The Word - January 6, 2012 - Spiritual Warfare Part Three

".....Above all, taking the shield of faith" (Ephesians 6: 16a).

The breastplate that protects our heart is faith in the invisible God and His Word, and this faith works by love. If the breastplate protects the heart, the shield protects the whole person. In the days of Roman dominance, if you knew how to manipulate a shield, there was no part of the body that could be reached by a fiery dart. In the same way, the shield of faith protects the entire person.

Sometimes we misunderstand faith, thinking of it as something we have to be consciously doing all the time. But faith is not so much an action as it is an attitude; an attitude of trust in God.
Faith is not a continuous effort for us to hold on to God unless He leave us, rather, it is an attitude of just knowing God is there, and underneath are His everlasting arms.

I am sure you all have heard about the three "fs"; fact, faith and feeling, in that order.

The facts are in the Bible, faith affirms those facts, and your feelings take care of themselves. But if we get the order wrong and begin with our feelings, we will be as unstable as they are in every area of life. Facts never change; feelings vary from moment to moment, hour to hour, day to day.

We cannot afford to base our faith on our feelings. Base your faith on the facts in the Word of God, which never change. Faith says, 'The Bible is true and I believe it. God is here, and He will never let me go. It is an absolute priority that you begin with the facts in the Word of God.

It is a fact that God has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of Christ. It is a fact, that when we acknowledge our sin and repent and surrender to Jesus Christ and make Him Lord, at that moment we were translated, carried over, spirit, soul and body, out of the kingdom of the devil into the kingdom of Christ. These are facts and the shield of faith covers every area of our lives.

We can see, then, that God has provided us with an effective defense to be used when the enemy attacks our feelings and tries to discourage us. When we remember to put on these pieces of His armor (and the other four as well), we have a defense against the attacks that will surely come, and we will discover God to be faithful in strengthening our faith and hope, enabling us to stand victoriously in His Spirit!