The Hidden Strength: How Faith Acts as a Shield in Turbulent Times

Written by: Josh Hellman | Published: January 23, 2024

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A lot of the spiritual armor of God goes hand in hand. You don’t see too many armies ready for battle where their soldiers only have pieces of the set instead of the whole armor. You need the whole set to best the enemy and fight your best. One of the first things you notice, however, is the armor of God is not us fighting it’s from God. So really we just need to follow God and He will protect us. This doesn’t mean we don’t need to get into the word or pray or anything like that, it simply means we go about our lives in full obedience to God and His will and He will protect us as we go into the battle. The helmet is salvation which comes through Jesus’ death which we believe He did for us, the belt is the truth which God has spoken to us so we read it, the boots are the Gospel which is us expressing to others what He has done for us, the breastplate is righteousness which He adorns us with because of His actions, the sword is God’s Spirit cutting through our enemies, and the shield, which we are talking on today, is having faith in all of those things so we can press forward into the battle. The verse also says to pray at all times in the Spirit, which seems like it’s about us but really it’s about us giving our worries and concerns over to God for Him to deal with. It’s having an open communication with God believing He will take care of the problem.

Faith is what keeps us from being hit by the attacks of the enemy. A shield helps deflect arrows being shot at a soldier and also helps deflect sword attacks as well. This means whether the attacks are far off and easier or close up and more intense we have a shield in the faith we place in Christ to help us overcome them. Sometimes the enemy shoots a volley of arrows at you and we need to dig in and let our shield do the work. It is very hard work even placing our trust into God when all things seem to be working against us but God lets our faith be perfected. This means we will be placed in situations or endure hardships where the worries of this world and our flesh will try to distract us from our belief in God and His goodness. It’s in these times of attacks we are to remember God’s promises for us. It’s not about our circumstances but rather who God is no matter the circumstances which surround us.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
¹⁸ As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

2 Kings 6:15-18

It’s interesting that the Bible says fiery arrows. It paints a picture, in my mind, of being pierced by an arrow but then the weapon continues to burn inside us if we let it. This is why faith is important so we don’t give a place for the enemy to destroy us. Again, this piece of armor goes back to us placing our faith in Christ and what He has done for us and God and everything we know about Him to be true. This can be a sticking point to a lot of people who think they believe because why would a good and loving God let His creation let alone His chosen sons and daughters go through hardship? We see in the Bible we are guaranteed to go through pain and troubles and Paul writes consistently about how our faith will build us up to be content in all situations because we know God is still Lord and Savior. We know God is still good even when our flesh doesn’t want to believe it, even when Satan and his minions try to whisper trash in our spiritual ears.

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1-2

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