The Armour Of God: 5. The Shield of Faith

“…above all, take the shield of faith with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Ephesians 6: 16.

It says ABOVE ALL – above all, therefore we can quite easily assume that this is the most important piece of armour. That is not to say that this is all we need or that the others are pointless, they are all very important – but this is essential, vital and cannot be left out. We have already established that we are on a battlefield therefore we must be under attack, so it is essential to have something to protect ourselves from that attack.

The verse says that we are being attacked by fiery arrows and that our shield can quench them. Faith therefore is our weapon to come against the things that satan throws at us, things like fear, depression, compromise, disobedience, unfaithfulness… the list goes on. The faith that protects us though is when we stand up and say, I know what satan is throwing at me but I also know that God says this instead, just as Jesus did when He was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4: 1-13)

Faith is essential in our daily battles and it says in 1 Corinthians 12 that faith is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Therefore if you feel today that your shield is inadequate, that it is not strong enough to withstand all that satan throws at you, then you can ASK God for more faith and you will receive it! So today ask for more faith – it’s a gift available from the Father.

Sara Jukes

2004-05-10