The Armor of God: Hold Up Your Shield of Faith!
By studying Ephesians 6:10-20, we are becoming equipped for
spiritual warfare, as we put on the full armor of God.
Let’s review a few things from what we’ve learned so far.
·
We have an enemy who is smart, cunning,
deceptive, and above all desires to destroy your spiritual life if you are a
believer, and your physical life as well if you are not living as a protected
child of God.
·
We must put on the full armor of God, as each
piece works in harmony with the other.
·
We have wrapped ourselves in the belt of truth, taking
every thought captive that raises itself up against the Word.
·
We are wearing the breastplate of Christ’srighteousness, living out His holy and sanctified life in us.
·
We are wearing the shoes of the gospel, digging
our heels deep in the security of our salvation, and leaving the prints of
Christ’s aroma wherever we go.
Today, we are picking up our shield of faith.
Ephesians 6:16 – In
addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
We have already seen that our faith has everything to do
with our ability to stand firm. We stand
firm in
our faith.
What is faith?
The Greek word translated faith is pistis (Strong’s
4102), and is a noun. The fact that
the noun form is used tells us this faith is something we possess, not a verb,
which would mean it is something we do.
Faith is conviction of the truth
of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction
or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally
with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with
it (Blue Letter Bible)
Vines Expository Dictionary tells us the word primarily
means "firm persuasion," a conviction based upon hearing (akin
to peitho, "to persuade"), is used in the NT always of
"faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual." Subjectively the word means firm
persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness;
objectively meaning that which is believed, doctrine, the received articles of
faith.
Essentially, when we speak of faith, we are speaking of
being firmly persuaded or convicted of the truth of the gospel and all that the
gospel contains. By this definition, you
can see that weak faith means we are shaky in our conviction, immature faith means
that we need to grow in our conviction, and strong faith means an unshakeable
conviction!
The New Testament contains 244 uses of this word for faith.
That would be a great study…look up one reference each day for the next
244 days and discover a treasure about faith!
But for today, let’s just look at the seven other references Paul uses
in the letter to the Ephesians, and see some of the benefits of our faith.
1. Our faith is in the Lord Jesus, not
ourselves.
Ephesians 1:15 – For
this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists
among you and your love for all the saints…
2. Our salvation is by faith we have received,
not faith we’ve achieved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
3. Our faith in Christ gives us bold and
confident access to approach God.
Ephesians 3:11-12 – This
was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus
our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
4. Our faith gives us the ability to experience
the fullness of the love of Christ, as He dwells in us.
Ephesians 3:17 - …so
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
5. Our faith is not a mixture of many beliefs:
it is purely faith in Jesus alone.
Ephesians 4:4-5 – There
is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your
calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all.
6. Our faith is a growing faith, and its aim is
knowledge of Jesus.
Ephesians 4:13 - …until
we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a mature man which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
7. Our faith is rooted in love for the Lord
Jesus.
Ephesians 6:23 – Peace
be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be with all those who love
our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.
Did you notice one common theme? Jesus.
Our faith is in Jesus, about Jesus, grows in knowledge of
Jesus, and is rooted in love for Jesus.
The faith that protects us against the assaults of our enemy is only
faith in Jesus. Faith is being firmly
convinced that Jesus is who He says He is, has done what He has said He
has done, and will do what He says He will do.
What does it mean to
“take up” our shield of faith?
Take up is
written in aorist tense, active voice.
Aorist tense is simple, undefined action, as opposed to continual
action. We are not “continually holding
up our faith” (even though we continually possess it), but each time an attack
(flaming arrow) comes, we draw on our faith to extinguish that arrow.
This tells me that faith is not "static." It is not that one day God gives us faith to believe, and we are saved, and our faith remains in the same state the rest of our life. If we are to "exercise" faith each time a flaming arrow comes our way, then our faith is a living, growing thing. It adapts, enlarges, and becomes stronger and more resilient. Our conviction and persuasion in Christ deepens and grows each time our faith is tested.
What are the flaming
arrows of the evil one?
Scripture gives us a pretty complete picture of the ways our
enemy will attack. We have already
learned that it is the mind and heart for which he is aiming. But he has three particular areas which he
loves to use in our life.
1 John 2:15-16 – Do
not love the world nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the
Father, but is from the world.
