SHIELD OF FAITH

The Shield of Faith

The Shield of Faith is vital to the spiritual warfare battle we are in today. We must know where we stand in Christ and what authority we have.

Sensationalists

Unfortunately there is much misunderstanding here as a result of many sensationalist and emotionalist having found they are able to make a nice, comfortable income giving seminars, holding conferences, doing public appearances and writing books and articles on the subject. It is easy to get people to become emotionally engaged.

It is not my intent to be critical of those in the sensationalist movement. However, it is important to know that it is Christ who has already defeated Satan and He will one day soon come to lock Satan and his demons up. In the mean time, we need to understand practical spiritual warfare and the armor such as The Shield of Faith, because we indeed are in warfare and under attack from the enemy.

The Roman Shield

The Roman shield is a good description of the shield of faith we need. Roman soldiers used several kinds of shields, but two were the most common. The first was a rather small round shield, perhaps two feet in diameter, which was secured to the arm by two leather straps. It was relatively lightweight and was used to parry the sword blows of one’s opponent in hand-to-hand fighting.

The second kind to which Paul refers to in Ephesians 6:16, and to which we refer here in this article, is the shield and it was about two and half feet wide and four and a half feet high, designed to protect the entire body of the soldier—who was considerably smaller than the average man today. The shield was made of a solid piece of wood and was covered with metal or heavy oiled leather.

The soldiers who carried these shields were in the front lines of battle, and normally stood side by side with their shields together, forming a huge line. The archers stood behind this protective wall of shields and shot their arrows as they advanced against the enemy. Anyone who stood or crouched behind such shields was protected from the barrage of enemy fiery arrows and spears.

The arrows, or darts, were dipped in pitch or some other combustible material and set afire. When they struck, they served the purpose of small incendiary bombs.

Satan and his Fiery Darts

Satan has his fiery darts that he uses on the believer today, that is why we need our shield of faith. They are those things that cause the believer to, among other things :

1. to question his salvation
2. to question his call
3. to question if he is worthy
4. to question if he can really serve
5. to question if the project can really be done
6. to question, doubt, and wonder
7. to become discouraged, depressed, and defeated
8. to burn with passion and desire

Such fiery darts often assault the mind—one doubting and evil thought after the other—fighting against the will—struggling to get hold of the mind and subject it to doubt or evil.

However, the sign of the Christian soldier is that of the shield of faith, faith in God. It is a complete and perfect trust that God will quench the darts of doubt and evil that attacks him, that God will help him control his mind and conquer the evil doubts and thoughts.

Consciousness of God’s Presence

The Christian soldier's consciousness of God's presence is so great that God's presence itself becomes his shield and defender.

The faith to which Paul refers here is not the body of Christian beliefs, but basic trust in God—the faith in Christ that brings salvation and continues to bring blessing and strength as it trusts Him for daily provision and help.

The substance of Christianity is believing that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him, putting total trust in His Son as the crucified, buried, risen, and ascended Savior; obeying Scripture as His infallible and authoritative Word; and looking forward to the Lord’s coming again.

Every Person lives by some kind of Faith

Every person lives by some form of faith. We cross a bridge with the faith that it will support us and we eat food trusting that it is not poisoned. The fact that faith in such things is usually well founded makes life and society as we know it possible.

But faith in God is immeasurably more reliable and more important than the practical, everyday faith by which we live. And it is far from being simply "faith in something." Faith is only as reliable and helpful as the trustworthiness of its object; and Christian faith is powerful and effective because the object of faith, Jesus Christ, is infinitely powerful and absolutely dependable. Christian faith never fails, because the One in whom that faith is placed never fails.

For Christians, faith is complete reliance on God. Faith means total dependence on God and willingness to do his will. It is not something we put on for a show for others. It means believing in his promises even though we don't see those promises materializing yet.

Faith conquers the World

When the enemy, the ruler of this world, sends his flaming arrows of temptation, doubt, wrath, lust, despair, vengeance, problems, and trials into our lives, we can hold up our shields and quench them. We are assured that whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. We must take hold of God's full resources. Faith gives us the strength to stand against Satan with firm courage, even when he uses his most fearsome weapons.

Faith Defined

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. So faith is a SUBSTANCE - it is not just a thought in our mind – of that thing we hope for. Also, that substance is the EVIDENCE of that thing already existing and on its way to be delivered – even though we have not yet received it here and now.

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