Devotional
When you think of shields you might be thinking of Captain America. Nice round handheld shield that he could move around with ease. He could send it flying and it would come right back to him and protect him from flying shrapnel all in one fell swoop. But the thing about Captain America’s shield is if you put that thing in my hands it would do me no good. I am not that coordinated and my reflexes are way too slow to use that thing to the same level he did. If I am honest I would probably drop it on my foot before I could even use it to defend myself. You need some skill to actually use that shield. His shield is powerful in the right hands don’t get me wrong but if I just held that thing in front of me I would be pretty vulnerable to attack.
The shield that Paul is thinking of when he writes about the “Shield of Faith” is not like that. The shields the Romans used weren’t these little frisbee hand held things that you have to block attacks with. These were the size of doors. Soldiers would plant them in the ground in front of them and it would create a wall in front of their whole body, protecting them from all attacks of their enemy.
That is what Paul is looking for when he writes
"In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
Satan’s primary form of attack is lying to you. The Bible calls him the father of lies. He loves to twist words and make up scenarios and convince you of things that just aren’t true. He wants you to believe that God is ashamed of you, he wants you to believe that you can’t be forgiven or change any of your sin habits, he wants you to believe that there is no real truth or God worth following. He will throw lies at you to cause you to question your worth and your God given calling. Without defenses he will have us doubting God’s good character and believing God is holding out on us. We need a full body shield to block the attacks of the enemy and that shield is our faith in God.
All throughout scripture we see that faith is the key to our relationship with God. In Luke 8 a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years is healed just by touching Jesus’ cloak. Look at what he says to her
"Then he said to her, “Dear woman, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
And in Luke 7 a Roman commander had a servant who became sick so he sent people to ask Jesus’ to heal the servant. The commander knew that Jesus didn’t even need to see the servant to heal him so all he asked was that Jesus just say the word and he would be healed. Jesus was amazed by his faith.
"When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at the commander. Jesus turned to the crowd that was following him. He said, “I tell you, even in Israel I have not found anyone whose faith is so strong.” Then the men who had been sent to Jesus returned to the house. They found that the servant was healed."
Our faith in Jesus and His power is what saves us. When the enemy is throwing a million lies at us, when our friends are questioning our beliefs, when life falls apart. We need faith as a defense. We need to believe that the same God that was healing, saving and using people like us in the Bible is still our God today and He still has our back. That faith is what is going to protect us and give us the strength to get through life as a follower of Jesus. When we really believe that Jesus is who He says He is and we put our faith in Him, that changes everything about the way we live our lives and how we handle things.
The question is: What kind of faith do you have? Do you have an easy time putting your trust in Jesus or are you struggling to believe He cares for you. Let’s take a faith test and see where we need to grow. Answer these questions in your head and gauge how strong your shield of faith is
- When a friend or family member gets sick or is struggling, what is your first response? Is it to pray? Panic? Try and fix it?
- Do you genuinely believe that God has a plan for your life or does that just feel like something Christians say?
- If God’s plan for your life turns out different than you wanted it to would you trust that it was better or would you try to take matters into your own hands?
- If you felt God tell you to share your faith with a friend in school would you hesitate? Would you worry about what they'll say? Would you do it anyway or would your fears hold you back? Have they already held you back?
- When life seems to be falling apart do you tend to blame God or seek God’s help?
How’d you do? If you're like me you might not be feeling great about some of the answers to those questions. But let me be clear, the goal of this test is not to shame you or make you feel like your faith isn’t “good enough”. The whole point of this test is to help us realize where we are at with our faith and where we have room to grow. There is no shame, God is not looking down at you shaking His head because your faith is a little weaker. But I believe He does want us to grow it. He wants our faith to be stronger because He knows we need a strong shield against our enemy.
Faith is like a muscle that needs to be stretched to get stronger.
Break the ice
The zombie apocalypse is coming. Who are the three people (in this group) that you want on your team?
Small group questions
1. Read Hebrews 11:17-23, what did all these people have in common? What are some of the actions their faith drove them to do? Would you have a hard time living like them?
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. 20 It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau. 21 It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. 22 It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left. 23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
- What are some lies or attacks that Satan or the world might throw at us?
- Is there a lie from Satan about you or about God that you are prone to fall for?
- As we discussed our defense against those attacks is our faith in God. In your own words how do you define faith?
- Why do you think faith is our biggest defense in the face of these attacks?
- How do you feel like you did on the faith test?
7.Why do we want our faith to grow?
8.What are some things that can grow our faith?
Moving forward
Everyone has some growing to do when it comes to our faith and trust in God. So if you don’t feel like you did well on the faith test, don’t worry about it, all that does is show us what areas God might want to help us stretch our faith. That way we can learn to trust Him more and have a better defense against the enemy's lies. The best way to stretch your faith is by using it. When you are in a situation where you have to trust God your faith will grow. It will be difficult, just like growing any muscle, but it works. Let’s pray and ask God to help us stretch our faith and then let’s be prepared to trust and lean on God and each other when the situations come that require us to put our faith in God.
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