Armor 4: The Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit

We are continuing our series on the Armor of God as we journey through Ephesians 6:10-18.

Let’s read it as a recap and then we’ll jump right in today.

/ / A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Alright, we are going to get through the rest of the pieces of armor today and then we’ll be wrapping this series up next week.

But, before we get into things I want to harp on something for a moment - we started with the belt of truth, which is our foundation, what everything else is then built upon. And the more I think about it the more I realize that I can’t stress enough how important the truth is, because the longer this world goes on the less truth seems to be what people seek.

We have a very serious problem in this world with people thinking they get to decide what is true in their own hearts and minds rather than what is actually true. Fiction becomes fact, fact becomes fiction and confusion becomes the outcome...

Paul actually warns his protege Timothy in his second letter to him. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, / / For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

We might not always like God’s truth, but it’s still the truth.

It might be harder to explain sometimes, in fact, sometimes, it might seem impossible to explain. But that doesn’t make it any less true.

We aren’t meant to understand it all or get it all. And to think we can or will is incredibly shortsighted.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, / / “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

And Proverbs encourages us, / / Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

We read last week that Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, and calls him the Spirit of truth, and says that when he comes he will lead us into all truth. What he doesn’t say is that we’ll understand it all. What he doesn’t say is that it will all make sense. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t follow.

Here’s the thing with following Jesus, with following Holy Spirit, with following God, when you understand his true nature, you follow regardless of whether or not you understand where you are going. That is faith. That is trust. Why would the bible have to encourage us to not depend on understand, but to trust in the Lord? Because our own understanding can deceive us. The next verse is one of my favorites, / / Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take!

We’ve all seen that moment in a movie or tv show, someone is blindfolded, or they can’t see, or they aren’t sure which way to go, and the person that is with them says, “trust me...” “just trust me”

I have that conversation with Kaylee. When I want to surprise her with something, or give her something and I say, “Kaylee, come here” and she will say, “why?” or “where are we going” or “what do you have?” and I say, “Do you trust me?” “yes”, “ok, then you can trust that whatever I’m going to do is going to be something that is good for you.”

We also say it when there’s pain, or hurt, and something needs to happen that might not feel good. Ever have to take a splinter out of a child’s foot? It hurts, but we all know, the thing has to come out. So, you say, “Do you trust me?” “I know this is going to hurt, but it has to happen…trust me, it’s going to feel better once we do this...”

I don’t understand that in the moment. In fact, it kind of feels like you’re trying to hurt me in the moment...

But, you know the truth. You know it has to come out. You know that for it to heal, it must come out. So you do what needs to be done, regardless of what the child is really understanding. Why? Because as much as that child has their own reality in the moment, as much as the pain is more important, or the present reality is dictating something to them, it does NOT change the truth. If you don’t get that out it will be infected.

See, part of the problem we have in this world is that people are quite content with the pain and hurt they have. They are quite content with living with the lies the enemy has fed them. Because dealing with it feels like it will be too painful. In fact, I have this thought because of some conversations I had this week, I don’t think most people even think there is healing for these types of things, and so their truth is simply that they have to live with it forever, so they learn to manage it, they learn to live with it. They don’t even see it as something that can be fixed.

Not true, but true for them in the moment. I’m not being callous and saying people don’t truly feel these things. They absolutely do. BUT, Jesus said this in John 8:31-32, / / “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Remember, when we looked at the belt of truth, we looked at that word, and it means, what is true in any matter under consideration. It is the truth, regardless of how you feel or what your experience has been.

So, we have these two competing teachings, don’t we? Paul warns Timothy that people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching, they are looking for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. But Jesus says, If you want the truth to set you free, you have to listen to MY teaching and not just listen, but remain faithful, which means to abide, to accept or act in accordance with a rule, decision or recommendation… so what Jesus is saying is for the truth to set you free, you need to listen to his teaching, accept his teaching and act according to his teaching… and when you do that, you’ll find that the truth of his teaching, the truth he has shared with you, the truth the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth has led you into, has led you out of the lies that were keeping you hurt, and the truth has made you free.

There is great hope in that. BUT, it means you have to be willing to seek out the truth - even if you don’t like it at first.

