Fresh Manna with Sharon Hardy Knotts: Manna Bites From 40 Years of Pulpit Preaching

By Sharon Hardy Knotts

A Bible Lover's Dream Devotional!

Seasoned Manna Bites to Delight and Refresh Your Spiritual Diet

At age forty, Sharon's busy life and active ministry came to a tragic halt when she suffered a debilitating back injury. For years, bedridden up to eighteen hours a day, her mental anguish often eclipsed

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jun 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887381640

Sharon Hardy Knotts

Serving in ministry since childhood, Sharon was baptized in the Holy Spirit at age seven, preached her first sermon at age nine, and traveled with her father, the late R.G. Hardy, in evangelistic meetings from age thirteen. A lifelong student of the Bible, seasoned teacher, and anointed preacher, she serves as pastor of Faith Tabernacle, Baltimore, Maryland, and editor of Faith IS Action monthly magazine. Her messages are aired on Sound of Faith radio programs.

Book preview

Dedication

To R. G. Hardy, beloved pastor, apostle of faith, prince of preachers, and my dad. The impact you made on my life spiritually is incalculable. I will never be able to fill your shoes, but I wear the mantle of ministry you passed to me with gratitude and humility.

Acknowledgments

Faith Tabernacle Church, Baltimore, Maryland: You have been the heart of my ministry. As a preacher’s kid, I grew up in your hallowed sanctuary nurtured by church mothers and loving saints. From the time I preached my first sermon at age nine, you cheered me on because you saw the call of God on my life. I cherish the memory of those old-timers who are now with the Lord, and I am grateful for the timely votes of confidence from current members. You spur me on and stir me up to keep digging into the unsearchable riches of God’s Word and sharing them with you every Sunday.

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you

all making request with joy. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now"

(Philippians 1:3–5).

Introduction

My Back Story

My relationship with Jesus began as a toddler. When I was two years old, my dad, R. G. Hardy, became a born-again Christian. Dad had been the black sheep of the Hardy family since age six when he went after his atheist father with a kitchen knife for assaulting his mother, who was a young Christian. By age ten, Dad was in reform school, and by twenty, he served time for his association with friends who stole a car. He was still on probation when he and my teenage mother married. A year later, I was born.

Just when it seemed like he was getting it all together, he incurred a serious back injury that left him helpless and in constant acute pain. Unable to work, and with his job fighting his workman’s compensation claim, he became suicidal, feeling like a freeloader on his young wife and new baby.

The Pentecostal church his mother attended was in special revival, and a group came together to pray over a prayer cloth for her son’s healing. She brought the prayer cloth to my dad who was seated at the kitchen table, his body wracked with pain. She explained the purpose of the prayer cloth (Acts 19:12) and asked if she could put it on him. At first, he resisted, feeling unworthy. After all, he had never bothered with God in his life—why call on Him now that he was in trouble? Why would God do anything for him?

"Son, what have you got to lose?" she persisted, and reluctantly, he allowed her to put the prayer cloth on his back as she prayed a fervent prayer for his healing. Irritated, my mom, who thought my grandmother was a religious nut, began banging her dishes in the sink. Nothing happened, and my grandmother left. My mom left the kitchen, leaving my dad sitting at the table. He rose slowly and braced himself in order to drag his left leg to walk when suddenly, he shot straight up. There was no pain! He could walk without dragging his leg! He shouted for my mom, who came running in to witness the bona fide miracle that had just taken place in their little kitchen.

Soon after, my dad surrendered his life to Christ, although my mom did not come to Christ till five years later. She was thrilled that he was healed, but she kept hoping he would get tired of his strange religion and return to their former fun times in the world. My dad and granny took me to church most nights while my mother worked the evening shift. On Saturdays, they took me on street meetings in downtown Baltimore. Granny held me in her arms on the sidelines as my dad preached the Gospel under a strong anointing. I would join in, waving my hands and shouting. At that toddler age, I was catching the anointing!

After my mother was saved, they opened Faith Tabernacle, a storefront mission downtown. Baltimore was a popular tent meeting city in the ’50s and ’60s, and our church always supported tent revivals. In one of those meetings, at age seven, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and the anointing on my young life increased exponentially. It was a divine encounter as I was not seeking the baptism at that age (see May 20: How I Got the Holy Ghost). I preached my first sermon at age nine in youth service and began teaching Sunday school at age eleven. Over the next decade, I worked my way from the toddlers to the teens and eventually the young adults. At age thirteen, my dad began taking me on evangelistic meetings. I led the song service, exhorted, and prayed with people. I was catching more of the anointing!

I had sat at my granny’s knees as a preschooler. Mother Hardy was a Holy Spirit-taught Bible teacher who trained hundreds of men and women, many of whom are in ministry today. I became my father’s ghostwriter for his books and our monthly magazine, Faith IS Action. This served to download my spirit with God’s Word with rich revelation and understanding. At age thirty, I was ordained, and my continuing education in the Bible earned me a master’s degree in theology. I was deeply involved in every aspect of ministry at our church and its various outreaches, including announcer for our radio and TV programs. I preached in weekly services and directed the church choir. In summer, I oversaw operations at The Master’s Retreat Campgrounds, a rural retreat where we hosted guests from around the country. My finger was on the pulse of everything that was happening in the ministry.

