EPHESIANS: Faith Shield
EPHESIANS Number 74
FAITH Shield
Ephesians 6:16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (KJV 1900).
In 2 Peter 3:18 (KJV 1900) Peter counsels us to, “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” This is the way faith comes into play.
Some think of faith as a thing. Something they can grow or work up on their own. Faith is simply belief in something, or for our purposes, Someone. Faith and trust go hand in hand. In the passage we just read at the end of Second Peter, we are urged to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. At the very beginning of the same letter, he says this, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” 2 Peter 1:2–3 (KJV 1900).
Knowing God better, more intimately, growing in our knowledge of Him, brings about trust. As with any relationship, our trust in the other person grows as we come to know them more intimately. We come to trust them with knowledge about ourselves. We grow to trust them with our weaknesses. As our trust grows, we confide in them in times of stress and anguish.
In a sense, trust gives legs to faith. We may believe that Jesus is all He claims to be and has done all He claims to have done in, to, and through us. Even so, if we do not trust Him, we hold back from Him. We walk in an earthy way. We conduct ourselves by worldly sight, according to the flesh. If we trust Him, we find that we can walk by faith, trusting that He is always working for good on our behalf.
I have experienced this myself. For decades I knew that God loved me, but I did not trust that He liked me. I was afraid that He would punish me when I did not live up to His standard. This caused me to have a poor and weak relationship with Him. I could not pray for His will to be done because I was afraid of what that might mean.
Over the years I have come to know Father much better. These days I know that He is working for good and that His love for me is real. I know that He likes my company and that He cares about what happens in me and to me. I know that His correction is done in a way that fits me perfectly and not in a way that humiliates or degrades me. That frees me and I actually look forward to His correction because I can see that it always results in blessing.
What I had before was faith well enough, but what I have come to have now is trust. Trust makes all the difference.
The shield of faith defends us by extinguishing, mitigating, or making of no concern the lies, accusations, and doubts sent our way by the enemy of our souls. As we come to know Father better and more intimately, we find that we are more dependent on Him and less dependent on ourselves. This is faith that works, and it makes the flaming arrows of the enemy ineffective.
You believe what Father says about you. You believe what Father says about Himself. You walk according to the Spirit. The shield created by that faith you are exhibiting extinguishes the lies of the enemy.
You have faith in God. Faith that He is who He says He is. Faith that He is trustworthy. That faith is like a shield to you. It extinguishes the fiery darts of untruth that the enemy flings at you.
Faith, that quiet fully assured knowing, that you are safe in Jesus Christ makes the accusations of the enemy completely ineffective. That old snake's cutting lies bounce off the force field of faith.
The shield of faith fits.