Alright, so let’s get into the verse we are going to look at today. Ephesians 6:16-17, / / In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We looked at the Helmet of Salvation a couple weeks ago, so today we will look at the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit.

/ / Shield of Faith

So, for the first time in this list Paul is breaking from what he’s done so far. So far we’ve seen him give a physical representation and then a spiritual discipline, but this time, it’s a physical representation and he adds in a very specific spiritual action, but not something we do, something that’s being done against us.

Sure, he’s said we need to stand against the devil, resist the devil, be prepared for his strategies, but now he is giving us insight into a direct attack, / / hold up the shield of faith to STOP the fiery arrows of the devil.

So, some physical representation here.

First of all, this is in reference to a roman shield, which is this large, rectangular or oval shield, roughly 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. This thing is not small, it’s big enough to crouch behind and be completely shielded. It was made of wood and leather and often with an iron frame. If the battle warranted, the leather would be soaked in water to help extinguish exactly what Paul is saying here, flaming, fiery arrows. This was a real threat in war at the time, weapons, lit on fire for the purpose of destroying wooden shields, catching cloth tents on fire etc...

This wasn’t just thin, light arrows, either. Yes, the fire itself was damaging, but this could have been arrows, or spears, darts, or other missile type objects that had been coated in pitch and set on fire before being thrown. Think of a big spear, lit on fire, flying at you. This is another reason that the words Paul uses are very important. STAND your ground. Make sure you have those shoes that have the cleats on them so you can dig in, and pay attention, stay alert, if you don’t see spear coming, it’s heavy enough and strong enough that even if it hits your shield, it’s probably going to knock you down making you very vulnerable to the next attack.

You start to see how this whole thing is playing together. It’s not one or the other. The shield itself isn’t enough, you have to have the rest of the armor and know how to use it, and be paying attention to what’s going on around you.

So, this long, broad shield helped protect the soldier, but only while they were paying attention and standing firm, in retreat this shield would be no help, it’s too big to sling over your back and run, so, when these fiery attacks come, the BEST thing you can do is stand firm. AND they will come. I said this the first week of this series, and I have experienced it in my own life over the last few weeks we’ve been going through this, and I want to remind you and encourage you at the same time. We are in a fight. And if there were ever any truth to the saying “ignorance is bliss” it is in the fact that when we do not know of spiritual warfare, when we are ignorant to it’s reality, we largely go unaffected by it, NO, not unaffected, but unaware, it’s not because it’s not affecting us, but because we don’t attribute it to spiritual warfare. So we think it’s just regular life, humans being humans and getting on our nerves. But when we begin to learn of the things of the Lord we begin to see more of these things at work.

Think of it this way. Have you ever thought about buying a new car, or new to you, and as soon as you look at a particular type of vehicle, and you’ve decided in your head and heart this is what you want, even if you can’t actually buy it at that moment, you suddenly start to see that particular vehicle everywhere. May not be a car for you, but when we start to give our mind and heart to things, we begin to notice them in our lives a whole lot more.

It’s the same with the teachings of Jesus. I am largely unaware of His grace until I learn what his grace is and then I think, “oh wow, ya, he’s been very good to me...” I am mostly ignorant to spiritual warfare when I know nothing about spiritual warfare, because I have no clue what to look for. But when I suddenly am told, “this is a tactic of the enemy” you begin to realize “wow, he’s actually been using this a lot, and I now see where he’s trying to use it again...”. Not because it hasn’t been happening, but because you are now aware of it and know what to look for.

And this is part of the Grace of God in that he doesn’t throw us into all of our issues, or realities at once. If I went to a doctor, or a psychologist, or had the opportunity to sit down with God and he’s in front of me, or that person in front of me outlined all of the things I need to fix in my life, all the things I’m doing wrong, all of the beliefs I have about myself, about others, about the world, that I need to fix, that are contrary to God’s truth, if all they did was address what I believe about myself that I think others thing, or that I think about myself, all the reason I might disqualify myself, I would be overwhelmed, fall into the fetal position in the corner and cry myself to sleep just to get away from it all.

