The Shield Of Faith

Many times the solders would link the shields together and push forward. One broken shield would stop the entire advance. A broken and useless shield meant a solder with out a defense and a gap the opposing army could penetrate.

In the same way we all are connected together by our faith. The unity of the church depends on all of us connecting our faith together to attack the enemy.

When one of us falls in battle it affects all of the others. When one refuses to obey God it weakens the entirety of the church.

The battle becomes much harder every time a believer shield fails.

The moral failure by one Christian has a tremendous effect on others.

The return to a sinful lifestyle creates a hole in the churches defenses that the enemy penetrates through to reach others.

When one person’s faith fails our own faith is tested and must work harder to gain the same result.

The person that says, MY walk is My walk and no one else’s business. Does not understand how we are all interconnected.

Any believer’s failure will affect family, friends and the entire church. You are such an important part of Open Door Church that our effectiveness in reaching people for Jesus Christ is connected to your personal shield of faith.

Maintaining the shield of faith is not just for self protection but also for maintaining the effectiveness of the entire church.

Maintaining Your Shield

The leather on the battle shields had to be treated or it would dry out, crack and eventually break. The Roman solder had to attend to it everyday.

It was required of the solder at first morning, before doing anything else; he was to oil the battle shield.

Any solder who ignored the care of his battle shield was risking death.

The Shield represents our faith. The Oil represents the Holy Spirit in scripture.

Faith must be addressed daily with the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. Without the anointing on your faith every day it will become brittle.

Believers will then go to the spiritual battlefield and find their faith will not sustain them.

The Roman solder would often get a pass to go home and visit, but his shield still had to be treated everyday.

He would leave his helmet, breastplate, and the rest of the uniform but he would take his shield with him ands oil it everyday.

Our faith demands that we drench it in the Holy Spirit frequently.

It is not enough the have been baptized in the Holy Spirit one time some years ago and then sit back and observe the work of the lord.

We need more than a once per month flowing of the Holy Spirit into our lives.

Daily oil the battle shied of faith

During the normal wear and tear of life can the anointing can fade. You don’t have to commit some sin. The anointing can just dry up without a fresh dip into the oil.

Preparing and Engaging

Along with the daily care of the battle shield we need to prepare the shield before we go into battle.

The Roman solder would soak the shield in water so the fiery arrows would be extinguished when they hit the shield.

Paul speaks of the flaming arrows that come against the Christian. It is these arrows that need to be extinguished.