The Shield of Faith

admin July 21, 2020 0 Comments

Ephesians 6:16

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

The fourth piece of armor Paul discussed in Ephesians 6 is the shield of faith. He tells us to take up the shield of faith in order to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

For a Roman soldier, a shield was used as a form of protection. It was worn strapped to one’s arm and, at any time, it could be held up to deflect attacks. In addition, Roman shields, depending on the type, could protect a good portion of the body. Especially in the Roman phalanx and legion formation, a soldier could protect most parts of his body with his shield (with the exception of the lower legs and feet).

Paul uses this imagery of a Roman shield to describe what Faith is like; as a weapon in winning spiritual battles. It is important we don’t forget that Christ won the victory for us already, so we don’t fight for victory but from victory knowing that all we ever need to stop the enemy’s schemes has already been made available to us.

So when Paul spoke of Faith, he assumes we know that faith is believing God’s word above the flaming arrows of sickness, diseases and other circumstances that raise its head above your knowledge of who God is. He is saying we have to deliberately choose faith in all circumstances and this means that when we encounter doubts we choose to believe the word of God.

The devil is no match for the believer if he is consistently guarded up. Paul says TAKE UP the Shield of Faith in order to extinguish all the flaming arrows of depression, guilt, sickness, diseases, lack, disappointment etc. Take up the shield of faith — the word of God in your heart and in your mouth.