Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16
“Lift up”reminds us that it is a choice to pick up the armor. We must daily choose to believe the God is who He says He is, has done what He said and will do what He promised to do.
Where does this faith come from? Are we responsible to summoning it up? The Bible teaches that faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God. It is the systematic, verse-by-verse study of the Bible that builds and increases faith.
Within the verse we are given information about our enemy, namely that he wants to turn up the heat. He will be attacking us with flaming arrow intended to catch fire and burn us.
Before a battle, the Roman soldiers would soak their shields in water to reduce the risk of fire when the enemy soldiers shot at them with flaming arrows soaked with pitch or other flammable material. Not unlike those solider, our enemy wants to consume our faith with the fire of destruction and leave us without protection. But we can soak our shields in the water of the Word of God and make it much less likely that we will catch fire when the enemy shoots us with his arrows.
Faith in God is like a shield. It protects our vital organs, keeping us alive that we might stand until the end of the battle.
