Respond:

Lord today as I read about faith help me to see the importance of this subject. Open my eyes to the power of faith in spiritual warfare. Refresh my mind and heart as times have been so chaotic lately. Strengthen my faith and heart towards You. Amen.

Rejoice:

We’ve worshipped with this a bunch at church, it’s one of my favorite songs!  🙂  It’s a very good prayer to be singing, “Give me faith to trust what You say, that You’re good and You’re love is great.”

Read:

¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Faith, it was our access into God’s kingdom. It was what brought us into reconciliation with our King. It was what brought these dead bones to live, slaves to freedom, enemies to heirs. Now it is our defense for ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one. This verse does not say some, few, or most. It is explicit that our faith is what will keep us safe. ESV says “in all circumstances” and KJV says “above all.” This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of our armor.

For the Roman soldiers, and any other soldier at the time, a FLAMING arrow could pierce through the breastplate and all other parts of the armor. So a strong shield was necessary to ward off these attacks. Their shield, above all, would be their most critical part of defense.

In the same way our faith in God, trusting His Word, His promises, this is what will keep us from EVERY attack by Satan. However, a soldier is not protected by his shield unless he places it in front of him. He has to realize, when the enemy is attacking, that he can trust this shield. He has to realize that if he lifts this shield in front of him he WILL be protected. If he fails to utilize this tool he will still be pierced. Though he has all the necessary protection, if he does not implement it he will not be protected.

Many find themselves here. They have the necessary protection available but when the enemy starts to attack they turn to run. They get pierced by their foe because they dropped the very tool necessary to keep them safe. We MUST utilize our tools and protect ourselves.

Respond:

Oh God, plant this within my heart. Increase my faith so that when the enemy attacks I instinctively respond by lifting my faith up and standing behind it. Train me to go here first instead of fleeing. In the moments when I do not stand behind my faith I know You are gracious and will remind me according to John 14:26. I pray that when you remind me I am not so distraught that I cannot hear and listen but instead know it is You speaking and yield to it. Amen.

Relate:

We must teach our children about these tools. It is the natural instinct for people to run when they are attacked but God calls us to stand and put up our shield. We need to teach our children and our friends that we do not need to retreat when being attacked, we can stand firm in our position and defeat the enemy by eliminating all his attacks. Our children must know that they are invincible that no matter what Satan attempts to fire at them that if they stand behind their faith it will NOT PREVAIL! Yes, the shield may get hot. Yes, the shield may have an arrow sticking out of it, and it might not look pretty enough to put on a shelf right now but it is going to keep us safe! DAMAGE does not equate failure. Our God is strong enough to withstand the attacks and it is our job to know that He will sustain and repair any damages caused by our foe. He is sufficient.

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