THE SHIELD OF FAITH

Paul, an apostle, wrote to the Ephesian church: “In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (6:16) 

In this chapter, Paul is describing ‘the full armor of God’ (6:11) and we ‘can stand against the schemes of the devil.’ He is using the analogy of the complete armor of a Roman soldier describing each piece of the armed and prepared soldier.

The Roman shield was wide and tall enough to cover the body completely. ‘A Roman soldier’s shield was made of multiple layers of hide woven tightly, stretched over wood, and reinforced by iron edging. If not correctly taken care of, the hide would become brittle and break, leaving wood exposed for fiery darts to hit. 
The soldiers rubbed oil on their shields so they stayed pliable and kept them damp with water to quench any fiery darts that hit. How do you take care of your shield of faith? Like a Roman soldier’s shield, it needs oil and water.’

For our faith to hold strong we need Oil: a constant anointing of the Holy Spirit, and we need Water: “The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” (John 7:38) and ‘washing of water by the word,’ (Ephesians 5:26). We want our faith to be strong and flaming-arrow proofed, a devil-proofed shield.

Faith shrinks or expands according to our courage.

“I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” Jesus