How to Actually Draw Your Sword

Joshua 1:8 - Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. (NLT)

Psalm 119:9 -11 - How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word. I have tried hard to find you— don’t let me wander from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (NLT)

It’s easy for me to sit somewhere and tell you to Draw Your Sword. But what does that actually mean?

Like me, you might have played some version of Draw Your Sword (also known as Sword Drill) in Sunday School or Youth. If you haven’t, the aim of the original game is to find and read a Bible verse faster than your competitors. One person calls out a random bible reference, say Nahum 2:1, and everyone else has to try and find it in a paper Bible. The first person to read out the verse correctly wins the point.

It’s a really fun game that I enjoyed playing. It helped me become more familiar with parts of the Bible that I wouldn’t have ordinarily engaged with. But knowing how to find a verse in the Bible is only the first step on the real drawing your sword journey. In today’s passages, we are encouraged to go a little deeper. If we want to fully encounter the power and impact of the Word of God in our lives, it isn’t enough to just read it. We ought to meditate on it day and night and hide it in our hearts.

Meditation, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means ‘to exercise the mind in thought or reflection; (frequently) to engage the mind in religious or spiritual reflection, contemplation, or other discipline’. It also means ‘to plan by turning over in the mind; to conceive or design mentally’. This means we are to turn the verses of the Bible over in our minds, recite them to ourselves frequently, day and night. To hide them in our heart, suggests we ought to learn the words on the pages, hold them close, and take them as our own personal instructions from the Lord, so that we don’t sin against him.

This level of dedication and commitment to the Word of God requires both our effort and our time. If we can do this, then we will prosper and succeed in all we do! Lord help us and do not let us wander from your commands!

Questions for reflection: Have I set aside time to take my Bible reading to the next level? Do I meditate on the Word of God? Are there any tools I can use to help me memorise specific verses?