That would be unfair to do that, to anyone. We are imperfect beings. We have issues. We have problems. We don’t follow God 100%, even if we’re trying really really really hard. It’s the reality of life. Turn to someone beside you and say, “Give yourself a break… I mean, you’re good, but you ain’t perfect...”

But God, IN HIS GRACE, brings us to places in our lives where we are given opportunity to tackle and deal with certain things. Today it might be pride, “ok, I hadn’t seen I dealt with pride so much, what can I do to deal with this pride?” So I repent of being prideful, I ask God to work on my heart, teach me His truth and His ways, and I ask forgiveness for any area I have let pride in my life and any area I’ve let the enemy have access to my life through pride. And I deal with it. And I pray through it. And I commit to the way of Jesus Christ, to be humble before God and people…

Up to that point I may not have noticed I had a pride issue. But now I do, and so I have something to pay attention to, something to work on and something to pursue God for healing in. Pride, anger, fear, whatever the issue might be, physical, emotional, spiritual, doesn’t matter. If we got handed all of it in one moment we’d crash, but in God’s grace he brings us into things that maybe we can’t handle on our own, but with Him we can walk through them.

Psalm 23 doesn’t say we won’t walk through hard stuff it says, / / EVEN WHEN I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.

So, be aware that in this season of focusing on spiritual warfare you might notice that the enemy is trying to get into some things, not that he wasn’t before, but you’ll rightly attribute the mess to the right party. He’s out there, like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. We need to be praying and asking God to work in us and through us to be healing for people and be the light that shines in the darkness to introduce them to the savior they need.

So, these arrows, spears, flying flaming fiery projectiles… What are these arrows? It could be doubt, despair, adverse circumstances or temptations toward sin, either physical in nature or mental, emotional, spiritual, things like pride, envy, anger etc… What have we been really talking about over these last few weeks? That the enemies greatest tactic is to get you to agree with him instead of agreeing with God. And when he can get us to agree with him, bypassing the truth, and embracing our own way, or our own thing, the human nature, sinful nature, kicks in.

Paul says in Romans 7 that there’s a war within him between the nature of the Spirit of God and the nature of sinful flesh, and then in Galatians 5:17 he says, / / The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us the desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.... When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.

These darts flying at us, accusations, deception, lies about God, lies about who we are, lies that we’re not free, temptations to give into sin etc… the devil isn’t forcing anyone to do anything here, but if he can get you to agree with him in his lies, he can get you to trip up, do your own thing.

Like I said, whether that is a physical sin like we just listed, or a mental struggle. And when those darts hit us, and we’re not prepared, we’re not paying attention, we don’t have our shield up, it’s like a missile exploding in flame, consuming us.

Does the devil make you sin? No, but he’ll suggest to you that what you’re doing isn’t all that bad. Oh it’s just a little white lie, oh it’s just this or that…

Does the devil make you despair? No, but how hard is it NOT to despair when over and over again you’re hearing things that hurt, things that maybe you already believe about yourself - I’m not good enough, I’ll never be able to change… Hear things enough and you start to believe them and agree...

Maybe it’s in your relationships… Why is it you argue with your spouse? Why do things annoy you so much? Maybe it’s not them as much as it’s every time they do something you hear that little whisper, “See, they did it again, they’re never going to change.... they did that to intentionally hurt you...”

Maybe it’s with your friends - “You see how they did that? They don’t care for you like they say they do...” “They say they love you, but clearly they don’t.” And suddenly you’re believing something about someone that isn’t even remotely true but that fiery dart hit you and exploded in a ball of flame!

So, / / how does this shield this work?

Well, we have the belt of truth, we talked about that...and then we have the shield of faith, and faith here is the word / / pistis and it means conviction of the truth of anything, a belief. So, we have the truth, and then we have the actual belief in that truth - it’s the believing part.

First and foremost this is our need to rely on Jesus Christ for salvation. It is our faith, our belief in Jesus Christ. This will be the ultimate arrow of the enemy, to try and convince us God isn’t real, God didn’t save us, We aren’t worth saving, we’ve done too much wrong, we’re too far gone etc… I’ve had conversations with people truly asking me, “How can I know that I’m saved? What if I’ve done something to lose my salvation?” Well, first of all, the very fact that you’re asking that question shows an incredible amount of humility and faith in God. If you’re wanting to make sure you’re saved, you’re probably saved… And IF you ever doubt - the solution is simply confession.

