Shield of Faith

An Armor Recap

Before we dive right into looking at the shield of faith, I think it’s always important to recap the portion of Scripture where the shield is mentioned. So, with no further adieu, here is the powerful section of Scripture commonly referred to as the armor of God:

Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:14-17

The Battle is Real

Just because something is not visible does not meant that it’s not real. We can’t see a virus with the naked eye, but that doesn’t keep it from knocking the strongest of us down to a fever-ridden, soar throat-bearing, hacking and coughing mess. The same goes for the battle of a true believer. We tend to think that the battles we face are of the physical variety, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, we all face challenges in the physical world. A car that breaks down when you’re trying to get to work on time; the illness or loss of a loved one; financial difficulties; and the list goes on. However, Paul reminds us through the Holy Spirit in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, why the armor of God is important for us.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

It’s important to understand the fact that you have an enemy that you cannot see. Therefore, the next logical question should be: “Then how do I stand a chance against them? How do I fight back? How can I have victory?”

Those are all fantastic questions, and this blog recap of the Bible Speed Art video will seek to address them for you. In a nutshell though, I will provide a succinct answer from only one perspective: You do not stand a chance. You cannot fight back. You cannot be victorious.

Now, before everyone grabs the torches and pitchforks to hunt me down for being so negative in the response, please be reminded that I said my answer would only be from one perspective. What I mean by that is this: You cannot do it. Not alone. Not by yourself. Not with your power. Not with your schemes. Not with your agendas. And God knew this as well, which is why he spends this section of the Bible to let us know the spiritual armor He has provided for us, the true followers of Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, let’s take a quick look at the first 3 pieces of the armor of God and see a stark difference between them, and the shield of faith.

The First Half of the Armor

As I was reading through this section, I happened to notice that the first 3 pieces to the armor of God are all grouped together with the same verb: Stand firm. In the Greek, the word “histēmi” is used for standing firm, which is a word that means to establish, to put in place, to be deeply rooted in. However, then the Scripture adds the phrase, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith.” Did you notice that the verb changed. It doesn’t say, “Stand firm with the shield of faith.” Instead it says to “take up” the shield of faith. Before it says to “take up” however, it adds the phrase “in addition to all this”, which can also be translated, “above all”. This precursor to the taking up of the shield illustrates that first 3 pieces of the armor are the foundation of the armor. It is a clothing. You put them on and leave them on, allowing them to do what they’re created to do. The shield however is an addition to the foundation, building upon it and springing forward as you take it up.

The verb “take up” is a word rooted in a definition meaning, “to receive”. The faith you receive from the Holy Spirit is one that should not be left to the side, but rather taken up and put to use. I think an excellent illustration of this concept can be found in the book of Isaiah where it says,

As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my moth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

As we can see, the work of the Holy Spirit is productive and effective. It is sent to those who believe and will always produce good fruit which brings all glory to the Father. The same is true of the faith that the Spirit of God provides for true believers. That is why the verb changes from standing and being established, to receiving and putting into action. This can even be found by looking at the word “faith” itself, so let’s do that now.

What is Faith? Noun vs. Adjective

Too often, we hear people say, “I’m a person of faith,” as though faith is simply a belief system or identity label. But Scripture challenges that idea. The Greek word for faith—pistis—goes deeper than a noun. Its root meaning points to an adjective that means trustworthiness or faithfulness.

This is a crucial shift for us to understand: It’s not just about having faith. It’s about being faithful with the shield provided by the Holy Spirit. We can also see this broken down in great clarity in the New Testament thanks to the book of James.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.”

James 2:14-19

I don’t think it needs to be explained, but as James simply writes, “faith without works is dead”. Therefore, we can make the same conclusion that a person who claims to have a shield of faith, but never takes it up and puts action behind it, is worthless. And yet, we are called to be trustworthy, not worthless. We are called to be faithful and worth of the gospel of Christ (which we will see in a moment), so that should hopefully make us stop and do an internal gut check and really see where we are at in life.

Am I putting the faith of the Spirit to action in my life by actively obeying, trusting and standing firm in Christ, or am I giving the enemy power over my life by fearing the things I think he can do to me? The joke of that statement however, is that Satan has no power over us – nothing other than what we give him. This can be clearly seen from purpose behind the shield of faith.

It’s All About Purpose

I’m going to make a statement that you might have heard me say many times before, “Everything ever created was created with a purpose.” You and I are part of that creation, which means that we too have a purpose for our life. As Paul writes earlier in the book of Ephesians,

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

Did you notice a key phrase in that verse above? We were created “in Christ Jesus”. The creation in Christ is a saving work by God in the work of a true believer, which means that the creation that is important to God is the creation of a soul filled with the glory of the Lord and a spirit brought to life by the breath of the Holy Spirit. This is a creation with purpose; a creation that will always be taken up and put into action because, as we have learned earlier, this is the work of the Holy Spirit and His work never returns empty. Therefore, now let’s look at the purpose of the shield of faith:

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16

As we mentioned earlier, the first 3 pieces of the armor of God are put on, and that’s it. There is no description given to their purpose. However, Paul distinctly makes it known the purpose of the shield…to extinguish all the flaming arrows that Satan is shooting at a true believer.