My personal life was just as hectic: I was a busy wife and mother of two teenage boys and seven-year-old daughter when my world came crumbling down around me. I had been through rough times before: an abusive marriage ending in divorce, leaving me a single mom struggling to keep the roof over my children’s heads. But I was still able to minister and function in the Lord’s work. I was even blessed to go on a Holy Land trip to Israel when someone paid my way.

After five difficult years, God blessed me with Benny, a wonderful husband who treated me like a princess. God showered us with financial blessings that filled our lives with goodness, and I learned He is God of Restoration, especially when we were unexpectedly blessed with our daughter, Sarah, the following year. For the next seven years, life was happily overflowing with godly rewards. I didn’t even mind turning forty, but all that changed before that year played out.

Sidelined in Pain

I share these things so you can understand how radically my life changed when right before my forty-first birthday, I incurred a devastating back injury. A ruptured lumbar disc radiated excruciating nerve pain down my right leg to my foot. I could no longer drive and could barely walk—it was unbearable to put weight on that leg. I spent eighteen hours a day in bed, only able to be up twenty minutes at a time. Christmas 1992 was terrible for everyone as I spent the day moaning in pain and vomiting from the emotional stress of my suffering.

My parents and church were praying fervently for my healing. But after five months of massages and physical therapy and no improvement, I was desperate. I had gone from an extremely active life and ministry to lying in bed having to be cared for by others. My life was shattered, and for a long time, my hope was too. The mental anguish I experienced strongly competed with the horrendous physical pain, and together they eroded my spiritual strength. I had panic attacks for the first time in my life.

A neurosurgeon assured me that if I had surgery to remove the ruptured material off the nerve, I would be back on my feet in six weeks, and the surgery had a 95 percent success rate. There was strong debating in my family about the surgery, adding to my distress, and I felt like a ping-pong ball being batted back and forth. Finally, I agreed to have the surgery, and a few days later, I canceled. I was in too much turmoil. I had no peace. I had never been so anguished in my life. But when the pain spiked to a new level, I rescheduled the surgery.

I did not fall into the 95 percentile successful group. I developed arachnoiditis, a condition only occurring in 3 percent of cases: Scar tissue had wrapped around my nerve like a spider’s web, leaving me with the same symptoms the rupture had caused. If it was removed surgically, it would only grow more. I had to live with the pain. If I had been desperate before, I was now hopeless. I regretted the surgery a thousand times a day. The surgeon had failed to take hard X-rays before the surgery and was forced to take them while I lay on the operating table with my spine exposed. They revealed an anomaly my MRI did not show, requiring the removal of a facet joint. He quickly started manipulative damage control tactics, claiming the pain was all in my head and I needed to see a psychiatrist. The only thing worse than being in intractable pain is being told it’s all in your head!

The day after my release from the hospital, I returned to the emergency room in horrible pain. There my religious doctor, without my husband, nurse, or anyone present, dubiously asked, "Do you think God is punishing you? followed by: Well, if He is, I think you have suffered enough." Who needs the devil with a doctor like that!

He told my mother I had mental problems. Once when I called in terrible pain, he hung up on me. It reached the point I had to leave his care. I was in too much suffering to think about suing for malpractice, as I was being urged to do. I just wanted to get better. My life became a blur of physical therapy and new doctors with new treatment plans; it felt like I was on a conveyor belt of medical appointments, consultations, and treatments that I could not slow down or get off. As each one failed, I sunk deeper into despair.

A spirit of fear gripped me that at times brought on panic attacks, which I had never had before. It paralyzed my faith, and the vicious cycle ingrained itself in my mind, self-propelling me further into a tunnel of pain and doubt. I rarely made it to church as I could not tolerate sitting. When I did go, I lay on a cot in a storage room off the sanctuary, where I could only hear the service. I avoided people because in their happiness to see me, they might try to hug me, and my fragile spine could barely hold me up. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and distraught. Sharon’s spirit that had been so strong from childhood was crushed. Satan was preaching his propaganda—If God loved me, why did He allow this to happen? And why wasn’t He healing me?

Adding to my despair was the condition of my house and the care of my little girl. I had always kept a meticulous house, and Benny had all he could do to keep up with all my doctor appointments and caring for Sarah, a second-grader. I cried all the time; from the pain in my body, the depression in my mind, the messy house, not being able to take Sarah to the mall, go on school trips, and a million things moms do with their daughters. I cried when I saw the sadness in her eyes as she watched me suffer. Then there was the humiliation of her having to help me put on undergarments, socks, and shoes. I had to have help with bathing and all bathroom activities. It was all so demoralizing.

Things I took for granted: getting my hair done, going to the dentist, going out to eat, were no more. I stood at the kitchen counter to eat (often on one leg) because sitting brought on severe pain. To ride in the car, I had to lie down in the back seat.

Most of my time was spent on my left side in bed, and I often prayed for the Lord to take me home to be with Him. The thing that kept me wanting to hang on was to help raise my daughter. My sons were nearing adulthood, but I wanted to pour into her moldable heart the things of the Lord. I needed to be here as she grew up to instill in her godly faith. So with one breath, I would pray to go to heaven, and with the next, I would pray to stay and raise Sarah, at least till she was eighteen.

