Tozer Devotional

Collective Writings from the Books of A.W. Tozer
Thursday, November 06, 2008
We Travel an Appointed Way
Chapter #19
Heresy among the Saints

The Sword of the Spirit
Undoubtedly God goes along with us as far as He can in this weak and one-sided treatment of the Holy Scriptures, but He cannot be pleased with this way of doing. Our Heavenly Father takes pleasure in seeing us develop and grow up spiritually. He does not want us to live entirely on a diet of sweet stuff. He gives us for our encouragement Isaiah 41, but He gives us also Matthew 23 and the book of Jude, and He expects us to read it all. The eighth chapter of Romans is one of the most elevating passages in the entire Bible, and its popularity is well deserved; but we need Second Peter as well, and we should not neglect to read it. When reading Paul's epistles, we should not stop with the doctrinal sections but should go on to read and ponder the bracing exhortations that follow. We should not stop with Romans 11; the rest of the epistle is also important, and if we would treat our souls fairly, we must give it the same attention we gave to the first ten chapters.
Briefly, the health of our souls requires that we take the whole Bible as it stands and let it do its work in us. We cannot afford to be selective with anything so important as the Word of God and our own eternal future.

Prayer
Thank You, Lord, that I have in a language I understand the whole Bible. What a treasure! May I fully explore and utilize all of it.
Scripture
Take the helmut of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
—Ephesians 6:17
Thought
We are engaged in warfare with unseen powers for which God has equipped us with armor. The major offensive piece is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. We desparately require the whole sword and not just a piece of it!