Grab Your Shield // Ephesians 6:16

I remember the bishop asking me at my ordination, “Have you faith in Christ?” I answered resoundingly, “Yes!” The Apostle Paul in the Armor of God passage describes faith as a shield that can extinguish all the devil’s flaming arrows. I have a couple thoughts on this. First off, let’s consider a physical shield. The shield is used to protect the warrior, but today’s verse says it also extinguishes the flaming arrows. That’s pretty cool. Secondly, regarding those flaming arrows, we see that the devil isn’t always right up on top of us, but also uses long distance weapons. That might seem scary since we can’t always see them coming, but this is precisely why we need the Almighty’s Armor to not just deflect those attacks, but also defeat their danger. All of this comes from faith, which activates God’s power and facilitates our salvation. Paul wrote earlier in Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith, and all of this is God’s gift so no one can boast (Eph.2:8-9). This faith is the shield God gifted you and me to stand strong despite what the enemy launches our way. So, stand strong, get ready, and grab your shield!