The Lord Our Shield
You wouldn’t want to be caught in battle without protection. A person can only dodge so many arrows before one finds its mark. As in any battle, our spiritual shields are effective only when we use them. We can use our shields in our battles against Satans attacks.
Deuteronomy 33:29
DT 33:29 Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you,
and you will trample down their high places.
“Israel” is synonymous with “The True Church”. With God on our side, nothing can stand against us.
If God Be for US, Who Can Be Against Us?
2 Samuel 22:2-4
2 He said: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;2SA 22:3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior--from violent men you save me.
Davids words of praise to God after defeating Saul. With God on his side he overcame great odds against him. His own son Absalom tried to kill him. David wrote these words as he fled from Absalom.
Psalm 3:1-3
PS 3:1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!PS 3:2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." Selah
PS 3:3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
David could have been depressed or overwhelmed by his enemies and family being against him, but instead his spirits are lifted because he knows God will deliver and protect him.
Frederick Nolan
Frederick was fleeing from his enemies in North Africa during a time of great persecution. Exhausted with no other place to hide he fell into a cave nearby and expected his enemies to soon find and kill him. As he lay there awaiting his death, a spider began weaving a web at the cave entrance. Within minutes, the little spider had woven a web across the opening of the cave. The pursuers arrived and wondered if Frederick were perhaps hiding in the cave. Upon seeing the web thought it impossible for him to have entered the cave. They moved on and continued their pursuit. Having escaped certain death, Frederick exclaimed
“Where God is, a spiders web is like a wall,
“Where God is not, a wall is like a spiders web”
You can easily get trapped where God is not there protect you. Trapped you are merely awaiting for your enemy to come devour you.
1 Peter 5:8
1PE 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
God’s Faithfulness:
God is like a soldier on guard duty in a war. He never falls asleep on watch. In the midst of a war zone, when it is a soldiers turn for guard duty there are times when their eyes may be so heavy they are tempted to take a quick nap. God is not like that. In the greatest war of all God is on duty 24/7, wide-awake to protect you from Satan and sin.
5th General Order-“I will quit my post only when properly relieved”
There is no one to relieve God from his post therefore he is always on watch over us.
Proverbs 30:5
PR 30:5 "Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him
Don’t expect God to save or protect you against things that are in his word.
Stupid Endangerments-Speeding, Drug Use, Sex
Protect or bless a business contrary to his holyness or plan
(Immoral or cheating people)
If you are born again, you have assurance of Salvation and going to Heaven. Thats not to say that you wont have trouble in this life.
1 Peter 1:3-7
1PE 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Is your faith made of gold or wood?--Fire purifies gold but destroys wood!
What do we do if God is silent in our trials?
On a wall in a cellar in Cologne, Germany, where Jews hid from Nazis, there was found an inscription. The anonymous author who perished with his fellow victims left behind these words, "I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when not feeling it. I believe in God even when he is silent.
Pastor Lloyd-”You may not always hear my voice, but you will always have my Spirit and my Word to guide you”
What hope do we have in facing the trials of this life while awaiting the next?
Ephesians 6:16
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The Shield of Faith is part of the Armor of God. Like any piece of armor it can get dented or damaged after so many battles. It requires maintenance to be kept in shape and prevent deterioration. (Army Maintenance)
How do we maintain our armor?
Prayer-Worship-Fellowship-Bible Study-Church
The Shield of Faith protects us from everything Satan can throw at us.
Closing
Satan may try to make us fearful in life, but we believe that because of our relationship with God, he will guide us and protect us in any situation. A lively faith in God protects us from all the arrows from our enemies. Don’t go into battle unarmed!
Theologians tell a story to illustrate how Christ’s triumph presently benefits our lives: Imagine a city under siege. The enemy that surrounds they city will not let anyone or anything in or out. Supplies are running low, and the citizens are fearful. But in the dark of the night, a spy sneaks through the enemy lines. He has rushed to the city to tell the people that in another place the main enemy force has been defeated; the leaders have already surrendered. The people do not need to be afraid. It is only a matter of time until the besieging troops outside the city receive the news of their defeat and lay down their weapons. Similarly, we may seem now to be surrounded by the forces of evil -- disease, injustice, oppression, poverty, marital strife and difficulties, and death. But the enemy has already been defeated at Calvary. Things are not the way they seem to be. It is only a matter of time until it becomes clear to all that the battle is really over.
Revelation 12:11,12
REV 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
REV 12:12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
