Ephesians 6:16 - The Faith That Quenches the Fiery Darts

Faith is not in ourselves. It is in the God of the Bible—the Godwho has made great and exceeding promises to us. We must choose to believethose promises. InPsalm 9:10 it says, “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You.For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who trust in You, who seek You.” Wecan only experience and know God by faith! His many names in the Bible revealHis attributes, His character, and the way He works with us. My friend, faithis not powerful because we are strong. Faith is powerful because God isfaithful. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 30:5 that: “Every word of God ispure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” Tohold up the shield of faith is to put ourselves under God’s protection. Thatmeans we are under God’s authority and any other authorities He has placed overour lives: Romans 13 reminds us, “Let every soul be subject to the governingauthorities, for there is no authority except from God. The authorities thatexist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists theordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” Inthis chapter Paul goes on to tell us in verse 13, “Let us walk properly asin the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not instrife and envy.” Notice especially verse 14: “But put on the Lord JesusChrist, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.” Thatis so powerful. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have talked about putting offthe old man and putting on the new man. Now we are talking about putting onChrist. Remember Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door.” When He saysHe is the door, that is a beautiful picture of a door-shield that is so bigthat it protects us. It keeps the enemy away from us. It shuts the devil out.But Jesus is also the door that we can go into and through, to live a life thatis full of the fullness of God Himself in us and through us—facing the trials,the temptations, and the problems of life. Faithtakes God at His Word. We believe God’s promises such as: “If God is for us,who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). James 1:17: “Every good gift andevery perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” Philippians 4:19:“God will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory in ChristJesus.” And then in Ephesians 1:3, we have already been “blessed withall spiritual blessings in Christ”. So when Satan whispers, “God is holdingout on you,” faith says, “No, God is always good.” When Satan says God doesn’tcare, faith says, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” When Satan saysyou will fall, faith says, “God is able to keep me from falling.” Myfriend, faith always wins over fear and worry. Faith always puts that shield ofprotection about us. Alsowe need to always remember what Jesus said in John 10:27–28 that His sheep willnever perish, and no one will pluck them out of His hand. That is security. Faithtakes hold of Christ. Faith puts on Christ. Then we make no provision for thelust of the flesh. My friend, we can find forgiveness. We find cleansing. Wefind the washing of the blood taking away every sin that the devil holdsagainst us, accuses us of, and tries to tell us we are not good enough. Becausein God’s sight, we have been justified through Christ and Christ alone—not byour goodness. 1John 5:4 sums it up: “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even ourfaith.” We are not fighting for victory. We are fighting from victory.Jesus Christ has already conquered the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our jobis to stand in that victory by faith. So today, by God’s grace, take up theshield of faith. Trust God’s Word, trust God’s character, trust God’s plan,trust God’s promises. And when those fiery darts come—and they will—remember,they will be quenched by God Himself. And you will be ready to walk that lifethat glorifies Him every day.