I regularly experienced night terrors and demonic attacks. I dreaded going to bed. I would wake up rebuking the devil, claiming the blood of Jesus. Benny said that one night I woke up shouting, "I’m beautiful! I’m saved! And I’m full of the Holy Ghost!" I laugh about it now, but back then, when I looked in the mirror, I saw new wrinkles around my eyes from crying and deeper creases on the left side of my face from always lying on that side. Chronic pain takes a toll in many ways, both inside and out, and it was written all over my face.

When I could not climb steps anymore, I moved into my daughter’s bedroom on the first floor. Lying on my left side, I could not see the TV from the bed. Rearranging the furniture was not an option, so Benny taped a small round hand mirror onto the corner of the dresser facing me. For years, I watched the reflection of the TV screen in that five-inch mirror. It became my lifeline as I kept tuned to Christian programming like The 700 Club, Sky Angel, and TBN that ministered faith and healing. So was my radio.

For two summers after my surgery, we still held camp meeting at the campgrounds in Fruitland, Maryland, a two-hour drive from Baltimore over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. My dad rented a portable outside lift so I could stay in the minister’s apartment above the camp shower rooms. Its steep stairs were hard even for the young and healthy. I delegated to others most of the things I had always handled. When I was done my part in the pulpit, I lay on a cot in the sound room for the rest of the service.

The Revelation

One morning, praying in the campgrounds apartment, desperate as always for relief, I pleaded with God to give me an answer of some kind about my healing. The Lord spoke to my spirit: "John 15:7. I looked it up: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."

Well, that was not what I wanted to hear! I wanted something more spectacular—more supernatural. I was disappointed. But later, in hindsight, I realized that it was exactly how I got better, and it didn’t happen overnight.

In bed, spending hours reading the Bible, I did something I had never done before: I read it through from Genesis to Revelation over and over. It revolutionized my spiritual perception. I am sure I had read the Bible through randomly over the years, but like most of us, I tended to mostly read favorite parts. Some Old Testament books I ignored because I didn’t think they related to me. As I read it through, my spiritual eyes were enlightened. I saw the plan of God in a way that strengthened my faith and assured me of His loving care and active presence on my behalf. Sermons began flowing forth from my spirit (which the devil continually told me I would never get to preach!).

In one particularly violent night attack, I thought I was close to dying, but it broke when Benny called upon the name of Jesus. The next day I felt like I was covered in a blanket of God’s love. I was able to walk outside in the summer warmth when I heard the voice of God speak clearly in my spirit: "Write for Me." I had been writing for the Lord for thirty years, but always my father’s material. This was a mandate for me to write about the things God had done and was doing for me. From my bed, I handwrote page after page of inspired thoughts and commentary as the Lord quickened my spirit. Those pages became my first book, Becoming a Chrestian Christian, published in 2002.

After seven years of daily pain, as I obeyed that verse to abide in the Word and allow His Word to abide in me, I improved. I was able to go out with family, do light housework, and preach from time to time. Then a setback put me down on my back again. After having a taste of some freedom, this plunged me into new despair. My trust in doctors was so low I did not want to go the medical route again, but a new doctor sent me to water therapy, which turned out to be a godsend. My muscles strengthened, and I regained more mobility. My time in bed decreased. I was able to minister more often and for longer periods. And I had a large box of voluminous notes that I had compiled during all those years in bed.

These sermons were different than the ones I had written before my injury and saga of pain because I was different: humbler and less critical; more understanding and less judgmental; more thankful and less selfish. The inner work on my character, spiritual purging, and maturation were priceless. The Lord did not waste my sufferings!

I had faith that had been tried in the fire! I learned how to use God’s Word as the Sword of the Spirit against Satan. God delivered me from a spirit of fear that caused doubt to be mixed with my faith, neutralizing its potency. I learned there was nothing wrong with my faith. The problem was the pesky doubts brought on by physical symptoms, emotional distress, and mental oppression. Now I know the cure for this kind of doubt is the spoken Word of God.

Ten years into my journey, 2003 was the second worst year of my life. I still dealt with some back issues, but I was back in the pulpit. In July, my younger brother, and only sibling, died from sudden cardiac arrest at age forty-two. My parents’ world was shattered, and their grief was insufferable to watch. I tried to be strong for their sake, but by September, the pain in my back skyrocketed. At one point, I went thirty-six hours without sleep. A nurse from church, who was an RN at Johns Hopkins Hospital, came to see me and realized I needed emergency care. The Lord used her to get me back on the road to recovery, but it was months before I was back to preaching because every prolonged bout in bed decreased muscle strength that had to be regained. But now, I had the tools to win the battle. I knew how to use the Sword of the Word to put the devil on the run.

Fresh Manna

For some time, the Lord had been dealing with me to write a daily devotional from my sermons, but I did not discipline myself to start organizing my notes till 2014. I began by posting some online. I thought I would have it all together in a few months—a year at the most. It took three years to condense them into manna bites of 366 entries. One year in, my dad, at age eighty-five, was declining in strength, and my mom said I needed to step into the pulpit on Sundays. I agreed to take turns with Dad, preaching every other week. The next Sunday, Dad had an episode of extreme weakness and could no longer preach. If I had not already begun this devotional, I doubt I would have after I began preaching weekly.

