Ephesians 6:16 Take up the Shield of Faith

After we buckle up with the Word of God, put on the breastplate of righteousness, and have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, then Paul instructs us to take up the shield of faith. Remember that Paul instructed us to 'put on' the whole armor of God. That indicated that the normal everyday Christian doesn't know that he's supposed to walk around with those things attached to us (spiritually, that is).

For the same reason, he has to tell us to 'take up' the shield of faith. It's not something we were trained from childhood to do. The sad part about it is that few pastors these days give very much instruction on the shield of faith much less the other parts of the armor of God.

I believe we can understand it better when we find out what this shield of faith is supposed to do for us. In the NIV, verse 16 says, "with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
Flaming arrows? Those are things that would burn inside of us if we ever got hit by one.

Have you ever had anyone say something to you that 'burned' as it penetrated your soul? Have you had something to happen to you that set the pit of your stomach on fire with worry or heartache? As you think and think and think about some problem does your stomach tie up in knots?

Just about everybody has had those things happen to us many, many times. Just a few harsh words can change a happy smile into burning, hot tears. It's happened to all of us and as long as we live on this earth we'll be plagued by them.

Just how does the shield of faith quench those fiery darts? The shield of faith is the utmost belief that what the Word of God says about us is true. You need to know what God's Word says about you because the fiery darts come from the wicked one, the devil. Remember him? Paul says that he is the one we are supposed to be wrestling.

I bet you thought those hateful things came from your spouse, your in-laws or that vicious tale-barer in church. Those folks are just the vessels that he uses. But, you'd better believe that he's behind the whole thing.

If the devil can get your mind off of Jesus and His Holy Power for just a few seconds, he has you totally whipped. Those fiery darts have the ability to burn way down inside of you if you will just leave them alone and let them burn. That's their design. The devil gets someone to same something about you and your insides burn about it for ages. As long as he can get your mind on what they said, you'll never set your mind on the Word of God.

After all, the shield of faith is faith in what the Word of God says about you. The Word of God says that your sins have been blotted out and will never be remembered against you (Romans 4:8). There are more scriptures about our authority as a believer than I have room to write. But, since I accept what God's Word says about my character, my main fighting scripture is Romans 8:28. KJV--And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

People can say all kinds of bad things about you, but it doesn't mean that they are true. People can talk about the doom and gloom that's happening all around us but it doesn't mean that it will happen to you. People can do mean things to you and purposely try to hurt you. None of that means that God is mad at you. According to Romans 8:28, God is not planning on doing anything to you but good things. He will turn what they have said or done to your benefit if you will hold up the shield of faith and accept His promises as the truth about you.

That's what the shield of faith does. It quenches those things that the evil one has people shoot at you to tear you down. BUT, if you will train your heart and your brain to instantly throw up the shield of faith, their words will become just idle chatter. Every time you use the Word of God to quench those fiery darts, your spirit-man becomes stronger in the Spirit of the Lord.

Faithful practice with the shield of faith will produce a satan dominating spirit within you. Continued resistance against those arrows will produce some mighty spiritual muscles. Your prayer life will come alive with bolder prayers. As your Holy boldness begins to grow, the Power of God will become more evident in your life.

Then you start shooting Holy Ghost fiery darts at the enemy. You do that by telling the truth about him. That's called "resisting the devil." But, we'll learn more about that in my next blog.

Happy quenching.