding! 🙏