Ephesians 6:16 (Part 5)
In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The shield that Paul was probably referring to was a Roman shield called Scutum. The shield was rectangular with a semi-round shape to reflect arrows from the front and sides to protect the soldier as much as possible. The arrows from the enemy comes in all sizes, purposely doused with tar which keeps the fire on the arrows while in the air to do maximum damage when it hits. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), we must continue to believe in the Lord and keep the faith regardless of our circumstances because Satan desires for us to curse God (Job 1:11), to abandon our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the shield of faith, the flaming arrows would hit your armor and splatter fire all over you causing you to drop your sword in order to put out the fire, making you vulnerable and susceptible to a kill shot.
When someone doubts the Lord’s faithfulness especially when one is going through extreme circumstances and they feel as if God has abandoned them, that person has dropped their shield and is in grave danger of their faith being hit by another flaming arrow, Anger, which turns into bitterness and from that to desperation, and from desperation to ungodly behavior, then finally cursing God (abandoning the faith). Jesus said in Luke 18:1, “He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.” No matter what happens, keep the faith for in so doing you will reap the benefit that the Lord has in store for you and for His glory and He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Spiritual Minefield 