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In this
passage of Scripture, Paul exhorts us to be shod.
Shod is the past tense and past
participle of shoe. In Paul's day, the
centurion soldiers had to march over
sharp stones. The enemy
also would put down sharp,
wooden spikes that stuck up just above ground
level. If a soldier came by with no shoes on, he
wouldn't get far. His feet would get punctured, bleed,
swell, and make the soldier unfit for the battle.
The proper shoes were very important.
The sandals they wore had to be sturdy, strong, light weight, and
able to give the Roman Centurion good traction. Those
shoes had long pieces of leather that had to be wrapped
and wrapped properly, which was very time consuming. If
they came loose in battle, the Centurion could trip,
fall, and be easily defeated. Therefore, these
sandals had to be properly put on ahead of time.
If the trumpet sounded the call to
battle, they had to be ready at a moment's notice.
They always had to be prepared.
An older preacher said to me many years ago, "Bro. Freeman, stay ready,
to keep from having to get ready." Back then, I didn't
really understand what he was saying, but now I know.
He was saying, "Keep your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace."
In spiritual warfare, the child of God must be ready to obey and move at
any moment. We must stay in a certain mode, and at a
certain level at all times. We never know when the
Spirit of God might say, "I need
to use you NOW. This is the season for a word
of Encouragement; a Witness; a Sermon; a Prayer."
We should not answer by saying, "Sorry, Lord! I'm
not prayed up!"
Preparation to carry the gospel is not always easy. Sometimes it
can be a very long, and lonely road.
Preparation can cost you some
sleep, missed meals, loss of some friendships, and the
loss of some worldly, time consuming interests.
A little girl who was a great piano player, playing before thousands at a
time was asked, "What a gift. How did you do it?" Her
reply was, "I missed a lot of good times in order to
prepare." They said, "Good times you may have missed,
but what a great piano player you are."
To get to a place in God whereby we are "thoroughly furnished unto all
good works" is not going to just drop in our laps. It
takes preparation.
Whatever gift, gifts, or talents that God has given to
you needs to be trained, exercised, and watered in
prayer in order to be perfected. What you
do in secret, God will reward you openly.
With the proper preparation, there is nothing that
we can't do or accomplish for the Kingdom of God.
It's the lack of proper preparation that gives
the devil the upper hand in many Christian's lives.
As long as the devil can paralyze you with the fear of losing
this and that, and the danger of death, you won't go far
in God. With fear in your life, you won't be a
successful soldier. However, once you put on this piece
of the armor called the preparation of the gospel of
peace, and your soul is armed for both danger and death,
then you will have become a spiritual force to be
reckoned with. When you are
willing to risk life and limb to follow Jesus every step
of the way, you become a serious threat to the devil and
his kingdom.
If you can get to a place in life whereby you can prepare your heart,
mind, and soul to overcome the fondness for life and the
fear of death then you can be a mighty force for God.
Many Old and New Testament saints
were so prepared with the gospel of peace that danger,
death, and loss of personal possessions took a back
seat. When their walk with God put them in
harms way, they pressed on, counting it a privilege to
suffer for His Name.
Paul knew he was going to die, yet the devil
could not steal one crumb of his joy. He
said, "the time of my departure is at hand"
(2 Tim. 4:6). Yet he could
still write and encourage others by saying, "Rejoice in
the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice"
(Phil. 4:5).
When you get to a place in God whereby you can glory in the midst of the
furnace (even when things are not working like
they should), it is an awesome place to be in. When
you're in that place, the devil knows that he has a
problem with you.
Are your shoes on? Are
you ready to march?
Preparation is the Christian's spiritual readiness. The Gospel
calls us to stand ready
for God's service, whatever the cost! |
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Shield
of Faith
"Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked."
Ephesians 6:16 |
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In
Paul's day, the Centurions carried a large shield,
because the enemy had super
sharp darts that were dipped in a flammable liquid.
These darts were very destructive, and were hurled at
them from all directions. In warfare, these soldiers did
not run at the enemy with just their breastplates on,
but it was the shield that was built especially for
those fiery darts.
In spiritual warfare, the devil has in his arsenal, things also called
fiery darts.
These darts are designed for one purpose. They are
for believers. Beloved, the good news of the Gospel
is this - we are not to fear these
fiery darts. We've been
fitted with a shield that these darts cannot penetrate.
No matter what the devil does or tries to do, his
attack is no match for the shield of faith. This
shield is something that we must be ready to take up at
a moment's notice.
The opposite of FAITH is FEAR.
A soldier who is so preoccupied with fear is not going
to be good in combat. Fear is one
of the devil's main weapons. When you are
fearful of something you lose strength and boldness, and
you also lose sight of your objective, because your
attention is focused on your fear.
The devil would love to put some area of fear in you to preoccupy
you, so you will back off from seeking God and getting
to place whereby you can tear his kingdom down.
Therefore, he attempts to distract you with fear.
What is the shield of
faith?
The shield of faith is a counter or a quick
application of the Word of God
in answer to every fear, doubt,
and unholy suggestion that the devil hurls at us.
When the enemy comes, you've got to learn to hold up
statements of faith from the Word of God. This will
cause the devil's darts to fall at his feet.
In the Old Testament, Abraham was really going through. God had changed
his name from Abram to Abraham. Abraham means father of
many, but at the time he had no child. Those around him
knew what the name change signified. For twenty four
years, can you imagine the doubts, stares, and the
sneers. During this time, God was his comfort.
The Lord said, "Abraham, I Am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1).
In other words, "Abraham, keep
your eyes on Me. Stay with the promise!"
Abraham kept the shield of faith up, and prevailed against all the
fiery darts of the wicked. "Against hope he
believed in hope. And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body now dead, when he was about
an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's
womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he
was able also to perform" (Rom.
4:18-21).
The devil shoots his fiery darts of
fear and doubt by saying:
♦
You aren't saved
♦ God isn't going to heal you
♦ God's not going to save your children
♦ You're not coming out of this bad situation
♦ This work you're trying to do in His name is
not going to prosper
♦ You're not going to get that raise, etc., etc.!
We must respond to these fears and doubts with specific Scriptures of
faith from the Word of God. We must hang on in
faith to the Word of God no matter how long it takes.
To quench all the fiery darts of the devil,
there are three things we must never forget:
1. God loves me!
Calvary shows me His love, care, and concern.
2. God has the big
picture of my life. He sees the past, present,
and the future.
3. He has the power
to see to it that all things work together for my good
and His glory.
Therefore, I hold up the shield of faith in the face of adversity,
believing God to exceed every expectation, and bring me
out More Than A Conqueror!
Amen |
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►Be sure to
continue on to Spiritual Warfare
Study #4
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