(Ephesians 6:16 King
James Version)
(16) Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked.
“Above
all”; that about sums up the vital importance of this piece of armour. The
Apostle Paul clearly tells us what it is.
Hebrews 11:1
Murdock
(1)
Now faith is the persuasion
of the things that are in hope, as if they were in act; and [it is] the
manifestness of the things not seen.
Wow!
What a Revelation! What a Translation! What a Shield! The Shield of Faith is
one of the defensive-attacking pieces of the armour. Faith is according to the
content of God’s Word in you, your faith can never rise above what you have
seen and heard of God.
“Faith is the greatest asset
in the Kingdom of God. In the School of Faith, the Word is the fuel for flight,
because it is Word-based. When faith is born in your heart, it makes your heart
to burn; you will be assaulting the devil everywhere!”
(Gabriel Israel (Rev.) April 28th, 2012)
Make
no mistakes, the devil is going to come against you with all he’s got, there
will be fiery darts, there will be evil attacks; but your faith is the “quencher”.
Faith doesn’t mean to “have hope for something better”, Faith is not “positive thinking
or talking”, Faith has nothing to do with “motivational speeches”, Faith is not
even “simply believing”; Faith is
believing and acting on the Word of God, reckoning it as the only Truth that
holds, irrespective of circumstances. Faith is a land of no return. There
are no “ifs” in faith, there are not “buts” in faith, there are no “maybes” in faith; when you start in
faith, you are ready to die in faith! Faith has no alternatives, there is no
such thing as a “Plan B”.
To
walk by Faith is to be eternally married to the Word, looking ONLY unto Jesus,
the Author and Finisher of OUR FAITH. To walk by Faith is to look vertically,
and when we see JESUS, full of Grace
and Truth, Faith becomes EFFORTLESS!
Because:
Romans 4:16 King James
Version
(16) Therefore it is of faith, that it might be
by grace; to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
The Shield of Faith drives the devil mad; Keep
using it, don’t stop using it!
Ephesians 6:17
Literal Translation of the Holy Bible (LITV)
(17) Also, take "the helmet of salvation,"…
Now,
a Helmet is made for the Head.
Christ is the Head of the Church. Technically,
we shouldn’t be getting a Helmet, because we are not a Head, we are the “Body
of Christ”, we’ve got nothing to do with a helmet!
So,
what is Apostle Paul saying?
Salvation
came from a Saviour; Jesus Christ. We were saved by Grace (Ephesians 2:8).
Therefore, the Helmet of salvation is
the Helmet of Grace. The Apostle Paul is actually telling you: “Carry Grace on your head!” This is why
we preach Grace so radically; we have carried it on our head! We have already
received salvation in our spirits, so the Apostle is not telling us to take up
what we already are! We do not “have”
salvation, we are saved. Salvation is not our “possession”, it is our state!
The
word Salvation as used here is from the Greek word sōtērion which means “defence,
saving, the hope of future salvation”. It is an all-encompassing word
that speaks about a total package of God’s Grace available in Christ; Salvation
means our spirits have been saved (Ephesians 2:8), our minds are being
saved (Romans 12:2), and our bodies will be saved (2
Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:52-53).
The Helmet of
Salvation is the Helmet of the Grace of Jesus Christ; Take advantage of it!
Ephesians 6:17 Young’s
Literal Translation
(17) “…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the saying of God,
Hebrews 4:12-13 Weymouth
New Testament
(12) For God's Message is full of life and
power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the
severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the
marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.
(13) And no created
thing is able to escape its scrutiny; but everything lies bare and completely
exposed before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
The
Sword (SpokenWORD) is the Saying! And the saying is sharper than the
sharpest two-edged sword! When we talk
the Word, we wield the Spirit’s Sword, because the Word of God in the lips of faith
is God talking! This is big!
No
wonder Jesus said:
Mark 11:23 King James
Version
(23) For verily I say
unto you, That whosoever shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall
not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith
shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith.
When you wield the Spirit’s
sword in faith, whosoever can have whatsoever! It doesn’t matter the
situation, don’t talk about it, speak to it! Don’t talk the news, speak the
Word. Don’t talk the Economic situation, speak the Word. Don’t talk the doctors’
report, speak the Word. Don’t re-echo the lecturers’ verdict, speak the Word.
You feel a pain in your body? Use the Sword. They said the scan showed a
Tumour? Perform an operation with the Sword!
Nothing
and no one is impervious to the sword of the Spirit; Keep saying it, don’t stop
talking it!
Cheer up brethren; The SWORD
works!
So,
there you have it, the six-piece Armour suit. And I’m sure you have noticed that are all intertwined into each other,
and one cannot work without the other. Truth stirs up Faith, The Gospel we
preach is the Sword of the Spirit, and Righteousness is a product of salvation.
But even more striking is
that all of the pieces of the Armour point to one person: JESUS.
Now here comes the “Plot
Twist”! Let’s take it Higher!
Someone
might have asked: “How do we put on the whole Armour of God?” Well, I believe that’s
the wrong question! A more appropriate question would be “How do we use the Armour of God?
Because, incase you haven’t noticed, YOU ALREADY HAVE THE ARMOUR ON! How, you
may ask. I’ll tell you.
Christ
is the Head, We are His Body. HE IS NOT
OUR BODY, in the sense that we didn’t just gather ourselves together and “form
a Body of Christ”; He formed us, we are His Body. And that’s why our Body is
His Body, because His Body is our Body! Therefore, to put on the Armour of
God in the sense of putting on clothes would be a little misleading and
suggesting that Christ has no Armour on!
But
again, that is also True, because the Truth is; CHRIST IS THE ARMOUR OF GOD! That’s why Apostle Paul didn’t say Put on
the “Armour of Christ” or the “Armour of Jesus”, because Christ is the Armour
of God!
Because:
He is the TRUTH (John 14:6)
He has been made unto us
RIGHTEOUSNESS (1 Corinthians 1:30)
He is the GOSPEL we preach
(The Gospel of Christ) (Romans 1:16)
He is the Author and
Finisher of our FAITH (Hebrews 12:2)
He is the Saviour, whose
Grace that brought SALVATION (Matthew
1:21, Titus 2:11)
He is the Living WORD which
we speak (John 1:1, 14, Revelation
19:11-13)
WOW,
Just WOW! No wonder He is the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega (and
everything in between), Full of Dignity and Humility, Tough, yet not Harsh,
Tender, yet not weak, patient and passionate, perfected perfect perfection and
the sum total of Deity all in one being; He is All in All! (Revelation
1:8, 17-18, Colossians 2:9)
JESUS!
Finally
brethren, Just incase you are wondering why Love is not a part of the armour,
It’s because GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:16). The armour of God is
the Armour of Love, and when it comes to Love, we don’t discuss an armour, we
discuss a Nature and a Person. Love is
who we are, not what we use!
Enjoy using your Armour!
There’s more, in 7 days!
Yours Truthfully,
PeeJay
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