“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Ephesians 6:16
This last week some of my dear friends have been under spiritual attack and APPEARED to be losing the battle. While praying, the Lord reminded me of our armor. We cannot survive the spiritual battle without the armor of God. According to Ephesians 6 we need the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth, shoes of peace, sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith.
One of the two shields that Roman soldiers used was shaped like a door. During battle they sometimes would make a formation where the soldiers on the outside would hold them together to form a wall and protect against attack from the outside and then soldiers on the inside would hold theirs up to protect from attacks from above. This allowed them to stand their ground or move forward. I pictured my wounded brothers and sisters protected by the rest of us.
God give us people to fight for us and help us to know how to battle for others!
It also occurred to me that those with shields may not have had serious wounds, but they were likely bruised from the battle. Dear friends, standing on the line for our brothers and sisters in Christ is hard and sometimes we can get bruised. That doesn’t stop us. We love each other, pray for one another, and stand in the gap believing for God to save, heal and restore.
That shield is a shield of FAITH. Our faith protects us from the enemy and reminds us of who we are and to Whom we belong. Our FAITH is what blocks the blows of doubt, discouragement, and fear. I pray today that we do not look at the arrows coming our way, that we are not overwhelmed by our own wounds or those wounded around us, but may we keep our eyes on the author and FINISHER of our faith! Our faith is in the Almighty God that gives us strength, strategy for war and even fights for us when we can’t fight for ourselves. Get that armor ON!
Dig Deeper
Ephesians 6:10-18 | Hebrews 12:2 | Deuteronomy 20:4