So, first, you dig in, Stand strong, stand your ground against that fiery dart. The enemy has come at you with some lie that your’e not truly saved… but now you are armed with the truth, because you fastened that belt appropriately, and now you exercise that faith and declare, “I am saved by the grace of God through my faith in Jesus Christ...” And the devils says, “are you sure? I feel like you’ve been pretty rotten these days?” “oh man, you’re right...hmm..let me check… yup, still saved… But here, you want to bring up my sin, I’m ok with talking about my sin, but I’m not going to talk about it with you…brb devil.... Jesus, listen, I’ve been having such a hard time lately, I am angry, I am taking it out on my kids and my wife, I am taking it out on my friends… I know I’m hurt, but that doesn’t excuse my actions…would you forgive me, and change my heart. I repent for my actions and for agreeing with the lies of the enemy… Man, that feels good to get that off my chest… Hey, satan, you still here? Ya, so, Just checked with Jesus, His cross is still sufficient, so we’re good…thanks!”

You just dug in. Bam. plant those feet, grab that shield, you aren’t cowering behind it, you’re using it for the weapon you know is coming. You’re not hiding, you’re being smart...

Secondly, you can hear the truth and unfortunately struggle with believing it… You can even know the truth, without using it and truly believing it.

I’ve shared my journey before, my struggle with believing no one would ever love me. Well-meaning friends like Kelley saying, “You’re going to make a great husband one day”… truth....I mean, total truth… I am a masterpiece… BUT, at the time I was absolutely convinced they were lying. I heard the truth, God’s honest truth, but I didn’t know how to believe it. Why? Because I had a bunch of flaming hot darts sticking in my body telling me otherwise.

We read it earlier, John 8:31-32, / / “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...” It’s not just truth setting us free, it’s being faithful to the teachings of that truth. So, what’s that?

I am loved, that’s what Jesus said.

I am worth it, the bible says that.

While I was still a sinner, God showed his great love for me by sending Jesus to die for me. that’s in the bible...

I believe in Christ, therefore I am IN Christ and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That’s Romans 8:1, in fact, the NLT says it this way, / / there is no condemnation [the expression of very strong disapproval] for those who BELONG to Christ Jesus.

Do I belong to Christ Jesus? Devil chimes in, “you don’t belong to Christ...”

So I grab my bible...1 Corinthians 6:19-20, / / Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price!

Guess I do.... so, I’m his… I belong to him… which means I’m in him, which means I’m not condemned, which means satan, back off...

BAM, dig that shield in.

See, the NLT writes Ephesians 6:16 as, / / hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. But the ESV says it this way, / / In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one...

I said this earlier, they would take their shields, made of wood and leather, and soak the leather so that when these flaming darts would hit them, it wouldn’t just stop the arrow and the leather and wood would slowly burn, but it would extinguish them.... put it out, make it non-effective.

Your faith, your active belief in the truth, doesn’t just stop, but extinguishes the darts of the enemy. This is not passive, like you’re able to just not pay attention here. This is active, this is you intentionally and purposefully applying the truth to your situations. You feel like there’s something happening that isn’t how God intends, you start speaking the truth to that situation.

And this is where this comes in with the last piece of armor we’re looking at:

/ / The Sword of the Spirit… which is the word of God.

Now you’re not just stopping the lie, now we’re about to push back.

Belief in the truth of God’s word to stop the lies of the enemy is one thing, but what’s next? Now, you take the word of God that maybe just maybe you aren’t seeing in your life yet, and you start declaring THAT truth in faith and prayer.

What’s that look like?

Well, maybe the enemy tries to get you to believe that God doesn’t love you because you’ve really messed up.

OK, Romans 8:1, no condemnation. stopped that arrow, it’s dead in the water soaked shield...

Now you come back with… 1 John 4:9-11, / / God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love - not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

There’s no point in getting into a petty argument with the devil. God doesn’t love you…Does too…does not…does too…does not…no, you shut him up with the word of God, which is the sword of the spirit.

