Armor of God: The Shield of Faith

INTRO:

Are you thankful for the “Word of God?”

We have been in this series “The Armor of God” and its been crammed full of good stuff for us when it comes to the understanding that we are all in a battle.

Until the day we pass from this life unto the afterlife …. we are all in a battle.

The battle we all are fighting is one the enemy started and has not let up.

Remember what we have come to understand when it comes to Satan …. The Enemy hates God!

Can’t touch God! …… Has no ability to inflict …..

….. any type of harm,

….. any type of hardship

….. nor any type of pain onto God.

Oh but he wants to ….

Think of it like this ….

….. If you wanted to hurt someone but you couldn’t touch them, how would you hurt them?

How would you do it?

How would you inflict pain on that person?

YOU would attack the very thing that person is most fond of!

What/Who is God most fond of? What/Who does God love the most?

It’s revealed in God’s word ….

Jeremiah 31:3 “the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

When God had John write “For God so loved the world” the enemy saw this and took the opportunity to ramp up …..

….. the affliction,

….. the pain,

….. the hurt upon the heart of God by attacking the one thing God loved.

What do I mean by ramping it up? Let me explain …..

We have recorded in scripture the amount of times the enemy is mentioned:

(Meaning) How many times he is given attention to or is present doing what he does best.

The OT -As Satan: 18

-As Devil: 0

-As Lucifer: Referenced 1 time as “Day Star” in Isaiah 14:12

-“The Serpent:” Referenced in the Garden

The NT -As Satan: 36

-As Devil 34

-As Lucifer 0

I have a hypothesis when it comes to the frequency of references mentioned in the NT tripling in light of the OT:

Could the reason be due to the fact that Satans hatred toward God was ramped up because he saw just how much God LOVED US.

By sending His SON to pay the ultimate price for our sins.

So because of this hatred toward God,

Satan has been,

will continue,

and will never cease until the last days,

attacking the very thing whom GOD loves.

I know some of you might be thinking, well this stinks for us!

But I have some good news for us today ……

We might be in the cross hairs of the enemy but ....

We have been learning over the last few weeks, we have the ability to withstand these attacks.

How?

By Standing!

Allowing the Armor of God to be placed on us.

Stepping into the Armor as one who is preparing for battle.

Turn to the person next to you and say, “That’s some good news!”

The first piece of Armor placed on us was …..

The Belt of Truth (Holding it all together)

The Truth is what will set us free! Amen?

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Remember what this was talking about ….

Righteousness is defined as “the state of him who is such as he ought to be”

It is correctness in thinking, feeling, and acting.

This is what protects our Heart. This is the breastplate ….

The Shoes of Peace

Peace give us a foundation so secure that we can step out in confident faith without being moved by what we see or what we hear.

There is PEACE WITH GOD (We get this at the moment of Salvation)

There is The PEACE OF GOD

With the PEACE OF GOD operating in your life, we have a conquering force that is so strong and effective, all the chaos we formerly experienced will be replaced with a peace that prevails in every area of our lives.

This brings us to the “Shield of Faith.”

Have them stand ….

BODY:

Ephesians 6:13–20 “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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Have you ever thought of the statement “Have Faith”?

Honestly, I think this statement has lost its significance in todays culture.

I would even included “the Church” as well.

You hear people say, “You just have to have faith!”

I have heard people (Christians) say, “If I hear one more person tell me I just have to have faith, I think I’m going to scream.”

Have you ever heard someone tell someone else, after something didn’t happen the way they prayed for it to happen, “You may not have had enough faith!”

Let be honest with ourselves …..

“Faith is what every Christian longs to have!”

What if I told you that the moment you got saved, God gave you a specific “Measure of faith”.

Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

This morning, let us be rest assured in the fact that HE has imparted enough faith to you to make sure you are covered from Head to toe. (Look at your neighbor and say “You’re covered from Head to Toe”)

This is the Shield of Faith that is talked about in the “Armor of God.”

So lets look at this “Shield.”

The Description!

The Greek word for shield is “Thureos” and it describes an oblong shield in the shape of a door that was wide in width and long in length.

It’s not this little shield you see Captain America running around with.

What Paul is depicting to the readers is a “battle shield” that was very heavy, large, and shaped like a door, just like the door of a house.

Paul, by using this word, tell’s us that God has given us enough faith to make certain we are completely covered - just like a battle shield completely covered a Roman soldier. (Head to Toe)

Just like we mentioned earlier, God gave us a specific “measure of faith.”

The faith God has given us is adequate to cover every need that could arise in your life.

It is composed of 6 different layers of thick animal hide that has been tightly woven together.

The animal hide was specifically tanned and then woven together so tightly that it became almost as strong as steel.

Let me say this, “Your faith is extremely tough and exceptionally durable like the shield.

I would even say more so than you have ever realized.

No matter how hard and how long the enemy beats against your faith, your faith can outlast his attacks.

The Maintenance

Although the shield is very strong and durable the leather could become stiff and breakable over a period of time if not properly taken care of.

Each morning when the soldier would wake, he would reach for his shield and for a small vial of oil.

After saturating a cloth with the ointment, he would thoroughly rub the oil into the leather of the shield to keep it soft, flexible, and pliable.

If the soldier was to neglect or ignore this daily application of oil, and to let his shield go without this kind of required care, was the equivalent of his inviting certain death.

Understanding this analogy about our faith, this tells us that our faith requires frequent anointings of the Holy Spirit. (I would say …. every Day!)

Without a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit’s power on your life, your faith will become hard, stiff and brittle.

Faith that is ignored will almost certainly break and fall to pieces during a confrontation with the enemy.

There is one last thing the soldier would do just before going into battle ….

He would take his shield and place it into a tub of water, allowing it to soak in the water until it was completely saturated.

This would put out the flaming arrows the enemy was shooting at him.

So we could see that along with allowing the Holy Spirit to freshly anoint our life on a daily basis, we also need to soak our faith in the water of the WORD DAILY.

Let me say it likes this, “”Word-saturated faith” will always extinguish the devil’s fiery attacks!”

Looking at the “Shield of Faith” Paul has given us a deeper understanding of what it means to “HAVE FAITH.”

CONCLUSION:

So let me leave you with three things to understand about faith …..

With Faith …. Great Things happen!

Matthew 17:20 “He (Jesus) said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.””

With Faith …. Great Things happen!

With Faith …. Prayers comes to fruition!

Matthew 21:22 “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.””

With Faith …. What seems to be impossible becomes possible!

Acts 27:25 “So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.”

This is the story of Paul getting ready to be shipwrecked and telling the crew they will be safe.

They didn’t believe the impossible but Paul’s faith revealed the possible.

With the Shield of faith, what seems impossible can and will become possible.

Have people stand ……

My Confession for Today

I confess that my faith

is saturated with the Word of God!

The devil may try to attack me,

but my faith

is held out high in front of me,

covering my life completely

and extinguishing every flaming arrow

the devil attempts to shoot

in my direction.

My faith is supernaturally energized,

and I am empowered to stand

against every assault

the devil tries to make on my life!

I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!

Let us pray ….

Lord, thank You for giving me the shield of faith. Help me to be brave and bold and to hold my shield high in front of me to stop every attack of the enemy. After reading today’s Sparkling Gem, I understand that I have a responsibility to soak my faith in Your Word so it can extinguish each and every flaming arrow the devil tries to shoot into my life. I ask You to help me be sincerely committed to making Your Word the top priority in my life — soaking my faith with that Word until it becomes an impenetrable wall of defense against the enemy’s attacks!

I pray this in Jesus’ name!