The first part of this piece was published last Sunday. HERE
Shield of faith: Besides the breastplate, the soldier usually had a shield that he held in front of him during an attack from the enemy. This is primarily a defensive armor, and it allows the soldier great room for maneuvers. As believers, our shield from the spiritual fiery darts of the enemy is our faith. There is a common misunderstanding between the shield and the breastplate. The breastplate of righteousness protects your heart, out of which the issues of life flow, while the shield of faith helps you defend against attacks while you’re living that life.
For example, when you feel sick, you don’t just start quoting the scripture, “by His stripes, I was healed”, hoping to be healed, it won’t work. You have to get your heart to really believe what the scripture says, that’s putting on the breastplate of righteousness. The scriptures say, “…this is righteousness; that you believe…” This is necessary because, you might have some clinical knowledge of the disease, that might be a stronghold in your heart against faith. You destroy such strongholds with the word through meditation. When you’ve come to the point of faith and doubt has been conquered, that’s when you put on your sandals, that’s when you speak the word of God, which you now believe, TO your sick body. It is from this point on, that you will need to start using the word as a shield.
How do you use the word as a shield? Still using our example, you might touch your body, and there’s still high fever, a dart will be fired at you, something to generate doubt, whether the word you spoke is working. You raise your shield to block it, by saying the word to yourself. That’s how it works, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You say the word to yourself, not the situation, the shield defends you, it doesn’t attack the enemy. You have to understand that the arrow can come from any direction, not just towards your heart, where you can always shield with the same scripture that you used to put on your breastplate and your sandals.
For example, an arrow might be fired to remind you that you sinned against God yesterday, so how do you think you’ll get healed? Do the same thing, say a scripture that counters that to yourself.
Helmet of salvation: The helmet of salvation, still using our example of sickness, refers to the expectation you place on God, as a consequence of your faith in His word. You have to hold unto the hope for the appearance of the word you have spoken to your body. If you don’t expect God to appear as healing in your body, you won’t be healed. The word of God, which you’ve used to put on your breastplate, which is what you believe the word can do in your body, has become an altar in your heart, and on that altar, there should be an image of what you expect the word to achieve with your body. Expect to see that for real.
Remember, faith is the evidence of things HOPED for. So, there must be something hoped for, in order for faith to really work. A word of warning here; the heathen nations, in the Old Testament had images of different shapes, which they designed by themselves and placed on the altars as their gods. This is still in practice today. When people try to use visualisation to heal themselves, that’s exactly what they’re doing. Please don’t get caught up in that. You don’t have to visualize anything, just expect what the word of God said to come to pass, expect to see God appear as healing in your body, and allow that expectation to rule your thoughts and mind. Let your mind participate in the process, through expectations based on what the word has said. Look closely to that scripture in Ephesians, you’ll see it says, “take up”, which is to say, “receive”. You don’t have to create any image by yourself, just receive what the word has said.
Sword of the Spirit: This armour is usually misunderstood to some extent. It is the sword of the Spirit of God, not the sword of your human spirit. If you look closely, you will notice the capital ‘S’ in the ‘Spirit’. So, it’s not talking about what you do with the word of God, it’s talking about what the Spirit does with the word. Now, if you look closely again, you will notice that, just like the helmet of salvation, you were also asked to “take up” the sword of the Spirit, which means, to “receive” the Sword of the Spirit. It goes further to tell you that this sword of the Spirit, is the word of God. What does this really mean? The Holy Spirit will issue instructions to you from the word of God. He will tell you things to do, practical things. Things like what Jesus told the servants to do at the marriage feast, like what He told peter to do that night he didn’t catch any fish, like what God told Moses to do to the rock in order to give the Israelites water, like what the prophet told Naaman to do in order to be healed of his leprosy, seemingly ordinary actions that you may look down on, but nonetheless the key to your miracle. And the Spirit will always issue these instructions from the word of God. You will get this instruction as you watch and pray in the Spirit for the situation you’re facing, then when you get it, act on it and you will have your miracle. It might be one single instruction, or it might be more, but that’s the key to your miracle.
Ephesians 6:11-18 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Romans 10:10 “For with the heart a man believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth a man confesses resulting in salvation.”
Temitope Talabi is a founding member of The Trent Voices currently reside in Austin, TX. She graduated with a PharmD from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. She works as a community pharmacist and spends her spare time writing to build and encourage others through the word of God. Temitope is also currently working on a series of self-help books created to empower people to take charge of their health and wellness, the first of which is scheduled to be released early next year.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
