The Armor of GodSample

Throughout the history of warfare, one of the tactical practices designed for maximum disruption was the staging of a surprise assault using flaming arrows. These arrows, lit aflame at their ends, would flail through the air toward their intended targets (for example, the canvas wagons and tents of a military campsite), setting everything ablaze. 

And, man, was it effective. If enough of those arrows hit enough of those targets, the whole brigade of soldiers would be busy trying to quell the blaze before it burned through all their gear and supplies. Distracted by the flames, the men became vulnerable by becoming preoccupied, too distracted to deal with whatever follow-up attack their oncoming enemy was planning next. 

Flaming arrows were not primarily meant to kill or destroy; they were meant to distract. 

Your enemy wants to distract you, sister. So he can blindside you. And listen to me—he is not indiscriminately shooting these arrows of his. He is tailored in his strategy. He’s studied your tendencies and habits, your deepest fears and weaknesses, and has aimed at those areas in particular. He knows he can’t destroy you. You’re eternally secure in Jesus. But he fully intends to sidetrack your attention by setting any number of internal fires ablaze in your life—like insecurity, intimidation, anxiety, worry, or busyness. He wants you to be unfocused while he sneaks up from behind. 

In Ephesians 6, Paul conveys the belt, breastplate, and shoes as a spiritual uniform that should be worn by believers at all times. Minute by minute. Day by day. But with the shield of faith, he commands for it to be “taken up.” 

Look at it this way: A nurse might wear scrubs every day to work because it’s her uniform. But when the need arises, she will pick up a stethoscope, blood pressure machine, or any number of tools to use on her patient. Likewise, we must always wear our daily, divinely given uniform, but also be prepared to “take up” the others when required. 

The first of these pieces of armor is the shield of faith. The moment when we first sense a flaming arrow infiltrating our life in some way, we activate faith as a shield of protection over our lives. 

Don’t miss the irony here. The enemy sends flaming arrows into your life specifically when you are being called to walk in faith. Those arrows are deliberately intended to disable you from doing the only thing that has the power to extinguish them: walking in faith! Faith causes fiery arrows to fizzle. 

What is God asking you to do? Do it! In Faith.