When I try to fight off self pity with mental reasoning, I usually am overcome with it. When alcoholics try to overcome their addiction with logic, they are consistently defeated. Matthew 4 gives the story of Jesus response to every fiery arrow shot at him by Satan. His shield every single time was “It is written”. He never used logic. He always used Scripture. He was never defeated. God’s Word was Jesus shield of faith. He didn’t just have it in his possession. He used it.
The shield is something we must take up, something we are required to raise. Just strapping it to our arm won't do any good at all if we don't make the effort to hold it aloft and use it. The Roman shield was a very large, slightly curved rectangular shield featuring at its center a large metal knob. A shield is associated with faith because it does for the body in warfare what faith does for our spiritual warfare.
...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
A shield guards. While a physical shield protects us physically, faith can protect our spiritual lives even in the middle of the most severe trials.
A shield deflects. Satan is always hurling his fiery darts of fear, doubt and worry in our direction, but the only time they can hit us is when we let our shield of faith down—when we stop believing that God is in control; that He is working everything out for our good; that whatever happens is for the ultimate best of everyone involved, however little it seems to be that way.
A shield is the first line of defense. While the rest of our armor helps protect us from Satan's onslaught, it is not what you ideally want to be using to absorb every hit. You do not, for instance, go out into battle intentionally blocking everything with your head.
A shield can incapacitate. The metal knob in the middle of the Roman shields allowed soldiers to give their enemies a painful blow that shoved them away for a better line of attack. Our faith in God can also give Satan a good shove backwards and give us a chance to fight back by obeying our Lord Jesus.
The Roman army had a very effective tactic that made use of their large shields. When enemies would begin firing arrows and other objects at the army, their soldiers would close ranks into a rectangular pattern—and those on the outside would use these shields to make a wall around the army. Those in the middle would raise their shields over their heads to protect everyone from the airborne missiles. When the army joined their shields together, they were almost unstoppable.
And if we in the Body of Christ join our shields—that is, strengthen each other with our faith, building up and serving within the Body as we are able—we will become an unstoppable force able to overcome every spiritual demon that tries to defeat us. We have the shields. Let’s use them to help each other.
Selah,
Al Yoder
6/16/2011
