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The shield of faith

Perhaps the most intriguing line of the apostle Paul’s famous words about the armor of God is this: “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16).

Why would Satan fire flaming arrows at you? Maybe because, as some scholars have suggested, a flaming arrow could cause a soldier to drop his protective wooden shield.

This is why the devil loves the lies that tempt you to put down your faith, to discard that childlike trust in the Bible and its ultimate truth. “Doesn’t science prove the Bible to be mistaken?” “Would God really say the things the Bible says about sexuality and marriage?” “A God of love would never support the Bible’s teaching on hell.” Those “arrows” have left all too many souls Bible-less, Christ-less, and defenseless.

Some historians believe that Roman soldiers soaked their shields in water before a battle so fiery arrows couldn’t set them ablaze. In a similar way, faith in Jesus can “extinguish all the flaming arrows” of Satan’s half-truths. Jesus himself taught us that the “word is truth” (John 17:17) and a Jesus who died for us would never lie to us.

Take up the shield of faith, and you’ll stay standing the next time the devil fires an arrow at your soul.