The next year I was diagnosed with breast cancer on a routine mammogram. Thank God, it was tiny, and I had a lumpectomy and radiation. During months of treatment, I only missed the one Sunday after my surgery. Again, I relied on the Sword of the Lord to bring me through. (I also had a visitation of His glory when I was zapped with supernatural energy.)

Throughout this devotional are details of my journey with my back issues and breast cancer. They are given to shine light upon Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit to effect healing in the believer: "spirit, soul, and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). They contain divine principles, promises, and examples of God’s faithfulness and the immutability of His Word that I have studied over several decades—and have walked out by faith.

Because of the revelation to my spirit: Speaking God’s Word out loud creates the Sword of the Spirit—the weapon against which Satan has no defense, I chose to begin this devotional with these life-changing truths. I continue to put them into operation daily. God is no respecter of persons. What He did and is doing for me, He will do for you.

And from a child you have known the holy scriptures that are able to make you wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the servant of the Lord might be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 3:15–17

Rejoicing in Him,

Sharon Hardy Knotts

January 1

Manna in the Morning

"And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you to know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live"

(Deuteronomy 8:3).

God did not give the people seed to plant a crop, to harvest the grain, grind it, and bake it as bread. It came straight from heaven. Man had nothing to do with it—it was right out of God’s mouth. He probably spoke, "Let there be bread!" Its taste was of honey and fresh oil. They called it manna, which translates as "what is it?" Likewise, the Law that God gave to Moses was not the words of a man. The first set of tablets of the Ten Commandments was literally written with the finger of God.

The manna that sustained their physical life was a type of the bread of heaven, God’s Word, which produces and sustains spiritual life. Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever…" This is the manna of eternal life.

In the wilderness, they had to gather fresh manna every morning except the Sabbath because God had ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest at creation before the giving of the Law. He fixed it so they had to gather fresh manna every morning. This was to signify that we need a fresh word from the mouth of the Lord every day.

It was Deuteronomy 8:3a Jesus quoted to Satan: "It is written, men shall not live by bread alone! when He was tempted in the wilderness to turn stones into bread. He was hungry, having fasted forty days, but He was sustained by the Word of God. He taught us to pray, Give us this day our daily bread." God is still serving fresh manna to all who hunger for the living bread.

It is not smart to skip breakfast, but we often do in our modern, hectic lifestyles. But to skip our morning manna from the Word weakens us spiritually, rendering us vulnerable to the tempter’s lures and lies. I pray these daily "manna bites," gleaned from over forty years of pulpit preaching, will become a source of spiritual nourishment for your life.

Genesis 1:3; Exodus 16:15, 31, 31:18; Numbers 10:8;

Deuteronomy 9:10; Matthew 4:4, 6:11; John 6:51.

January 2

Search the Scriptures

It is the spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).

Go back and read this Scripture again; this time, substitute "the words for the pronouns they."

The Bible is the living Word because the Author is eternally alive, and His life is in it. You may read many books that make you feel good or help you to think in a positive way, but there is no book, no matter how interesting, that has life in it but the Word of God.

We must not only love the Word—but the Author! Some love to debate and discuss Scripture without truly knowing and loving the Author. Always interpret the Word of God in light of the Author and His message: The cross, the resurrection, and Him as the enthroned Lord of Glory with "all authority in heaven and in earth."

Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." This is actually a command in the Greek text. The Jews to whom Jesus addressed this command were learned, avid readers, but they did not search the Scriptures, for if they had, they would have known that Jesus is their Messiah.

There are those today who are also "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus said, … for this cause I came into the world, that I may bear witness of the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. This reveals that not everyone who hears the Word hears the truth. Paul said, The god of this world has blinded the minds of them who do not believe."

Paul told the polytheistic Athenians: "God has made of one blood all nations of men … that they should seek the Lord; if haply they might … find him, though he be not far from every one of us." It is God’s intention for all men of every nation to seek Him. There are no other gods for other people.

Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 28:18; Mark 13:31; John 5:39, 18:3; Acts 17:26–29;

Romans 16:25–26; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:5.

January 3

God’s DNA

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable… (2 Timothy 3:16a).

The term inspiration in Greek literally means God-breathed. God not only breathed His Word into the spirits of holy men who wrote it down, but He breathed out His Word because His Word is a part of Him—it is Him!

It’s like blowing up a balloon: Your breath is in it, but some of your spittle is too—and it contains your DNA. God’s DNA is in His Word. Jesus said, "… the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. When God created Adam, He breathed into him the breath of life, but the Hebrew chayim is plural: the breath of lives because man has both a natural and a spiritual life. Job said, The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty has given me life."

When Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from Eden, they no longer had access to the tree of life. They and all their progeny are born dead—"dead in trespasses and sins." We must be born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, and we must continue to eat of the Word to sustain our spiritual life.

The Word of God is profitable because it is life-giving. Satan is the one who put out the idea that the Bible is too hard to understand and tedious to read. Far from being a chore to read or boring, it is the most exciting, dynamic thing you will ever read. I am a voracious reader and have read hundreds of books, but it is the words of Christ that continue to transform my life. I challenge you today:

Don’t just read books about the Bible—read the Bible!

