It is now time to move on to the next part of the armor, and I am particularly excited about the Shield of Faith. Do you ladies remember the three pieces of armor that we have already put on? Well let me just give you a few reminders of what they are. 1.) The Belt of Truth, 2.) The Breast Plate of Righteousness, and 3.) The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. Ladies all of the first three pieces of armor- we had to put them on and we must put them on everyday. Again Ephesians 6:10-17, is where you can find the scripture about the armor. When you are reading the scripture if you will please take notice of the word HAVING for the first three pieces of the armor. Having- should stand out to you because its positioning means that we should be wearing these pieces of armor at all times, I cannot stress that enough.
However, with the next three pieces of armor in Ephesians we will not wear this armor, but we will take them up- in other words they will be picked up by us (raised up) Paul is stating. The fourth piece of armor is the shield of faith; Ephesians 6:16 reads, "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." I am going to take you back again to the Roman soldiers time (see pic below). Their shield was very large, slightly curved rectangular, and at the center was a large metal knob. This is how the soldier would be able to hold on to the shield. Some of the shields were three and a half feet tall and about three feet wide. Now ladies, I want you to picture it in your minds- we are on the battle field and we have our three pieces of armor on and now we have grabbed our shields. Lets say that there are about a hundred women on the battle field-for certain we have our shields in hand. Not only do we have are shields but we are standing firm- side by side and we look up into the sky and the devils fiery arrows are heading our way. What are we going to do? We would continue to stand firm in a crouch down position and hold those shields together for protection, so what the devil fired out on us did not affect us; because we raised up our protection.
Hebrews 11:1 states, "Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." In other words ladies it is believing that God is telling the irrefutable truth. For example, in his word it states- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Do you believe that? We have so many doubts about our abilities, but what we need is faith knowing that God cannot not lie. He who started a good work in you will complete it. So when does a Christian need to take up the shield? Please read Ephesians 6:13, "Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day"
Now are you asking the question when is the evil day? Come on ladies- you know when the evil day is, I went through some of them with you before. Let me just give you some of my evil day experiences: I went through a divorce, I had a male friend years later that was married but told me he was single, and I had the great pleasure of his wife telling me she wanted her husband, I have lost a job, my grand-baby was very ill as I told you before, and the list goes on and on. Basically, the evil day is when all hell hits you and attempts to consume and overwhelm you. It is when you and possibly your friends and family are under attack from the devil.
Ladies, it is on these types of days that we need to be covered. It is telling Jesus, no matter what Jesus I trust you. Having FAITH that he has you and your situation in the palm of his hands. It is certainly knowing the word of God in your heart so that you can speak it out and be sustained. During those moments in my life I would quote scriptures one of them was Romans 8:28, "And we know all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose." You see ladies we are not here on this earth for ourselves only but for God's greater purpose. Ask him why does he have you here, and believe me he will eventually reveal it to you. God is a revealing God if you seek him he will be found. My sister's FAITH is essential to triumph in spiritual warfare.
One of my favorite scriptures is- without FAITH it is impossible to please God. Please ladies for your sake and the sake of your families lives- meditate 0n God's word. Ask God to place his word in your heart and mind, so when you or your loved ones are under attack you will be in his perfect peace. I leave you with the scripture I am now meditating on and asking God to place in my heart, I truly love it. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave HIMSELF UP FOR ME."
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