Equipped To Stand - Session 7 - Brian Durfee

In this episode of the Equipped to Stand series, Brian Durfee explores the shield of faith from Ephesians 6:16, revealing how God equips His people to stand firm in the midst of spiritual warfare. Difficult seasons can often leave us feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, or uncertain, but the greatest battle is frequently not our circumstances themselves. Instead, it is the subtle lies the enemy whispers about God's character, His goodness, His faithfulness, and His promises. Scripture reminds us that the shield of faith is not a symbolic accessory or a passive idea. It is something believers are called to actively take up "in all circumstances," trusting that God is able to extinguish every flaming dart of fear, shame, doubt, bitterness, accusation, and despair.

As this message unfolds, Brian places the shield of faith within the larger context of the armor of God found in Ephesians 6:10-18, emphasizing that the repeated command throughout the passage is to stand. We are not called to fight in our own strength or manufacture confidence through positive thinking. Instead, we are invited to stand firmly in the strength that God Himself provides. Biblical faith is neither denial of reality nor blind optimism. It is an active dependence upon the character of God, confidence in His Word, and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Even when our faith feels small or our circumstances seem overwhelming, the power of faith is found in the One it rests upon, not in the strength of our emotions.

Drawing from examples throughout Scripture, this episode examines how David strengthened himself in the Lord when everything around him seemed lost, how Peter learned to keep his eyes on Christ amid the wind and waves, and why Jesus' teaching about faith like a mustard seed points to the object of our faith rather than its size. These biblical accounts remind us that God has always been faithful to sustain His people, even in seasons marked by suffering, uncertainty, and spiritual opposition.

Brian also offers practical encouragement for everyday discipleship by introducing a simple framework for responding to spiritual attacks. Listeners are encouraged to identify the circumstances they are facing, recognize the lies that seek to shape their thinking, replace those lies with the truth of God's Word, and respond with faithful obedience. This practical approach helps move faith from theory into daily practice, equipping believers to meet life's challenges with confidence rooted in Christ rather than in themselves.

Finally, this episode highlights an often-overlooked aspect of the armor of God: believers were never intended to stand alone. Just as Roman soldiers linked their shields together for protection, Christians are called to encourage, strengthen, and pray for one another within the body of Christ. Faith grows in community as God's people remind each other of His promises and stand together against the enemy's schemes.

Whether you are walking through a season of hardship, seeking a deeper understanding of spiritual warfare, or simply wanting to grow in your trust in Christ, this episode offers biblical teaching, practical application, and lasting encouragement. Join Brian Durfee as he explores what it means to take up the shield of faith, stand firm in God's strength, and live with confidence in the victory that has already been secured through Jesus Christ.

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Transcript

Ephesians 6:16 And Prayer

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Our topic tonight is Ephesians 6.16. So Ephesians 6.16 says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Father, I ask in Jesus' name that you would send this deep in us tonight. Let us grab hold of what you're saying. And uh Lord, just give me the right words and give us the right ears to hear and minds to understand. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Four-Column Worksheet For Battles

SPEAKER_01 0:44

The uh come on in, grab a seat, grab a piece of paper and a pen, you'll need it. We've been in this series uh called Equipped to Stand, with each week covering one aspect of spiritual warfare. Now, normally we'll say spiritual armor. You know, we'd say we say this is all about the spiritual armor, but actually the first verses frame the armor in the context of warfare. So this whole series is about spiritual warfare and how we're equipped to do it. And so tonight we're studying the shield of faith. And the title of this message is How We Stand in Faith. So we're not going to study the shield of faith tonight as just this abstract doctrine, but we're going to learn how to take it, take it up in the situation that we're stuck that we're we are actually in. So tonight I'm hoping will be extremely practical. So with that paper in front of you and your pen or pencil that you've got, um, I'm assuming that everybody's got one, then what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to divide it up into four columns. You can turn it, it might be easier if you turn it uh landscape lengthwise. Um, but I'm going to give you four columns to write at the top of the page. Column one is the word situation. Column two is the words arrow, A-R-R-O-W arrow, slash lie. Column three is truth about God. And column four is my next faithful step. Now, what I'd like you to do is under the situation column right now, we're gonna do this right now. Under the situation column, I would like you to write down up to five situations that you're currently facing that are that can be challenging situations. Now, this is not gonna be turned in. You're not gonna have to discuss it in front of everybody unless you choose to do so. But I mean, this could be a long-term struggle, it could be a recent difficulty, it could be a thinking pattern, it could be an urgent crisis, um, it could just be a fear that you face, a discouragement, a temptation, uncertainty, any of those kinds of things. And um, and so I want just one to five, just write them in there. You don't have to have five, just as many as you want, but uh write those down under your situation column. So you all can continue to think about those if you need to. But what we're gonna do tonight is we're gonna talk about three things. The first thing is we're gonna talk about key truths about the armor and how the armor works together. And then number two, the second part, we're gonna talk about the shield of faith in particular and what it does. And then number three, we're gonna talk about how to use the shield of faith. So let's start with those key truths.