We just saw that faith is intimately tied to loving Jesus.
Here we see that “faith failures” are tied to loving the
world. Interesting!
Our enemy Satan uses three areas to attack:
Lust of the flesh (things which appeal to our physical
nature: appetites, desires, comfort)
Lust of the eyes (things which appeal to our emotional
nature: materialism, security, beauty)
Pride of life (things which appeal to our mental nature:
intelligence, status, reputation, success, etc.)
Satan used this very strategy in the Garden of Eden against
Eve.
Genesis 3:6 – When the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that is was a delight to the
eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit
and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
In Matthew 4, the evil one used physical temptations (in
this case, hunger), attempted to make Jesus “prove” Himself (appeals to our
pride and our self-importance), and twisted scripture to confuse and cause
error in understanding. I believe the
flaming arrows are any temptation that comes our way – whether physical,
mental, or emotional. It can also be a
physical attack on our body – a sickness or weakness, that God allows (i.e.
Job). Flaming arrows are almost always
aimed at our minds – a lie, a deception, a half-truth. Our enemy is the father of lies, and can only
lie to us; there is no truth in him.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for
the destruction of fortresses. We are
destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge
of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
To practically take
up the shield of faith, we imitate Jesus.
Whenever we are confronted by a lie we respond with the truth, which is
abundantly supplied in the word. We defeat Satan’s lies by our firm
conviction of the truth, personal surrender to Christ, and conduct (actions,
words, deeds) that is inspired by our love for Christ. We first believe the truth, and then we act
on it.
Notice that our shield of faith and the sword
of the Spirit, the Word of God, work together. Our faith is rooted in God’s Word, and God’s
Word sustains, grows, and supports our faith.
For me, it is almost impossible to think of one without the other.
Here’s an example of a temptation, and how the armor of God
enables us to respond.
My boyfriend is trying
to convince me that we should live together for financial reasons, and that we
can have an intimate relationship without marriage. His suggestion appeals to me on all three
levels. I desire him physically, it
makes logical sense, and I want the emotional security of living with him.
The truth is God tells me in His Word that sex
is for marriage, and that adulterers and fornicators (sex outside of marriage)
will not enter His kingdom. The truth is even if we are not intimate,
God’s Word tells us to avoid even the appearance of evil. The truth
is that God promises to provide for us as His children. I desire to live a righteous life – Christ gave me His righteousness to wear; why would I soil it with disobedience? I am
to be carrying the gospel of peace
to everyone I meet; disobedience to God blurs the message, and most likely I
will not be sharing the gospel if I
am practicing sin, because I will feel hypocritical. My faith
is grounded in love for Jesus, and I do not want to do anything that would
grieve Him. Because I believe by faith that God tells me the truth, I will act in faith and say no to my boyfriend, and
proclaim the gospel by my
decision. Faith enables me to act upon truth, rather than my feelings or what
the culture tells me.
If I truly have faith (am firmly persuaded and convicted
that Jesus is true and right), then I must act on what I see in God’s
Word. To say I have faith, and ignore
God’s Word, is to reveal either I do not possess faith, or my faith is weak and
immature, and needs strengthening.
The Roman soldier’s shield was large and heavy, rectangular
and curved in shape. It was made of two pieces of wood glued together and
covered with leather and canvas. In
battle, the soldier would charge with the shield, running towards his enemy
with force, attempting to knock him down.
Then, he would kneel and fight from behind the protection of the shield.
I love that picture.
Sometimes our faith is strong, and we can simply raise our shield and
push back at the enemy, and his flaming arrow is extinguished. Battle won.
But sometimes, those attacks just keep coming. He assaults our mind with fear and
insecurity. He undermines our good
intentions. He throws temptations our
way that continually appeal to us physically, mentally and emotionally. We begin to doubt. It is in those times that we need to kneel
behind that shield, which to me, is a picture of prayer, the last item Paul
mentions in this passage on spiritual armor.
We’ll study prayer later in a future post, but until then,
when your enemy attacks; raise your shield of faith, remembering Jesus. Speak His name. Remember how much He loves you, and let that
gratitude spill over into love for Him, as that love will strengthen your
faith.
And being firmly persuaded, live what you believe, and stand
firm.
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