There is absolutely nothing outdated in the Bible because it is a living document.

The Bible is not just the book of the month or the book of the year but the Book of the Ages! It is from everlasting to infinity because Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever!

Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; John 1:1, 3:6–7, 6:53; Romans 5:12–21;

Ephesians 2:1; Hebrews 4:12, 13:8; 1 Peter 1:23–24; 2 Peter1:2.

January 4

Stuck in Cubits and Curtains

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness… (2 Timothy 3:16)

Years ago, when I first started reading through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, I would always get stuck in the last part of the book of Exodus that lists the minute details of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. After a few times, I figured I could just skip it. I thought, This is the most boring part of the Bible! Why do I care how many screws and hooks were in the Tabernacle, or how many cubits this or that was? When the Lord brought this verse to mind: "All Scripture is profitable…" I persisted with my stubborn reasoning: How can reading these boring details profit me?

The Lord spoke to my heart: "I want you to understand that I’m a God of order, precision, and detail. If I required that earthly tabernacle to be made explicitly and exactly as I said, and you are the temple of the living God, I will work the same way in you with detailed precision. You need to read all of Exodus to make an impact on your spirit of what I require because I don’t do anything sloppily. I’m not a jack-leg—I’m a master craftsman, and what I do, I do perfectly."

So now, while I may not love reading this part of Exodus, I love learning how particular God is about His handiwork and holiness. Paul said, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." In Greek, workmanship is poiema, from which we get poem in English, and refers to a work of art. Before He created us, God had already arranged for and created good works for us. In Christ, we are designed and assigned to produce these good works!

Exodus 25:9; Psalm 138:8; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19;

2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:10.

January 5

There Must Be Balance

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for

correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. … Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;

reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 3:16–17, 4:2).

One of the greatest needs in the Body of Christ is balanced preaching and teaching. Great emphasis is being put on love to the exclusion of "speaking the truth in love." Reproof and correction are indispensable for sound doctrine. Both longsuffering and doctrine are necessary to sound teaching. It is not an either-or approach.

Some just harp on doctrine, beating people over the head with their Bibles. They are legalistic and can be mean-spirited. They turn people off. On the other hand, some are longsuffering to the degree that they overlook sin and cite grace as an excuse to live in carnality and disobedience.

But the mature preacher who is "thoroughly furnished has a balanced message. He (or she) knows when to reprove and rebuke and when to exhort and does so by sound doctrine—with longsuffering. He knows by sound doctrine how both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Paul said to preach with warning and teach with wisdom. And he said there is a time to rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith." Where are the warners today?

The pattern of the early church in the book of Acts is the one we should reproduce. People want to see the miracles they experienced, but they don’t want the kind of preaching and teaching they had or the discipline. (Think Ananias and Sapphira!) Here’s the pattern that produces results:

"The churches had rest, and were edified [built up spiritually], and multiplied [added souls], walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost." To some, this may sound like a paradox: "fear and comfort." The Holy Spirit wisely inspires both in balance.

Acts 5:1–16, 9:31; Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 1:28; 1 Timothy 4:13–16, 5:20;

2 Timothy 2:24–26, 4:1–4; Titus 1:9, 13, 2:15; 2 Peter 3:16.

January 6

Logos and Rhema

"For the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a

discerner of the thought and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

The Greek word for quick is zoe and means to be alive; to be animated, breathing; your heart is pumping. The Greek word for powerful is enegero, from which we get our English energy. It means to give life, to make alive. Not only is God’s Word alive, but it gives life.

This is a crucial point: I am alive, but I cannot give anyone life. The Word of God is alive and active because it produces life. And it produces that life through us when it is spoken. The divine dynamic that creates life, the energy of God, is inherent in His Word, and every time we speak it, we are releasing life.

While word in this verse refers to the written Word of God—Logos in Greek, the sword itself refers to the spoken Word of God: "… and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." Here, word is rhema in Greek and refers to something that is spoken.

It is not the read Word—nor the thought Word—nor the meditated Word. When you use the sword in close combat with the devil, you must open your mouth and speak to him. You can’t think him out. You can’t meditate him out because he can’t read your mind (which is a good thing if you are double-minded with doubt).

The written Word only becomes a sword when it is spoken. We are exhorted: "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering…" The Greek word for profession is homologia. This is a compound word: homo means same, and logia means words. So we are to say the same words that God said—in faith, without wavering. Something supernatural happens when we speak what God has spoken to our spirits from His Word because we are coming into agreement with Him.

Today, make sure you are using your sword by saying the same Word God is speaking to you!

John 6:63; Romans 10:8–10; 2 Corinthians 4:13;

Ephesians 6:1; Hebrews 10:23; James 1:6–8.

January 7

The Two-Mouthed Sword

For the word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edge sword…

(Hebrews 4:12a)

It should be easy for us to picture a dagger with double blades, but you may be surprised to know that the Greek word for two-edged—distomos actually means two-mouthed. A compound word, the first part "di" means two, and "stomos" means mouth. So God’s Word is a two-mouthed weapon! Here’s how it works:

One of those mouths is the mouth of God—it is His Word spoken to us. The other mouth is my mouth or your mouth: The first blade is created when God speaks, and the second blade is created when we speak! When we say what God says about our situation.

