The Shield Of Faith
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The Shield Of Faith
The Shield Of Faith
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Pray
Confession of Faith
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name
Intro:
16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
Now verse 16 is where we're at: 'Above all, , in addition to taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one'. When Paul says above all or in addition to - he is setting the stage for the importance of this peace of armor!
He is telling us about the importance of the Shield Of Faith!
The shield is on top of everything else the Roman soldier would have put on in preparation for battle
This shield is your extra layer, but first line of defence
This shield is taken by the soldier in hand and must not be neglected! Paul is suggesting when he says above all that if you don;t have this piece of armor you would seriously compromise yourself in the battle ! The Shield is the first piece of defence that will meet the onslaught of the enemy DIRECTLY!
Here’s what I mean - the other parts of armor - the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace - are the last defence, the soldier has when these fiery darts get through the shield of faith!
Here me now the The shield, is the first part of defence for this soldier - and it is a sturdy piece!
Now When we read about a shield, sometimes our minds can go back to story books, Bible story books, and secular story books, of a round or oval sort of shield. It is pretty small, and it was easily maneuvered because of that.
But this is not the type of shield that we ought to have in our minds when we're reading this verse. No doubt the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had in his mind what we would call a 'door shield'.
The door-shield was approximately 2.5 feet by 4 feet - a huge shield. It was made of two pieces of plywood stuck together, two layers of laminated wood glued together. It was covered then with linen, and then leather hide - then it would be embossed and bound at the top and the bottom of the shield with iron tips, and then an iron ornament on the front. It was often soaked with water, so that when any of these fiery darts penetrated it, it would be extinguished immediately. Now in battle - What the enemies would do is, they would take arrows, or darts, and they would dip them in tar they would set them on fire and they would be directed towards the soldier -
When they struck, they served they were literally like bombs and if the soldier did not have this shield high in front of him, he would be engulfed in fire.
These arrows or darts were also used to burn down ships, house and fortifications!
Now how does this play out as a follower of Christ, a believer of Jesus Christ
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
These darts, or arrows , or spiritual BOMBs are directed towards Minds
These Bombs are evil thoughts
These Bombs are bombs of Lust
These Bombs are bombs of Passions
These Bombs are bombs of temptations of all kinds!
When these bombs explode in our minds the cause us
to question his salvation
• to question God’s call on our life
• to question if We are worthy
• to question if We can really serve in the kingdom and be effective
• to question if the project we have to complete can really be done
• to question, doubt, and wonder
• to become discouraged, depressed, and defeated
• to burn with passion and desire
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Now, what's happening here? The devil tempts us with evil That comes from outside of us, but because of our fallen human nature, there is something within us that is like a magnetic draw to that temptation - but don't think that everybody's tempted the same way. The enemy knows the fiery dart, or the temptation, to send flying your way that will set you on fire , that may not set another person on fire .
Let me give you an analogy: you're walking on the street and you see a wallet lying at the side of the ground with 25 one hundred dollar bills in it! You pick it up and you know you have bills to pay, or maybe you are in business and the business is struggling - things are really tight . What are you tempted to do? or are you even tempted?
Some folks would be tempted to take the money say nothing, and pay the bills. The justify it by say “Look At God” “Won’t He Do It” See, we can all rationalize and reason about sin - This must be from God! Only God could do that!'. So, some of us can rationalize and be tempted to take the money and others the thought would never cross their minds! And would never be tempted by that fiery dart !
This is what Paul is warning us about
The process of temptation: Satan tempts us, we are drawn and enticed by the lusts that are within us, the passions that are within us, and then sin is born within us, and then it brings forth death - that's the process of how the devil wants to get a hold over us. There are thousands of ways that the enemy can set us on fire, .
All of us have buttons that the enemy can press, all of us have weak spots that make us flammable to the fiery darts of the enemy...
many times when the devil shoots a dart at us, one of our biggest mistakes is that we don't extinguish that dart immediately, by faith, the shield of faith...
We have must have a complete and perfect trust that God will put out the fiery darts in our minds of doubt and evil that attack us!
As a Christ follower our consciousness of God’s presence in our lives as my shield, as my protector, as my defender must be lifted up in my spirit!
In Genesis chapter 15 and verse 1 God is talking to Abraham and this is a reminder for us today when we are under spiritual attack
Genesis 15:1 (AMP)
1Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great.
Jesus is my help in time of need!
20 We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.
When you are going through
the bible reminds us in Psalm 84 and verse 11
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
When I don’t know what to do next
5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
When you can’t trust people because you've been hurt
8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.
3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
We must put the Shield of Faith up!
Jesus tells us in Mark 11
1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples;
2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it.
3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”
4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.
5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”
6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go.
7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.
8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.
13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.
15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.
17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.
28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:
30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
32 But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.
33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
We must Put On The Shield Of Faith
What is Faith?
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.
The word "substance" means the foundation, assurance, title-deed, and guarantee of things hoped for. The word "evidence" means conviction.
So, faith would be defined as:
" the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
So when we Look closely at the text - stay with me now, faith is an act of the mind and heart. Your heart and mind believe something and you are certain with a conviction that what you believe is true.
The bible is telling us that faith is the actual possession of reality. That is why you lift up the shield of Faith when you come under attack from the fiery darts that the enemy sends to you trying to destroy what you know to be try in your heart and mind about who you are in Jesus Christ!
From God’s perspective we all ready possess His promises! When we lift up the Shield of Faith - Faith assures us that we are healed
When we lift up the Shield of Faith- Faith assures us that we are delivered
When we lift up the Shield of Faith - Faith assures us that we are protected
When we lift up the Shield of Faith - Faith assures us that we are blessed
When we lift up the Shield of Faith - Faith assures us that we are saved!
This Shield of Faith is a powerful weapon of protection from the enemies bombs, from the enemies fiery darts shot at us to try and destroy who you are and who you believe in!
Now, you must make it up in your mind that the shield of faith gives you , the actual possession, the evidence and reality of things you hope for and of things that not seen
When we lift up the shield of faith - it means we are
⇒ trusting and possessing all that God is and says.
⇒ believing and possessing all that God is and says.
⇒ having confidence in and possessing all that God is and says.
⇒ hoping for something and possessing it because God is (exists) and has promised it.
This Shield Of Faith is our first line of defense against the attacks of the enemy
We must understand this armor that you and I posses and what it does to protect our hearts and our minds
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
So this Shield Of Faith - is like an invisible cloaking device - that protects us against the enemy and when God sees us using the Shield of Faith or operating in the Faith he is pleased and rewards us with victory of the spiritual attacks!
When you get into the Power of Faith and the Power of the Shield of Faith, the enemy can’t win! We are victorious!
The Shield Of Faith must be lifted each and every day for our protection and our victory!
Get behind that shield of faith
God Bless You and God keep you is my prayer!