Faith And the Flaming Arrows
ICS Daily Devotions
Ephesians 6:16 (AMP): lift up over all the (covering) shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked (one).
In the above Scripture, what the Apostle Paul means by the “shield of saving faith” is that when the enemy attacks, believers must trust in God and His promises to block and quench the flaming missiles of the wicked one.
What are the flaming missiles? They could be thoughts like doubts, fears, and worries. The word “wicked” in the original text is poneros, which comprises all the following words: sorrow, pain, evil, malignant, malicious, ill, or vicious. The evil ones make all of these into arrows and shoot them out at us. They range from temptation to pride and selfishness to fear of circumstances, including health problems or death, discouragement, despair, doubt, or persecution.
The shield of faith will help us quench these fiery arrows, but we need to soak our faith in the Word of God. Our faith is in God and His Word, never our abilities, because we are finite beings. Praise God that we are in union with Him, connected to Him, and hidden in Christ.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If we want to soak our shield with the Word, we must spend time meditating on it, listening to sermons and teachings, and walking out the truth to exercise our faith. We must also prepare our hearts to be good soil so the Word can multiply up to 100-fold. Faith is actively trusting and having faith in God, which means looking at the circumstances in life but choosing to trust in the Word of God instead.
In other words, faith in God requires us to move out of our comfort zone until we believe in God and His Word more than the circumstances. Why? Because some fiery arrows are shot at us by making us look at the circumstances. The devil knows our weaknesses and pride, and if he can cause our emotions to go on a “roller coaster,” then we won’t be able to focus on God and His promises! Therefore, he will attempt to penetrate our minds and emotions, thus bringing fear to grip and torment us till we come to our wit’s end, the end of our wisdom and abilities. What we must do is come before God and say, “In God, I lay my trust”.
Let us take hold of what belongs to us by faith in the Word, the redemptive work of Christ, and appropriate our belief by holding up the shield of faith as a cell group. Pray in faith together based on your conviction!
Hebrews 11:1,6 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Sermon Series: The Weapon of Our Spiritual Warfare