When God speaks His Word to your heart, it becomes a rhema word. It is like going to the written Word, selecting a specific Scripture that speaks to your need, and highlighting it. This is what God does in our spirits. The rhema word comes up out of our spirits—not our brains. We must do our part by speaking it out of our mouths. This is where the victory is won or lost.

There is no greater weapon than this two-mouthed sword. It is what Jesus used against Satan in His wilderness temptations. It will cause Satan to flee every time because it is the one weapon against which he has no defense!

Luke 4:1–13; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 6:17;

James 4:7; Revelation 2:16, 19:15.

January 8

Gideon’s Two-Mouthed Sword

When I blow the trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow you the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon

(Judges 7:18).

Gideon delivered Israel from a multitude of Midianites with only 300 men. The Midianites are described as grasshoppers in number. Literally, every year at harvest, they swooped down from the mountains to steal Israel’s crops, leaving them hungry, fearful, and defeated. Gideon was hiding behind a winepress, trying to thresh a little wheat, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him a mandate to deliver Israel from their enemy.

At first, Gideon was full of fears, and it took several supernatural encounters, including two episodes with fleeces, before he was ready to go to war. Finally, God told him to spy out the enemy’s camp, and there he overheard an enemy soldier interpreting a fellow soldier’s dream, saying, "This is nothing but the sword of Gideon; for into his hand has God delivered Midian." Imagine God using your enemy to prophesy your victory! "Faith comes by hearing," and when Gideon heard the enemy prophesying his victory, faith came alive in his spirit.

Because the ear of faith is greater than the eye of fact. (Read this again!)

His faith pumped up, Gideon returned to his 300 men (which God had whittled down from the 32,000 he started with), and they went forth with only a shofar in one hand and a clay pitcher with a candle inside in the other. On cue, they blew the shofars (Jewish rabbis claim the shofar sounds like God’s voice to Satan). Then they broke their clay pitchers, which made a loud clatter as the flames leaped up, and shouted: "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"

Now that was a two-mouthed sword!

Judges chapters 6 and 7; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.

January 9

A Word from The Word

… And the sword of the spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17b).

A rhema word is not necessarily something that you’ve never heard before, but something that has never been quickened (animated) to your spirit in the way that the Spirit is quickening it to you at a particular time for a specific need. "It is a word in due season" at a time when you need direction and/or encouragement. It is a word from the Word.

In the book of Psalms, David said again and again, "… I would have perished in my affliction, but your word quickened me." Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke something to his heart that strengthened him, encouraged his faith, and he was able to rise up and take the victory. Many of his Psalms start off pitifully, in the mulligrubs, but by the last verse, he’s rejoicing and exulting in God. Because when God dropped a word into his spirit, he didn’t ignore it, but he spoke it out loud. This is why when we recite his Psalms, we feel faith rise up within us and why many have been put to music. There is power in expressing them out loud.

You will know when God is speaking a word to your spirit—it will rise up in you. David said, "Deep calls unto deep." This is Spirit to spirit—not Spirit to brain. Your brain will eventually engage so you can communicate the word out of your mouth. Most of the time, a rhema word will be a quickening of the Scriptures you have deposited in your heart. First, meditate on it until it becomes so strong in you that you can no longer contain it—until you have to open your mouth and say it! This is when you unsheathe the sword of the Spirit!

By this, you are coming into agreement with God, and you express it with your voice by speaking it: From God’s mouth to your spirit, and then out of your mouth. There is nothing greater than agreement: "That if two of you shall agree as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them."

Psalm 42:7, 119:50, 93, 107, 154; Isaiah 50:4;

Matthew 18:19; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12, 10:23.

January 10

The Terrible Swift Sword

… And the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17b).

The Roman sword Paul referred to was actually a dagger up to nineteen inches long that could be held with one hand in close combat. This was important because the other hand was needed to hold the shield of faith. This sword literally struck terror in the hearts of soldiers. No one wanted to be in combat facing an opponent with this two-edged sword. The terrible damage it did when it was plunged into the body was only surpassed by what it caused when it was pulled back out. It eviscerated a man’s insides with its curled tip and serrated edges.

This sword of the rhema Word of God is the weapon that literally strikes terror in the mind of Satan. He does not want to come up against us when we use this sword. It is the one weapon he does not want to face. It literally shreds his lies to pieces! It is the spoken Word of God.

Today you may face a calculated attack of the enemy. He may seek to blindside you with an unexpected assault, but you have the defensive weapon of the shield of faith and the offensive weapon of the sword of the Spirit. They are activated by hearing and speaking the Word of God. It’s good to go on the offensive first thing each day. Each morning before I read several devotionals, I quote this little verse the Lord gave me:

A Word to keep and a Word to give

By every proceeding Word I live

A Word to give and a Word to keep

A rhema Word—Deep calls to deep

Deep within—Speak forth this Word!

Be in my mouth a sharp two-edged sword

Lying Lucifer—Get thee hence!

Against this weapon you have no defense!

Psalm 42:7; Matthew 4:4, 10–11; Romans 10:17;

Ephesians 6:16–17; Hebrews 4:12; James 4:7.