Does the shield stop the arrows from coming? Not at ll. It does, however, extinguish every single one of them.

If you look at he ancient times of battle, sending over an arrow without a flame could cause injury or death to just a single enemy soldier. However, the purpose of a flaming arrow was to cause widespread destruction across enemy lines. This is where we can begin to understand the scheme of Satan in your life. He doesn’t just want simple destruction – he wants it to spread through your life like a plague, effecting every part of your life. But the Bible tells us that God has a shield in place for us to snuff out those arrows and diminish the power of hell.

Let’s look at some juxtaposition on this by looking at what Jesus says about hell in the gospel of Mark:

“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.”

Mark 9:43

What do we learn from Jesus about the fires of hell? They are unquenchable! They never can be extinguished. However, what power does the Holy Spirit give us in the shield of faith? The power to extinguish the flames of hell! Wow! By being a faithful and trustworthy servant of the Lord, you can literally take the power of hell and render it powerless! Satan has no power or authority over your life.

Submit yourselves, then, to the God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

The protection that the Spirit of God provides for us is absolutely captivating of the heart. We can see this protection played out in the word “shield” itself.

What is a Shield?

The Greek word for shield is “thyreos”, and is rooted in the word “thyra”, which means a door, entrance, or gate. Although “thyra” is only used a few times in the New Testament, we can learn a lot about it from the tenth chapter of John’s gospel.

“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.”

John 10:1-2

Further down in that passage we see Jesus make the statements that he is the gate (thyra), and that he is also the good shepherd. Think about this illustration of us as the sheep and Jesus as the gate and the good shepherd. The purpose of the entrance was for the shepherd to lead the sheep out into the pastures where we could feed on the grass and be refreshed by the cool waters of the streams. Then, the shepherd would lead the sheep back into the pen at night where he then adds protection over us while we rested. What a beautiful illustration of our Lord Jesus.

What we can also see here is that a gate (or a shield) is meant to give us protection and security from the wolves and other predators that exist beyond the pen. In Christ – with the shield of faith – we have that protection. That is why our faith needs to be put into action because Jesus lived his life to show us how to do that. He lived for the will of the Father at all times. He lived, not to just wish people well, but to meet their needs, both physically and spiritually. He told us to overcome, as he had overcome. Jesus showed us that it was possible to extinguish the flames of the evil one because he did it in the desert, with his love, on the cross, and even with the stone that was rolled away as he rose from the dead. That is why Paul wrote in the book of 1 Corinthians:

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

What is God’s View of Me?

What we are learning here today is that faith is not just something to “have”, but rather to put into action as we are led by the Spirit of God. We have learned that without Christ, it is impossible to fulfill our purpose. As it is written:

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Philippians 1:27

Paul also wrote in the book of 2 Timothy:

What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

2 Timothy 1:13-14

let’s first mention that the word “conduct” from Philippians above is a word that means, “to fulfill one’s duty”. Our purpose. Our faith, lived out in this life, which can show the people around us that the power of hell can be extinguished by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. But it isn’t enough to just talk about. Instead, we must conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Worthy. Trustworthy. Faithful. The shield of faith. Are you starting to see how it’s all connected?

But to think we can do any of this without Christ Jesus, is foolishness. As I mentioned at the very start of this video recap, “You cannot do it. Not alone you can’t. In Christ, however, victory it not just a hope, it’s a reality! That is why we say on this website: Christ is sufficient and love is enough! Why do we think we need so many other things in life when we have a mighty and powerful savior who can take the sting out of death and extinguish the flames of hell in your life?

Today, it’s time to get our focus on what’s important, and it isn’t the world’s views, politics, schemes and agendas, man’s best laid plans, church denominations, works-based systems, or anything else that we feel is important. God made it very simple for us: Christ is king and he is the key to unlocking our spiritual shackles and being set free into a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. Today needs to be the day we focus on that, and put our faith into action, not because by doing some works we’re going to buy our way into heave, but because we are being led by the Spirit of the Most High God and his work always produces a good fruit-bearing tree.

What’s Next?

If you’re uncertain about your next step in faith, Contact us today. We would love to know how we can better serve you in prayer, answer your questions, and help you grow in Christ.

Because in the end, Christ is sufficient, and His love is enough.

Let us live faithfully. Let us take up the Shield of Faith.