“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;”
Dear people of God, in the first part of this post, we saw how faith determines the outcome Christians experience in their daily lives.
We also saw that faith comes from hearing the Word of God and this means the Word of God is non-negotiable for the Christian who would make significant progress in life.
In today’s main text above, Christians are advised to take the shield of faith with which they would be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked one, the devil.
How does the devil shoot his fiery darts? Through negative thoughts that take root in the heart when accepted from a spoken negative word externally, through dreams and even incantations. As long as the Christian is alive in this world, the devil would keep shooting his fiery darts with a view to breaking down the person, causing discouragement and then sin against God.
This is why the Bible says the thief (devil) comes JUST to steal, kill and destroy – John 10:10a.
The Bible tells us today that it is through faith that the Christian would successfully quench ALL the fiery darts of the devil.
You can see again that a Christian cannot afford to live without faith. Faith shows itself both in the Christian’s words and actions.
When the words and actions are wrong, then faith is not present and this gives room for the devil’s fiery darts to hurt the Christian. This is why when a Christian has a nightmare and does not counter it immediately using the Word of God and prayers, that dream would certainly manifest to cause pain and tragedy.
This would also happen when the Christian reacts in fear to the nightmare instead of praying to take authority to cancel the dream in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God – Romans 10:17.
This, again, reinforces the necessity for the Word of God in the life of every Christian.
Just as the human body cannot do without physical food, so the soul (mind, will and emotion) cannot do without spiritual food, which is the Word of God – James 1:21.
When you starve yourself of spiritual food, the Word of God, you again expose yourself to danger from the devil’s fiery darts.
You can see from verse 17 of Ephesians 6 that the Word of God is called the Sword of the Spirit. The implication here is that every time you declare the Word of God over any situation, the Spiritual Sword it carries as an offensive weapon cuts through to disrupt the sinister plans and schemes of the devil and his agents that brought about that situation.
So don’t make the mistake as a Christian to believe that you can successfully overcome the devil without God’s Word. Don’t also make the mistake as a Christian of believing that you can successfully handle problems physically because as a Christian, you have left the devil’s camp into God’s camp.
This automatically makes you the devil’s arch-enemy and he would go all out to cause havoc in your life.
The Good News is that the Lord Jesus Christ has given every Christian victory over the devil at the Cross of Calvary when He shed His precious blood to die for our sins when He said “it is finished.”
This is evident from Colossians 2:15 (NKJV), “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He (Jesus Christ) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
Three days later, Jesus Christ our Lord rose from the dead to confirm that He is Messiah and Lord over all.
In declaring the Word of God over any situation, what you are doing is not engaging in warfare with the devil as many Christians believe. What you are simply doing is enforcing your God-given victory in Christ Jesus.
You can again see why you cannot afford to be ignorant of God’s Word as a Christian. Since it is unto you according to your faith and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then you must study the Word of God to know your rights and enforce them by prayer and declaration over nasty situations in your life.
Whenever you have a prayer request, ensure you have a Scripture backing it otherwise you would be praying amiss, wasting your own time and wondering why God is not responding.
Dear friend, a Christian has many benefits including total victory over the devil and his agents because of God’s love for Christians. These benefits are clearly stated in God’s Word in the Holy Bible.
A non-Christian unfortunately, cannot access these same benefits for as long as he or she remains a non-Christian.
Immediately he or she becomes a Christian, these God-given benefits/rights are conferred upon the Christian.
Wouldn’t you rather be a Christian if you are not yet one?
There are eternal benefits for every person who dies a Christian – eternal life in Christ and complete freedom from pain and sorrow of any sort – Revelation 21:3-4.
Unfortunately, again, a non-Christian cannot access these eternal benefits until he becomes a Christian.
Finally, professing Christianity is not a guarantee to these benefits. You MUST live a life in righteous obedience to God’s commands in the Bible.
God would never compromise His standards for any one. You are either for Him or against Him but the decision is yours by the lifestyle you choose.
A Word is enough for the wise.
May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Righteous Name, Amen.
Gabriel Ama.
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