Think of it this way. Paul says that this is the Sword of the Spirit, which means it is a weapon for the spiritual realm… And what is our fight? Not against flesh and blood, but in the spirit, in the otherworldly realm...

This is up close and personal, the word for sword is not a broad sword like you would see in the hands of a knight in shining armor, this is a short sword, basically a large knife. It’s sharp and close to the body and used for close combat, considered one of Rome’s great military innovations. The Roman army itself was even called the “short swords” because of its use of these swords and winning battles with them.

Its double-edge made it ideal for “cut and thrust” strategy, very versatile, and just like that physical representation, the word of God with the power of the Holy Spirit absolutely penetrates our situations and cuts away the enemies temptations, slander & attacks.

This is the sword of the Spirit. Meaning, the word of God in the hands of the Spirit… We aren’t wielding the Spirit like a sword, we’re speaking the word of God which is empowered by the Spirit of God. This is also an interesting use of words here. There are two Greek words in the New Testament that are both translated “word”, they are logos and rhema.

/ / Logos is translate word, but means the entire communication process, which includes collecting my thoughts, reflecting on how I want to present them, writing them down, speaking them, and someone hearing and comprehending them. If someone is talking about the written word it is going to be this word, logos.

/ / Rhema is a sub-component part of logos, that communication process, but it is just one part, and that is the words that are spoken.

The word used in Ephesians 6:17 for, this sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is rhema, the sword, wielded by the Spirit, is the earth shattering, raw, powerful, dynamic voice of God himself.

Hebrews 4:12 says, / / For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

Now, in this scripture, word is logos, speaking of the written word. See, the written word of God, the bible, it’s alive and powerful, BECAUSE the Spirit breaths his life on it when he speaks it. This is why, when I encourage you to read the bible, I encourage you to invite the Holy Spirit of God to be with you as you read, why? Because I’ve had this happen before, I’ve read a particular part of the bible a dozen, or maybe a hundred times even, and yet suddenly, it’s like the words leap off the page at me. How? Because the logos is made alive and powerful by the spirit which becomes the rhema, God revealing and speaking to me in the moment.

Alright, so let’s wrap this up and put it all together.

The enemy is going to attack, we know that. The bible says he’s roaming around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And we know what his tactics are, he’s the father of lies, he’s out to deceive us, to get us to believe something contrary to what God says and to discourage us, condemn us and berate us with his fiery arrows.

So, we know it’s coming. Which means we pay attention. Dig in. Stand our ground. The shield of faith is you believing the truth of God. And this is first and foremost the indisputable fact that if you have identified that you need to be saved - saved from your problems, saved from your issues, saved from yourself... that you can’t do this life on your own, that some help from God would be appreciated, and you have said, “Jesus, I believe in you as the one who can save me.”

And if you haven’t done that, and you’re here this morning, or you’re watching this at home, and you think, “wow, I have seen some of this stuff in my life. I get frustrated, I get angry, I hurt, I feel rejected etc… Maybe I need saving too?”

It’s as simple as recognizing that. And asking Jesus for his help. And you can do that right now. Maybe you’ve done that before, but asking for help never hurt anyone. If you recognize this morning that you can’t do all of this on your own, and you want some help. Why don’t we just pray this together.

Now, if you’ve said that, THEN YOU ARE SAVED! done deal. And anything the enemy tries to throw at you can’t take that away. Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, / / I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow - not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below - indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If He has revealed that love for you, and you have chosen to receive that love, nothing can separate you from it.

Dig that shield in.

Second, push back, we stand on the truth that puts out the lies of the enemy, and then we advance. What does God say about the situation, what does God say about me?

Let’s just look at the words we sang this morning:

/ / We were the beggars, now we’re royalty

So the enemy comes and says, “You don’t deserve grace. Sure, other people do, but you don’t. You’re just a beggar, and you’ll never be more than that. Don’t show how weak you are by needing that grace stuff...”

1 Peter 2:9, / / …you are a chosen people. You are royal Priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.

Romans 8:16-17, / / For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

hmm....so if God is the King of the Universe, King of all creation, and you are his child....what’s that make you?