January 11

VOTE with Your Mouth

… You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:14b).

The Word is the two-edged sword Satan cannot defeat. His lies are no match for the sword of the Spirit. When you speak God’s Word, you release the weapon of the Lord against the enemy.

But when you speak doubt, fear, and unbelief, you take the sword out of "your mouth" and put it in "the devil’s mouth! He likes to quote the Word of God against you by omitting vital parts, twisting the truth, and suggesting what God means or not, as he did with Eve in the Garden and Jesus in the wilderness. When he smirks: Has God said…?"—you must return—"It is written!"

There are no neutral words. Our words either snare us, or they snare the devil.

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian whose family hid Jews from the Nazis in World War II. She survived the death camp at Ravensbrück and later became an evangelist of reconciliation and forgiveness. She said something that I often repeat in my preaching: "God is always voting ‘for’ you. And Satan is always voting ‘against’ you. How ‘you’ cast your vote will determine the outcome."

You cast your vote by speaking, whether doubt and unbelief or the Word of God. When we cast our vote with what God says and has purposed for us, Satan loses, and we win. But we must vote, whether it’s to forgive someone who has hurt us, to surrender our will to God’s plan, or to say no to the temptations of the flesh and allure of sin.

Today use the sword of God’s Word for:

Victory Over The Enemy—VOTE!

Genesis 3:1; 2 Kings 6:16; Psalm 55:18; Proverbs 6:2, 12:13, 18:7;

Matthew 4:6–7; Romans 8:31; Titus 2:12; 2 Peter 5:8–9.

January 12

It Is Written!

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterwards hungered. And the devil said unto him, If you be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written…

(Luke 4:1–4a)

Jesus was tempted three times on three challenges: His identity as the Son of God, His authority when Satan told Him to bow down and worship him as the god of this world, and His faith when Satan told Him to jump off the temple pinnacle because the Scripture said God would command angels to catch Him.

We also will be tempted with these challenges, and we must use the same weapon that Jesus used all three times: the spoken Word of God! With each temptation, Jesus reached back into the book of Deuteronomy to speak the written Word, declaring: "It is written!" He had just been baptized by John when the Holy Spirit came upon Him, and He was full of the Holy Ghost who gave Him what to say. This is why it is called the Sword of the Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit who quickens the written Word in us to speak forth.

Jesus would have been able to quote the Pentateuch (first five Old Testament books of Moses) from age twelve when He would have had His Bar Mitzvah. Remember, at age twelve, His parents found Him in the temple, both asking and answering questions with the doctors of the Law of Moses, and all were astonished at His answers.

We are responsible for getting the Word of God into our hearts. The Holy Spirit will "bring all things to our remembrance," but He cannot stir up what is not there. And when He does, we still must speak it.

Deuteronomy 6:13, 16, 8:3; Psalm 91:11–12; Matthew 3:13–17, 4:1–11;

Luke 2:41–47, 3:21–22, 4:1–13; John 14:26.

January 13

Satan Doesn’t Fight Fair!

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season

(Luke 4:13).

Satan never fights fair! He came to Jesus when He was hungry after fasting for forty days. He doesn’t come when you’re strong and flexing your spiritual muscles, but when you’re down, discouraged, sick, in the hospital, and especially when you’ve been out of church. This is why it is vitally necessary to attend church so that you can be exhorted and edified, and your faith increased by the "hearing of the Word."

He came to Jesus when He was weak in His flesh, but every time, Jesus resisted him with the spoken Word of God, and Satan had no weapon to fight back with except lies. If you continue to stand and speak the Word of God, his lies will be exposed, and he will go. He may not go the first time, but keep speaking the Word, and he will flee! He will come back because he departed from Jesus "for a season. In Greek, this means for an opportune time." He will wait for an opportunity when he thinks you are more susceptible to temptation.

Paul said, "Neither give place to the devil. The literal meaning in the Greek text: Stop giving place to the devil! Paul commanded them to stop an action already in progress. He warned: Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." You must respond immediately at the first sign of an attack by speaking the Word of God. The longer it takes for you to open your mouth and rebuke the devil, the more you give him an advantage over you.

When I injured my back, there were times when I was under severe attack physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and I would just clam up. I felt like I had spiritual lockjaw. This allowed Satan to oppress me even more, spirit, soul, and body. When I began to understand the sword of the Spirit, the spoken Word of God is the weapon against which he has no defense, I found my voice of faith and rebuked him as soon as I sensed his evil presence. And so must you!

Speak the Word with the voice of faith, even if it’s just a whisper, and he will go!

Romans 10:17; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 4:27, 6:17; Hebrews 4:12, 10:25; James 4:7.

January 14

The Weapons of Our Warfare

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

(2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

We know what our weapons are—the whole armor of God, which Paul defined in Ephesians chapter 6. The Greek word for warfare is stratos, brought into English as strategy. I found there is a strategy in these verses that can be better understood by reversing the order:

If we will immediately take every thought that is contrary to the obedience of Christ, resist it, refute it, renounce it, denounce it, and cast it down, it will not develop into an imagination. The Greek word is logismos, which is a math term that refers to calculation, reasoning, and reflection that are rooted in the carnal mind, and we know "the carnal mind cannot receive or know the things of the Spirit of God." This type of thinking is dangerous because it is not subject to the Word, which is the only thing that can defeat Satan’s devices and wiles.

