In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16

I wonder how many times I’ve dismissed a spiritual battle as something else, something I can handle on my own.

“Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that…But most people do not believe this in their hearts. Most people show by their priorities and their casual approach to spiritual things that they believe we are in peacetime…Few reckon that Satan is a much worse enemy than any earthly foe, or realize that the conflict is not restricted to any one global theater, but is in every town and city in the world.” – John Piper

As we noted in an earlier devotional, we are at war whether we recognize it or not, so when Paul tells us to “take up the shield of faith” he is first reminding us as to who our shield is because the imagery is not only familiar in his description of a soldier ready for battle, but Paul is confident in who God is –

But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high (Psalm 3:3).

Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him (Proverbs 30:5).

And so we can be assured of God’s protection even when we face those flaming arrows from the evil one.

Our faith in God is not some kind of magical, hocus-pocus kind of faith. It is dependence and trust that He is able to keep His word and the only way to build our personal faith is to intentionally invest time with God. I’m sure we all know what that means, but will we make the time today to build up our faith?