Amanda BethSharing the Truths Behind the TRUTH

Jul 18th Monday’s Blog: Shield Of Faith

The next blog in our “Armor of God” series is the shield of faith. Ephesians 6:16 says, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Do you feel constantly under attack? Are you worn down fighting the good fight of faith? Many times I’ve cried out to God, “I can’t take this anymore. Please rescue me!” At times I’ve felt I didn’t have any faith left to press on.

Paul and Timothy’s persecution was at times more than they could bear. Paul explained in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9a:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death….

If God wants us to have faith, why does He allow the devil to attack us and beat us down?

After Paul talked about their hardships, he explained why God allowed it in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10: “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us….”

We have two choices during trials. We can let the fiery darts the devil hurls at us beat us down and weaken our faith. Or, we can pick up our shield and let the darts fall to the ground while we stand strong in our faith.

Each trial is an opportunity to see God move in a supernatural way. When our hope is in God, He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Faith is not convincing God to move on our behalf. Faith is opening our hearts to receive what He’s already promised us. Faith keeps us trusting God to do what He knows is best for us. Faith keeps us expecting the unexpected.

In Lamentations 3:1-20, Jeremiah started losing hope as he focused on his trials. In verse 20 he cried, “I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.” Then he made a sudden turn in verse 21, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope,” he praised. Jeremiah started talking about God’s mercy, compassion, and love. As he got his mind off his troubles and started thinking about God’s faithfulness, it lifted him out of the pit of despair.

The greatest thing we can do to strengthen our faith is to praise God. Praising God throughout our day keeps us looking expectantly to Him. Praising God keeps us focused on Him and not our problems. When our hearts are filled with praise, our shield is up and no trial, tribulation, or persecution can weaken our faith.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:6-7

I encourage you to hold up your shield of faith. Don’t lay it down. Each trial is an opportunity for your faith to grow. God won’t allow more than you can bear. He will always give you His grace to carry you through trials. And He will work ALL things out for your benefit if you put your faith in Him.

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**Prayer for the week**

Heavenly Father,

We praise You for giving us Your armor so we can be prepared in every situation. Help us to hold up our shield of faith. Strengthen us in our trials, and help us focus on You. We lift our voices in praise to You, Lord. Thank You for Your immeasurable love for us.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen!

Have a blessed week growing in Christ!

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Come back next Monday as I share more of God’s Truths and the reasons behind the Truths.

All Bible verses are taken from the NIV, unless otherwise noted.

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