If we fail to cast down carnal reasoning, it will become a stronghold in our minds. This occurs when repetitive wrong thoughts are allowed to take hold in our minds. Thought upon thought is like laying brick upon brick of wrong thinking, which creates an impenetrable stronghold. This could be a stronghold of fear, rejection, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, as well as lustful and lascivious thoughts, and the list goes on.

My point, it is much easier to bring a thought into captivity than it is to have to pull down a stronghold. And we can do so because we have the weapons that are "not carnal—not fleshly, weak, and anemic. But they are mighty through God"—divinely powerful!

As soon as that troublesome thought pops into your head—rebuke it with the sword of the Spirit. Do it every time, and as you do, it will come less and less until it’s gone. If you have already developed a stronghold in your mind, today begin tearing it down with the Word of God, scripture by scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. The authority of the Word will eject every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:11–12; 2 Corinthians 2:11;

Ephesians 6:10–18; James 4:7; 2 Peter 5:8–9.

January 15

The Shofar and the Shout

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and you shall have good success (Joshua 1:8).

Meditating on God’s Word continually takes place in your spirit, and when circumstances arise that bring enemy contact, that Word will rise up in your mouth to mediate the victory. To mediate means to act as an intervening agent. Joshua was told not to let God’s Word depart out of his mouth. The Word of God is the intervening agent that conquers the enemy when we speak it in obedience and faith.

In numerous passages, including a pep talk by Moses before he died, Joshua was exhorted: "Be of good courage." As he stepped into enemy territory to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land, meditating on God’s Word kept fear at bay.

Their first city of conquest was Jericho, whose fortified walls presented an insurmountable barrier to the unarmed, untrained Israelites emerging from a forty-year journey in the wilderness. Furthermore, the instructions God gave Joshua for their attack plan were totally foolish, naturally speaking. For seven days, they were to march around those impregnable walls while the priests continually blew their shofars (rams’ horns). On day seven, they marched around seven times as the priests blew the shofars, but at the end of the last lap around, "all the people ‘shouted’ with a great ‘shout.’" And the walls fell down flat.

Let me point out two interesting things: Rabbis teach that the sounding of the shofar at a certain pitch sounds like God’s voice to Lucifer (who once led praise and worship in heaven), and he can’t stand that sound, so he flees. Secondly, the people had to participate in the victory by opening their mouths and shouting. We don’t know what they shouted, but shouting requires verbal expression, not just noise. The thing is, the victory was contingent on their cooperating with God by shouting as the priests blew the shofars. When they shouted, the walls fell down. God’s voice and your voice will make the devil flee! It is a two-mouthed sword!

The Bible does not say what they shouted, but I can use my sanctified imagination. In the wilderness, Moses won a great victory over the Amalekites, but only as Aaron and Hur stood on either side, supporting his arms extended in prayer. When the victory was won, Moses built an altar to God and called it Jehovah-Nissi—the Lord is my victory. The Hebrew root of nissi is nes, which means miracle. I think it could be what they shouted at the walls of Jericho.

Next time you’re facing an insurmountable wall, open your mouth, lift your voice, and shout with the voice of triumph: Jehovah-Nissi!

Exodus 17:15; Deuteronomy 31:7, 23; Joshua 6:1–20;

Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.

January 16

The Accuser of the Saints

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. … the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night

(Revelation 12:9–10b).

The book of Job is the oldest book of the Bible, and in its first chapter, we are given a behind-the-scenes look at how Satan, whose name means slanderer, goes before God to slander the righteous. First, he accused Job to God. Then he accused God to Job, and we have all experienced this. But in all this, Job did not charge God falsely. This is Satan’s modus operandi: He slanders, accuses, and lies about God to us, especially when we are pressed in spirit during an intense waiting period or time of suffering.

Years ago, I incurred a serious back injury that immobilized me for periods of time, and at the same time, my teenage son began experiencing severe vertigo. The battle of fear that came against me for both of our conditions was horrendous. My mind was besieged by doubts and fears day and night. One day while listening to a Carman CD, the words to one song leaped in my spirit: "When Satan reminds you of your past—remind him of his future!"

For me, that last part was a rhema word. I literally got my Bible, went into my son’s bedroom, and walked around the bed reading out loud these verses in Revelation chapter 12 and the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel that declare his past fall from glory and his impending doom. I felt a holy boldness rise up in me till I was literally shouting. I reminded him that Jesus said, "I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven, and it’s going to happen again, and I’ll be in heaven to see it!" The next day I did it again, and I continued to do it from time to time.

Now when he sends his evil spirits to attack me in the night, I rebuke them in the name of Jesus, and I remind them that the day is coming when "every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess—even Lucifer’s tongue—that Jesus Christ is Lord!" They don’t stick around!

Job 1:6–11, 22; Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:11–19; Luke 10:18; Philippians 2:9–11.

January 17

The Blood and the Testimony

And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony…

(Revelation 12:11)

All we need to be eligible to speak the Word of God against the enemy is the blood of Jesus. When you get saved, the second the blood of Jesus is on you, you are eligible to speak the Word of God in