The
Shield of Faith
Part 3
What the enemy wants to do is put an arrow of unbelief in your mind that will eventually destroy you.
Maybe that arrow says your going to die of cancer, or that your marriage is going to fail or maybe that arrow is saying you will go under financially!
If any of these false beliefs lodge in your mind, and you begin to believe them, your false belief will more than likely empower them to become reality. If an arrow of unbelief lodges in your mind that says you are going to go broke, you may go broke if you don't get rid of that false idea. If an arrow of false belief that there is no hope for your marriage lodges in your mind and you begin to believe it your marriage has no hope, your marriage will begin to deteriorate as your false faith empowers the demonic accusations to become reality.
The "shield of faith" allows us to quench, extinguish and ricochet these lying arrows. This is why the word of God commands us, " Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God..."
How much damage are those lying arrows going to do on the ground? They cant do much harm if the are on the ground around your feet! Hence, the "shield of faith " puts out the fire, and knocks those hellish tales down to the ground where they can do no harm, where their deceptive powers cease to influence you.
When you are walking in faith, you can confidently say, " here comes another arrow from the devil," lift up your "shield of faith" - and watch it bounce right off you! When you walk in faith, you are not affected mentally, emotionally, or physically by the " fiery darts" of the enemy.
Because the Roman soldier anointed his shield it was slippery. Thus, when he walked with his shield held high, even if those fiery arrows hit his shield they slipped right off of it. Often the arrows would hit and ricochet back into the face of the enemy, exploding in his own face.
Faith will quench, thwart, and extinguish anything that tries to hit you!
You may ask the question, "Just how evil are these darts that are going to try to hit me and slow my spiritual growth? Ephesians 6:16 says, "...wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
The word "wicked" is taken from the word poneros (po-ne-ros). This word comprises all of these words: "sorrow, pain, evil, malignant, malicious, ill, or vicious."
This explicitly tells us that these are various arrows, evil arrows, arrows that have the potential to do great damage, arrows that are actively involved in spreading the flame of evil, wickedness, and suffering.
This is why I have stressed the importance of having your faith "out front" where it belongs! If you ignore your faith and allow it to go undeveloped, you will become painfully aware how these arrows have the capacity of producing sorrow, pain, and destruction. When they hit they are malicious.
Further more these lies of the devil shoots into your mind are not intended to just wound you they are intended to hit you with their full destructive force. When they hit you they explode!!
The purpose of the devil is to seize your mind, paralyze it with fear, and then flood it with allegations that are not true. If he can captivate your thinking, and reasoning and get you to believe that those things are true, then those arrows begin to secrete there damnable destruction in your life and mind!
An example Dr Renner quotes this experience from his life in the book Dressed to Kill "Some years ago we were ministering in a church where are very prominent woman had died of cancer. Her death really shook the faith of that particular congregation. As a result, the entire congregation concluded, " healing is not for us today!"
The enemy shot an arrow of cancer and suffering into that woman's body. From her that deadly fire began to spread into the whole church body. Because their " shield of faith" was not "out front" where it belonged, protecting and covering them, they were mortally wounded! When that arrow hit, it released its destructive powers. It didn't come just to kill one woman; it came to destroy a whole church!
Corporate Faith in the Local Church
While the roman soldier carry his shield to protect him self from one enemy, he nor his shield were big enough to take on an army. He could defend himself for awhile and maybe even make a little headway, but what is one man against an entire army?
Therefore when the Romans were confronted with a large foe they would walk tightly together side by side. On one side to their massive shield was a hook and on the other a ring as they walked forward they would hook their shield together. When all the shields were connected the soldiers would begin to walk in unison towards the apposing enemy.
To the enemy this would look like a huge wall of armor coming towards them. There for when shield was attached to shield the soldiers would have a massive wall of protection out in front of them. When they had their shields connected like this it allowed them to walk right up to the enemy, rarely loosing one of their own.
Similarly, when the church of God learns to walk in unison like this it will position us to make inroads into the enemies territory that have never been made before.
Thank God, that your faith works for you, but we must also thank God that we can join our faith together with the faith of other brothers and sisters in the Lord, it positions the Body of Christ to make some significant gains as a whole.
When you have your "shield of faith" out in front of you it doesn't matter how big the enemy is, you can steadily aggressively move forward and move in on that enemy because you have so much corporate faith working alongside you.
Does Your Shield Have Cracks?
If you ignore your " Shield of Faith" - if you never seek a fresh anointing of the Spirit's presence upon it - and if you do not soak your faith in the Word of God - you had better not attempt to take on any big challenges. Your shield is not in the best of shape!
A faith that is ignored becomes hard, stiff, and brittle if you challenge the enemy with your shield in this type of condition it will fall apart in the midst of conflict. If you go waving a cracked shield in front of the enemy you are going to wind up in a heap of trouble.
If however your faith is intact - if the presence of God's Spirit is active upon your faith, and if your faith is saturated in God's word - then you can wave your faith in the face of the enemy like a shield, and watch every dart he throws at you fall to the ground.
If your Faith Needs an Anointing
If your Faith needs a fresh anointing, you need to go before God and allow Him to give you a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit.
This is precisely what David was referring to when he said,"...I shall be anointed with fresh oil" (Psalm 92:10).
The word "anoint" comes from the Greek word chrio (chri-o). It is a medical term. when a patient with sore muscles came to see his physician, the physician would pour oil on his hands and would begin to rub that oil into the sore muscles of his patient.
Technically the word "anoint" has to do with the "rubbing or smearing" of oil on someone else, its a hands on situation.
Thus when we speak of a person who is anointed, we are actually saying that the hand of God is upon that person, and God is rubbing the strong presence of the Holy Spirit into that man or woman's life or ministry.
If a sermon is anointed, it is because the hand of God is upon it. If a song is anointed, it is because the hand of God is upon it.
The presence of the anointing tells us that God has laid his hand upon that person. The anointing comes when God has laid his hand upon something; the anointing is a result of God's hand personally imparting the strong presence of the Holy Spirit into something.
Therefore if you need a fresh anointing upon your life, come before the Great Anointer! He alone can give you what you need. Open you heart to him, and allow him to lay His hand upon your life and faith in a new way. When the hand of God comes upon your life and faith, a strong anointing will follow! This is guaranteed!
In Conclusion
When you walk in the "Shield of Faith" you can storm the enemies lies and accusations without fear of being hurt!
Perhaps you tried to step out in faith in the past, and got disappointed. Perhaps you didn't get healed but got worse, and this discouraged you into thinking that you're faith wont produce results. Perhaps, because of this, you are afraid to step out to believe God again.
Perhaps you have felt those evil darts hitting you and because your faith was not "out front" where it belonged. They are malignant, bringing sorrow, pain, suffering, mental distress, and so on.
These arrows come to assault the soul realm; they hit the mind and the emotions. Again, the devil knows that the mind is a strategic control center of your life. If he can seize your mind, then he can begin to wage warfare against the other parts of your being.
In order to keep your mind from being struck by one of these vicious "fiery darts" that come to deceive and destroy, it is imperative that you pick you that " Shield of Faith" again.