Last night in my dream a child was murdered and loud opposition to work I was engaged in came from others.
It was just a dream but we gotta have swords on us all the time to do battle whenever the enemy gets a swipe in.
Usually those swipes are in the form of doubt or fear or discouragement. Fear and discouragement and intimidation are weapons the enemy has been using since the beginning of time. He is very good at what he does.
And our flesh, the corrupted part of our humanity is attracted to these tactics more than flies are drawn to rotting garbage.
I'm talking about the Spirit Sword we each have access to, the Word of God.
This doesn't mean we have to take our Bibles with us wherever we go (but you can if you want), but the Word of God dwelling within us -- the Word we are believing in, the Word we've been equipped with.
"our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12
I read in Nehemiah today when God's people were rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Their enemies were trying to discourage them. They lied to them. They made fun of them. They planned attacks against them. God's people took their swords everywhere -- even to the water when they bathed. They never took their clothes off. They were always ready to fight (that's in the 4th chapter).
God's work was accomplished and when it was complete their enemies left them alone, but until it was complete the attacks were relentless.
The Message says in Nehemiah 6:15-16, "The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. It had taken fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work."