The Whole Armor Of God - The SHIELD Of Faith

"Above All, taking the Shield of faith, werewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.", Eph 6:16. Okay, up to this point I have shared about being strong in the Lord, being able to stand, having done all to stand, applying Truth to our lives, living out righteousness in our lives, being a living testimony of the Gospel, and how those first three pieces of the Armor of God were in fact attributes of us in Christ; now I bet you are wondering how I will share that these next three pieces of the Armor are Attributes of God; especially this next one. Well to be quite honest, so am I; it seems that God is showing me things 'on a need to know basis'; because to be perfectly honest, if I would have know over a week ago what He has shown me this morning, I might have chosen another subject. Remember when I said in the first segment, "Do I dare to go down this road", well I might not have dared to; because this is life changing stuff. Lets remember the basic theme of what I have been sharing; Application; Application; Application; each and every part of this armor must be applied to our lives; and on all levels of the Application. With this passage of scripture, we must look at three very important things that I believe God is pointing out here. You might notice I said God and not Paul, because I believe that this word is the Word of God, and He is wanting to point something out. The first thing I want to point to is the beginning; "Above All"; when I looked this up in my 'Zodhiates', "Word Study Dictionary", there were four complete pages of definitions, (1909- Strongs ref. number). Let me share a couple of these definitions with you: besides all this, power, authority, the basic foundation, shout out, astonishment in connection to something that takes place, and much, much more. The next thing we need to look at is the Shield Of Faith; this is none other than The Mighty, Powerful, Unfailing, Unchanging, Everlasting God that we serve. That's right; He is our shield and our strength; our Mighty Deliverer in times of need; and when it comes to fighting off the powers of wickedness, we need Him. The final thing we will see pointed out; "all the fiery darts of the wicked". God has shown me something that made me quake this morning as I prayed; these fiery darts are so real; and they are nasty, destructive, cancerous things that destroy lives, families and churches; we can not mess around when it comes to being able to"quench all" of them, every last one. These things are like a Trojan, Worm or a Virus is to a computer; spreading to all areas; infecting each and every function; they can just keep popping up; and they need to be rooted out and dealt with. Now, lets start putting this all together and applying it all to our lives. First off, remember that we are seated in Christ; but for this application we need to go back to,"being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might"; He is our strength in time of weakness. Sometimes we just need to "Shout Out To God"; for our God is mighty to save. Remember what a shield is used for: protection, shelter, something to hide behind; and then apply to that: the Authority of God, the Power of God, and His Might to deliver. Secondly, as we walk in Christ; there are people in and around us that depend on us to be "Strong In The Lord", and to not let sin take root in our lives. I was given a picture this morning of King David; how the sin he had in his life was able to destroy and kept destroying, way after the sin had been committed. His sin had lead him to neglect some really critical parts of his life; namely the rearing of his children; man were they messed up. Ammon rapes his sister Tamar; Absalom kills Ammon; Absalom takes his fathers wives for all to see; and on and on the fiery darts spread their fire. We need to ever be so vigilant as we take up the Shield of Faith to protect those we care about the most; knowing that the fiery darts of the wicked, (sin also is wicked!), can destroy more than we can see or realize. There needs to be an intersection on our part; to take back the ground given over to the enemy; to declare that the enemy has no jurisdiction in our lives, and that God has the victory already won; after all, "The Battle Belongs To The Lord". Finally, We Must Stand; Having Done All To Stand!!!! (OMG) Please help me Jesus!!! Now, we will look at Faith; this Application is very important, and one that a lot of believers do not want to even consider; especially those that are leaders in the church. But we must remember that we are ONE BODY of BELIEVERS, and in order to stand, we need to stand as one. Picture this if you can; you are in the Roman Army, on the battlefield facing the enemy; you and your fellow solders are lined up side by side and at least three rows thick. The enemy is firing arrows at you, but not directly; no, they are firing these arrows up into the air, so that they come down onto you from above. So in order to defend yourself and your fellow solders from the attack, you must form your shields together; from the very foot and up over the highest head. Now that you have that picture; think about yourself being part of the Body of Christ, and all those other solders are also part of His Body; and you are bound together in Christ to be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Do you understand the implication here? Do you see the Application? Failing to do this one has toppled complete ministries!!! When we have sin in our lives that is gaining a stronghold there, we must get help from our brothers and sisters in the Lord!!! This is so hard to do, but it must be done; because these fiery darts destroy lives, families and ministries, more than we can see or realize. "Having Done All To Stand; Therefore Stand!" (next is the Helmet of Salvation)