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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.
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May 15
The Shield of Faith
Ephesians 6 lists the armor of God. It is
used in fighting against the devil's schemes and
not falling into temptation. Surprisingly,
only the shield of faith is given an explanation
on how it is used however.
Satan is a liar and a deceiver. He works
most often by lying to us about what we and
can't do. He lies to us about who God is
and wants us to question His love and care for
us.
Faith extinguishes these attacks because our
trust lies with God. When Satan tells us
that we'll never make it on our own, we have
faith that God will help us through. When
Satan wants us to question God's love for us, it
is faith that causes us to hold fast to the
promises that God has made to us.
Although pieces of the armor of God surround us
from all sides but the shield of faith can only
be pointed in one direction. Faith is only
good when it is pointed in the proper direction.
While self confidence is a good thing, faith in
our own abilities will not allow us to withstand
the devil's attacks. Faith in other people
is bound to let us down because they are just as
human and frail as we are.
Only faith in God is able to withstand the
arrows of the devil and extinguish them.
We must place our faith in God and in nothing
else. |
