2-27-2014

   Good Morning to All,

       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”

     At one of our Bible studies at our church we are looking at Ephesians 6 and the armor of God.  This is an image that some of us cannot quite grasp but Paul and the first readers of this letter would have understood it right away.  Paul describes a Roman soldier like one that the citizens would have seen every day.  They would have been in full uniform with the breastplate, the helmet, the sword and shield.  Paul took this visual and applied it to the life of faith that he wanted the readers of this letter to be aware of. 

     We sometimes struggle with these images because we don’t see that we are in a war.  Yet the truth is that we, as believers, are on the front line.  If we think about it, the unbeliever is already caught by the devil, those who have died are no longer in the battle so the only ones whom the devil will attack are believers, you and me.  It is only the believer who has attacks of guilt and conscience.  We are the ones whom the devil targets to shoot those flaming arrows of temptation.  So we need to be ready for the attack that comes at us every day.

    Paul uses faith as our shield.  Faith is the desire to trust in God’s promise.  Faith clings to the hope that God gives to us.  By having faith we are able to resist the devil and his temptations.  Faith helps us to resist the devil’s whispers which cause us to have doubts.  The shield is a very apt description.  In Paul’s time, the shield would have been covered in leather.  Just before the battle the shield would have been soaked in water in order to extinguish the flaming arrows shot at them.  That is how Paul wants us to see our faith, as a shield that takes the hits of the arrows fired at us.

    But there is one major thing we need to remember; we need to hold the shield up and in place to protect us from the arrows.  Having the shield at our side or, even worse, having it in the closet by the door.  A soldier that doesn’t have his shield up and in the ready position is very vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.  So too we must always have our faith ready to absorb the attacks of the devil.  It is faith that allows us to stand up to the arrows that the devil fires at us so we must keep our faith up and in the ready position. 

    In order to do this we need to keep our faith strong.  We do this through prayer, devotional time, proper use of the sacraments and in praise and worship of God.  These are the tools that God gives to us to keep us strong and ready to do battle.  The devil will attack; he will fire at us every chance he gets but God’s grace will defend us and through the faith that God gives us we will prevail.

Father as we do battle with the devil we need you to guard and defend us.  Give us the strength to trust in you.  Give us the faith to extinguish the arrows of the devil.  Be with those who are being fired upon at this time.  Protect them with your Holy Spirit.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret