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 As promised, here is part 5 on the Armor of God: The shield of faith.

Ephesians 6:16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

I have a question for you. When Jesus came to live His Life within you and through you by the Presence, Person and Power of the Holy Spirit, did He somehow leave out any part of Who He is? No!

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 reads: “30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made Him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”

Our righteousness is Jesus; He is our wisdom’ He is our holiness; He is our salvation.

Now, read carefully.

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

I copied this passage from the King James Version, because it is the one translation that accurately translates this passage. Written, “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” may seem stilted or strange, but the original Greek is in the genitive tense, the tense of possession, to show you WHOSE faith the Apostle says we live by.

When Jesus came to live in you, He came to live out in you, His faith; His confidence in the Father in all things. Jesus lives His life in you. He IS your life and is your shield, Himself. He alone has defeated sin, death, hell and the grave. He, Himself is able to put out the fiery arrows the forces of spiritual darkness will fire at us.

People talk about having thoughts of suicide. I suspect that everyone, at one time or another, have had the feeling that life is overwhelming and ending it could be a viable answer to stopping what feels like madness. What I have come to believe is that the “thought” of suicide is not really a thought, but is “a flaming, fiery arrow”. Those arrows try and convince us that God is not faithful and that our feelings, our present sense of misery is what defines us and that we have no hope.

Those arrows, those thoughts, are demonically arrogant, trying to exalt themselves above the knowledge of God. God tells us that, having begun a good work in us, He will bring it to completion. Our shield is Jesus’ faithfulness. He is infinitely more trustworthy than how we feel or even what we think we see.

Jesus is, Himself, your shield of faith. His faithfulness is your shield!



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