Understanding the Armor of God: The Shield of Faith

​Understanding the Armor of God: The Shield of Faith (Read time ≈ 5 minutes)
Ephesians 6:16
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one
 
You are a target. This can be alarming for some people, but, as we have been discussing over this series of the Armor of God, we are at war. So, to think that you are a target in a time of war, is not something that is going to be an unexpected happening. You are a target, and they are coming to do damage. Not only shooting darts at you, but darts engulfed in flames. That not only would you be in pain, but that you would be engulfed by flames. These darts are, of course, not physical, actual darts. They are lies and temptations from hell. Designed not only to hurt you, but to engulf you in them. The purpose is not just to cause something momentary but to do lasting damage or even finish you off. These darts are thoughts of pride, lust, anger, envy, fear, and the list could go on. These darts will at least hurt you, if not kill you, after they consume you. This gives us an image of us giving ourselves over to sin, being hit in one area of our life and allowing it to burn, and spread, until it has consumed us entirely. These darts can come flying toward us at any time of any day (yes, even during times of prayer, reading the Bible or at church). We need to be vigilant. We need to be shielded.
 
This is why Paul tells us, IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES to take up the shield of faith. War does not sleep. Our enemy is prowling at all times therefore, we must be shielded at all times. Faith can look like a lot of different things when applied to our Christian life. This Shield of Faith is the part of our faith that should be at work continually. It is a constant, passive faith. It is a mindset. It is an understanding. It is a complete reliance and trust in God and His word and His promises over our lives. This is when you choose to love your enemies instead of obliterate them, when you choose to look the other way when provocative things are forced into your eyesight, you choose to forgive instead of hold a grudge, when you choose to be humble instead of exalt yourself. Not because you WANT to, because you know you don’t. But because you trust God’s Word and what it has to say about those things. You Shield yourself in faith, knowing His promises about those things are true thereby protecting yourself from the pain that they will cause and even more so, protecting yourself from being consumed by sin and becoming a fallen soldier.
 
The Shield of Faith remains fixed to our arm at all times just as our faith must be instilled within us at all times. When we completely trust in God and we completely trust in His will then it will be God and His will that we seek after completely and entirely. When all that we are is trusting and relying on God, His promises and His will is when these flaming darts do not stand a chance against our Shield of Faith. When we are pressing onward towards Christ in complete faith and focused on Him, these darts are quenched on impact. They lodge into our shield, the flame goes out, no harm is done, and we march on for the Glory of our King. This steady, constant faith, though at times may feel like a heavy burden of a massive shield, will be the very thing that keeps you on the right path and in the war of ages. We leave ourselves vulnerable when we lower our Shield of Faith. Shields up, and fight on!