INSTALLMENT 6: ARMOR AND WARFARE

Ephesians 6: ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.


The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes ready to go and spread the gospel-all great pieces of armor that protect us and give us strength to battle and win in spiritual warfare. Today, I am looking at the SHIELD OF FAITH that God gives us to keep out the fiery arrows and spears the enemy throws at us.

First, let's consider what those fiery darts are... a big part of the arsenal that the evil one possesses is the accusations that he hurls at us day and night according to Revelation 12:10. He is always lying to us and trying his best to intimidate us with his lies. What can shield us from these onslaughts of untrue accusations? Only real faith can stop the constant barrage of his lying tongue. What is real faith?


There is a pseudo faith or "false" faith that is more mental assent instead of rock-solid conviction. Many times we are fooled into believing that just a mere nod toward God's word is faith. Faith causes us to change our lives, change our morality, change our habits, and change our world. We can't simply say we believe and that be enough. Faith is that get out of the boat and walk on water type of trust that changes everything about us. As we stand against even our own reason and what the world says, we can see the faith of God protect us from the enemy. 


There are two examples in scripture that immediately come to mind. First, is the example of David facing off with Goliath. Goliath was a giant who trusted in his physical armor, size, and weaponry. To every reasonable person, David was nuts to stand toe to toe with this gigantic warrior and take him on. Sometimes, faith is mistaken for foolishness. Goliath uttered what appeared to be the truth-that he was about to make critter food out of little David. But David had a different idea that was faith-based and rock-solid. David spoke to his enemy based on his knowledge of God's faithfulness and told Goliath that he had this all wrong. With one small stone and a sling, David put down the enemy of God and cut off his head so that the one who threatened the integrity of his God would no more speak his lies. The second example is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The king threatened them with the fiery furnace. The didn't shrink from his threats but instead said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power", They were convinced of God's ability and do what He does best-honor His promises. They were thrown into the furnace and came out on the other side of this experience without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. When we stand in faith, we can take the heat of Satan's furnace and come out looking good.


Faith like that comes to us through relationship and not religion. The better we KNOW GOD, the more we are shielded from lies. When we know the Person who is the TRUTH, lies are so obvious. Know God and know the protection He gives from the enemy's fiery darts. Just sayin'...