Gifts from God: Part 5

The Shield of Faith

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; (ESV)

We are continuing with the argument that all the Armor of God is a gift.

The Shield faith is no different. 

To truly see why, we need to understand Faith and where it comes from.

So lets break this down..

In Strong's the word comes from: g4102. πίστις pistis; from 3982; persuasion

"credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), 

especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by 

extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:— assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Now I know reading that can sometimes be a lot... 

But...

 in the definition we find meaning and application.

Faith is conviction that something is true and is not questioned.

It is excepted deep in our hearts, and we defend that conviction.

Faith for a Christian is whole hearted acceptance of Jesus Christ

as our personal Savior from the penalty of sin and 

knowing that Christ is sovereign in our lives.

That faith, then drives the Christian to move into battle

with confidence that there is no Eternal Death for them.

From that we obtain courage and motivation.

The Sword and Shield stand out in front of the soldier.

They are key in battle. No soldier lasts without the shield protecting them.

It alone allows the blows to come and not hurt the soldier.

Hold Faith firm in our hand, knowing in your heart

that God holds you in the palm of His Mighty Hand!

In Faith there is no fear. Remember the Disciples on the boat in the storm?

Matthew 8:23-27

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, 

there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped 

by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, 

saying, " Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, 

"Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?"

Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there

 was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of

man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"(ESV)

For Christ, there was no fear of death. He knew

the Father held all things in His hand. 

He had such Faith that He slept while the storm raged!

There will be raging storms in our lives!

Battles so immense, that on our own, we would be overcome!

Accept Christ in your heart! Its a free gift! 

Know the confidence of Eternal Life!

Plunge into battle with your impenetrable Shield of Faith.

The Father holds you and your life in His hand.

Trust in Him, and rest in His Gift of protection.