…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. — EPHESIANS 6:16
FAITH DEFINED
What does it mean for us to have faith in God and His Word? Is faith merely intellectual assent in some abstract ideas concerning God and His truth? Is it just having some vague notions or feelings about the Almighty and the Bible? It is not.
Besides being the channel through which God brings us salvation (Eph. 2:8–9), faith is also what sustains us throughout the entirety of our Christian lives, for “the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17, emphasis added).
Faith, simply defined, is a conviction of a known truth and the solid confidence that springs from that conviction. Faith is a firm persuasion of and unwavering trust in God and His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:1), based upon everything He has said to us about Himself in His Word.
In addition, in this context of Ephesians, faith communicates the idea of belief in God’s power and His promises to do all that He said He would do in order to keep us safe from enemy assaults (Eph. 6:10–13). Peter O’Brien points out that believers lay “hold of God’s resources, especially his power, in the midst of the evil one’s attack” and appropriate “the promises of God on our behalf, confident that he will protect us in the midst of the battle.”
The apostle tells us that “above all,” or, more literally, in all situations and on all occasions, we are to take up the shield, which is faith. We see again from his language that Paul is giving Christians a solemn responsibility. The verb take up, in active voice, indicates there is something we must do in order to protect ourselves from the devil. Take up is a military term, the same one used in verse 13 of this chapter, and it lays upon us the necessity of completely trusting God, His Word, and His ability to help us at all times.
If we are to stand strong, we must regularly take up the shield of faith and never put it down. We are to habitually trust in the Lord, who is a shield about us (Gen. 15:1), and believe all that He has said to us in Scripture. Only then will we be greatly protected from the devil’s attacks against us.
(Excerpt from Brian Borgman; Rob Ventura. "Spiritual Warfare: A Biblical and Balanced Perspective." Reformation Heritage Books.)
============================
For information on how you may participate in this outreach please contact Steve at email: ephesiansDELtwo8910@gmail.com. (In order to avoid automated spam replies I have added three letters in caps. Please DELete those letters before using this address to reply.) Thank you!
