Pilgrim Soldier

Two weeks ago I started to learn the skills of sword fighting using a Longsword and the methods of Fiore Di Liberi. Reading the sort of books that I have always been interested in (Heroic Fantasy) has always given me a secret wish to actually learn how to sword fight, but I never felt an opportunity would come up! Now it has and I am really looking forward to the challenge!

However, even after such a short space of time it has already given me a new insight into the skills involved and also has made me look anew at the famous passage from Ephesians 6:10-18. I’ve heard sermons galore on the subject over the years, but none of them has come close to making me think about it in the way I’ve started to now.

I could easily go into a deeper explanation of each of the different parts of the Armour, and one day I might well do, but there are two things that have stood out for me as I have been thinking about this! This first is off the back of something Matthew Henry has written:

To the Christian armed for defense in battle, the apostle recommends only one weapon of attack; but it is enough, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Henry is right that we have only one weapon. Everything else about the Armour of God is about defence, but without the defensive equipment available to the Christian we would never get ourselves into a position to attack in the first place. Bible study is essential in our spiritual battles, but at the same time we cannot ignore the rest of the stuff.

The second thing was from the lesson we had. Apparently it takes approximately 3000 correct repetitions of a move for it to become automatic. For me this suggests that our use of the Armour of God needs a similar amount of practice and study. We need to put that sort of effort into our walk with God constantly striving to know how to use the Bible and rely on the alertness that prayer gives us.