The Shield of Faith

# 4 of 6

A soldier's shield was one of the most important pieces of his equipment. The Greek Spartan values his shield even more than his spear or sword. A shield was often made of wood to make it light weight and coated with bronze or iron to deflect most attacks. Shields varies in size depending on the role. Later, as armies discovered the shields were made of wood, they would unleash piercing arrows lit on fire. This would penetrate the soft coating of bronze, and the fire would burn through the wood frame of the shield. And with the shield gone, by the time armies clashed, the soldier was open to take a blow. So to counter that, Romans in particular would wrap thier shields in leather instead of bronze and soak the leather in water. This would extinguish the fiery arrows upon contact.

A shield was often carried on the back and brought out when in the combative stance. Simply carrying a shield meant nothing. It needed to be out and ready for use, or it didn't do its job. In order for a soldier to be protected, he needed to put his whole body withing the confides of the shield. Often, armies would launch volleys of arrows, sometimes so many it appeared it would blot out the sun. If any part of the body stuck out from the shield, it was hit.

As Christians, our faith is our shield. What is Faith? Hebrews defines it as the hope for the things unseen, an assurance that what is not happening now is going to happen and the mindset that is it already done. Faith is not just belief. Faith requires an object. You can believe anything you want. Flying is a great example. I can believe that an airplane will fly. I can stand on the run way, believe it will fly, but I don't really know that it will until I see it happen. But I exercise faith when I step into the airplane and take off.

Jesus said if we had faith the size of a mustard seed... People always talk about having more faith. Jesus wasn't saying we needed more faith. He was saying we had no faith whatsoever. He was drilling the point that it is not the amount of faith, but the object of what we are putting our faith in. If our faith is in Jesus, no matter how much it is, we will be able to say to this mountain move, and it will move.

Faith also has no doubts. You must be 100% behind the object of your faith or it is not protecting you. Doubt is when you don't trust your shield to protect you, so you look for other shelter. When we doubt God's Word, we are actually seeking the protection of something other than God from the evil in this world. Trust God and know that he will protect you from the fiery darts the enemy throws at us. The shield doesn't work until the arrow or the sword actually hits it. And we always jump right before. Stay behind the Shield of Faith and it will stand against any blow it receives.

Next post is the Sword of the Spirit