Message Magazine’s Online Devotional for Thursday, March 24, 2016
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16).
Go back and read that verse. Did you notice anything strange? The darts that Satan launches at us are on fire! As if shooting exceedingly sharp arrows at us were not bad enough, the arrows that are coming our way are on fire.
When warriors of the Bible times shot arrows at their enemies, they often intensified the situation with juniper coals, which were of such quality as to create intensely hot fire when set ablaze (Psalms 120:4). I’m figuring that made a mess wherever it struck. Homes, crops, livestock, and people were all at risk for destruction. What the sharpness of the arrow did not destroy, the fire would certainly do the trick. So the well-equipped soldier has a shield and/or shield bearer to nullify the fiery darts of their enemies.
Do you feel assailed by the fiery darts of trials, tribulations, and temptations? Do you have the equipment to nullify their effects? The Bible says that a well-equipped soldier has faith as a shield. John said it this way: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4–5). Further, Paul said we are to be always “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). Faith, which has the ability to lay hold of the power of God, energizes us with the ability to overcome any fiery trial that comes our way. Jesus is the Originator and Perfecter of our faith.
Do you have your armor on?