/ / We were the prisoners, now we’re running free

“You’ll never be free, you’re always going to struggle with this mentality, with this sin, with this emotional problem, or relational problem.”

Dig that shield in...

Galatians 5:1, / / So Christ has truly set us free!

2 Corinthians 3:17, / / The Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom...

And we’ve already covered that we’ve been made to be the temple of the Holy Spirit…So, if we are the place that the Holy Spirit lives, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there’s freedom, then I guess we’re pretty free...

/ / We are forgiven

You really think God will keep forgiving you when you keep messing up?

1 John 1:9, But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

The issue isn’t that I’ve sinned. There’s a pretty good chance I’m still not perfect. The bigger issue would be me trying to convince myself that I don’t sin… That I don’t need a savior… That I don’t need God’s grace...

Plant that shield - Ya know what devil, you’re absolutely right, I have sinned, and I’ll probably do it again… But ya know what...

Ephesians 2:8 says that / / ...it is by grace that I have been saved through faith. And this is not my own doing; by my own works, it is a free gift from God...

Romans 3:23, / / All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard. It’s not like God expects us to be perfect. That’s WHY he gave his perfect life so that we could be made righteous...

/ / We are accepted

“Accepted? All I’ve seen is you get rejected. By strangers, by people you thought were friends, by the church...”

It’s true, I’ve been rejected, I’ve been hurt, I’ve been turned away. I’ve been told one thing and the opposite happened. People didn’t do it perfect all the time, sometimes they absolutely messed up. But hey, if we’ve all fallen short of God’s glorious standard, then I’ll start where they failed. I’ve been accepted by God, so I will accept others.

Romans 15:7, / / …accept others JUST AS Christ has accepted you...

Ephesians 1:4, / / Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes...

/ / We are redeemed by His grace

Redeemed, what’s that even mean...God has abandoned you. He’s not with you. He’s not for you. When was the last time you “felt” God? You can’t prove he’s with you… And he’s definitely not with you like he is with the others...

Colossians 1:13-14, / / He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1 John 3:16, / / We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. because Romans 5:8, / / God showed is great love for us by sending Christ to die for us WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS! And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

Plant your shield and extinguish the words of the enemy, and then use the sword of the Spirit, the word of God to push forward with the truth of what God says, CUTTING you free from any of these lies that have tried to ensnare you.

These two things work together! But here’s where it’s on us:

We must have faith, that is to believe, and to believe we must know WHAT we believe. That doesn’t mean you sit down with the bible and go, “Well, guess I better memorize this whole thing...”

Start with what ails you. Start with the darts, with the fiery arrows. What do you believe about yourself, or someone else, or the world around you, that you just absolutely know is not from God. You don’t know the truth yet, but you know this thing doesn’t feel right. Why do I struggle with this? Why do I always feel this way? Why do I never feel like I measure up, or that I’ll always be afraid, or I’m going to fail…whatever it is. Start there and begin to pray, ask God to remove from you this feeling and then dig into the word of God and find the truth you can begin to believe in.

remember I gave you this resource a ew weeks ago. openbible.info click on “Topical Bible “ on the top of the page. and where it says, “What does the bible say about…” type in what you need to find and click Find Out.

What does the bible say about…not being afraid...

What does the bible say about…God loves me...

Remember, new habits, new truths, true transformation takes time, you won’t believe something the first time you read it, but the more you read it, the more time you give yourself to come around to these ideas that God does truly love you and accepts you and is for you and wants to heal you and set you free, the more you will begin to believe it.

If you don’t have a bible, we have some on the table in the lobby, totally free, grab one.

And don’t just use the shield to stop the attacks, but show the enemy you’re also a fighter. You’re not just going to take the beating, you’re going to push back. Not only am I NOT what you say I am, but here’s what GOD says I am.

I am NOT rejected, but I AM accepted. I AM made righteous by His Grace. I AM loved. Nothing can separate me from his love. I am beautifully and wonderfully made. I am HIS masterpiece. I am HIS child. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, so the same power that raised Christ from the dead is alive inside of me...

/ / To USE the Shield of Faith you must KNOW what you believe.

To USE the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, you must KNOW the word!