Ephesians 6:16: “ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.”
Before we can take up the shield of faith, we really need a definition of Biblical faith. We can turn to a classic bit of scripture in the book of Hebrews, the entire 11 th chapter that starts with:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Chapter 11 then proceeds with example after example of people that are recognized for their notable faith. If you read the backstory on these heroes of faith in Hebrews, you may find someone you can relate to. They come from all walks of life. Another attribute of faith in God is that it is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Peter 1:1, Philippians 1:29, John 6:44). Another interesting bit about faith is in Romans 14:23 that “anything which does not proceed from faith is a sin”. Hebrews 11:6 says “And without faith it is impossible to please him (God), for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
The more I reflect on these elements of armor of God the deeper I see how they are all connected. The absence of one severely limits the others. But, there is one thing said about the shield of faith that is not said about all the other parts of our armor: “in all circumstances” take up the shield. Never go to battle without it. In fact, without faith we do not have salvation. Without salvation we have none of the other elements of armor available to us (see my blog on the belt of truth). If we have only one tool available to us in an instant, having the shield of faith goes a long way toward protecting us.
The scriptures say the shield of faith protects us from the flaming missiles (literal translation of the Greek word used) of the devil. These are the temptations the devil hurls our way, over our hedge of protection, past our guardian angels, through doors we may leave open because of unrepentant sin. Those temptations land in a wide number of ways hitting either our soul or our flesh. This shield keeps those from landing. Also this Christian life is not a solo life, we are to be one with the body of Christ.
There is a word picture that can be drawn from the way the Romans used their shields. One historian writes: “There were also instances when the shields of the entire unit were utilized to build a strong protective wall. With that, all soldiers on the frontlines crouched behind the shield while the second and third lines lifted their shields to form a roof. This was to protect themselves from any missiles firing at them.”
Now imagine a group of Christians coming together in faith to do battle together and bear one another’s burdens. With our shields of faith joined together, any attack on one gets shared by others, taking some of the load off the one. We have each other covered on all sides with our shields of faith deployed like this.
God chose to make faith the linchpin of salvation. It is so important because, in the face of all we see around us, we must have eyes of faith to see God’s goodness in the heat of battle. When things are at their worst and the battle seems impossible to win, it is faith that gets us through. With the eyes of faith we see “the presence of the God in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Rom 4:17b)
P.S. Use an online Bible or concordance to find all the instances of the word ‘faith’ in the New Testament and read those verses. It is amazing.
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