The Shield of Faith – It Is More Than a Defense

Good morning. It’s Thursday. We have been working our way through the meaning of being fully fitted and clothed with the armor of God. So today let’s take a look at the shield of faith – it is more than a defense.

Ephesians 6:13 & 16 niv

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

The shield, like other parts of our armor, is vital in protecting us from the attacks of the enemy. According to Ephesians 6:16, Paul tell us that the shield extinguishes the flaming arrows of the enemy. Therefore shields were often made of wood and then covered in hide. And when wet, they could extinguish flaming arrows.

When being attacked, a phalanx (group) of soldiers could position their shields so as to form an enclosure around themselves. This is called a testudo (tortoise). This was very effective in protection against many fired arrows.

God’s Armor is the Winning Strategy

I remember a soccer game our youngest played in. It was against the premier team of the tournament, known for their high scoring ability. Our coach devised a brilliant defensive strategy. He pulled the whole team back to the defensive side of the field to protect the net (the goal).

The coach played a defender on either side of the goalie in the box (though they weren’t allowed to use their hands like the goalie). And then he had an inner arc just above the goalie box, and then an outer arc beyond that.

The strategy worked. The premier team was able to score just one goal (and that was under protest for offsides), and the opponent was highly frustrated the whole game. And due to the opponent being pulled close to the goal in their attempt to score, they were caught off-guard. Our goalie was able to launch the ball beyond the other team. Our fastest player was able to get to the ball, take on the goalie one-on-one and score. The boys walked away with a tie, and no other team even came close.

It is Not Just a Shield, It is the Shield of Faith

Notice that this shield isn’t just a shield, as great as a shield can be. But this is a shield of Faith. This is far greater than any physical shield. There is not room enough in this blog for me to talk about “faith” in all of its great detail. Let me just make it real short for today. You can bet that upcoming blogs will outline the detail of how key our faith is to what we accomplish in our every-day-walking-around-kind-of-life. Here are a few bullet points:

• Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
• We walk by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7
  • We walk by the word of God, not by our own physical senses.
• Faith, without action, is dead being on it’s own. James 2:17
  • Just ‘saying it’ isn’t cutting it, you have to put action to it.
• Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6
  • Without the word of God, it is impossible to please God.
  • God operates within His own word.
    • and by the way, the word is Jesus.

And last, but not least, it’s important to know how powerful our faith is:

I John 5:4b nasb

…and this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.

So this means we can have World-Overcoming Faith! So our shield of faith is an essential part of our armor, the armor of God. The Shield of Faith – It Is More Than a Defense.

Challenge of the Day: Put your shield in place. Deflect the fiery arrows of the enemy. Use your shield of faith to stand firm in any and all attacks. And if feeling overwhelmed, form a phalanx of fellow believers to help you withstand any attack. So be it!