Standing In God’s Strength Together

SPEAKER_01 4:23

There are two foundational truths for the armor, and so, and they are just so important. And so, truth one, we stand in God's strength. Now, a few weeks ago, you heard about the command to be strong in the Lord. And I want to jump back for just a moment and pull three quick points from that from that opening phrase, because these are the foundation and the context for how faith works. And so the first phrase is all of you, because the Greek is plural. So when he so when he's when he says, be strong in the Lord, it's all of you be strong in the Lord. All of you be strengthened. The second is be strengthened. Now we our English translations say be strong in the Lord, but the thing is, the word means to be empowered or made strong. He's not saying for us to manufacture the strength in ourselves, but we receive the strength that comes from someone greater than us. So that word is passive. We don't do the strengthening, but we understand that it's a command, be strengthened. And the next phrase tells us how, in the Lord. Paul doesn't say, be strengthened by the Lord. Uh uh. He says, be strengthened in the Lord. Our strength is found in our relationship and union with him. And that goes all the way back to John 15, where Jesus says we have to abide in him, and without him we can do nothing. So be strong in the Lord. He's basically saying, all y'all be strong, be strengthened by the Lord, in the Lord, in abiding with him. And so so can and it also means to continually draw your strength from the Lord. And that can only be done by abiding. So receive your strength from him, be empowered by his mighty strength. Standing is not an act of personal toughness, it's standing in the strength that God provides. And so that raises a real question: is God's strength really enough? Now the Sunday school answer is absolutely. Oh, yes. And we all like to get up and act all faithful and all this stuff, but I really don't care about that. Really, what it comes down to is what's in our heart. Who are we really inside? Do we really believe that God is strong enough? So when you think about your situations that you just wrote down, it's not whether you feel strong enough for the situation. The question is whether God standing with you and in you is strong enough. And Paul's been talking about that all already. Now, we've finished our series on Ephesians, but as we go through Ephesians, Paul talks about this. God possesses sovereign power and authority and dominion. He demonstrated that power in raising and exalting Christ. And God's power is at work in and on behalf of his people, and we see that all the way through Ephesians, especially in the first three chapters. And Ephesians 3.20 describes him as able to accomplish far beyond what we can ask or imagine. God's strength is the key to the entire armor of God. Every piece of the armor brings us back to dependence on the Lord. When Paul says stand, he means stand in the strength that you're receiving from the Lord. That's foundational truth, number one. Foundational truth number two is that little word stand. That is the controlling command for the entire passage, the whole thing. So look at when Paul's talking about the purpose of the armor. Verse 11, put on the armor so that you can stand against the devil's schemes. Verse 13, take up the armor so that you can withstand and resist in the evil day. Verse 13 again, having accomplished everything to stand. And then verse 14, to begin the armor, therefore stand. Are you still you seeing the pattern here? Stand is the governing command in this whole thing. And so he says, be strengthened in the Lord, put on God's armor, resist the enemy, remain standing, and therefore take your stand. It's not an incidental word, and it's not attached to just one piece of the armor. It states the entire objective

Stand Is The Main Command

SPEAKER_01 8:54

for which the whole armor is provided. So let's take a just a moment to look at that word stand. In Greek, that word communicates four important things. First, it's imperative, it's a direct command. You stand. Second, it's active, which means he's telling you you need to stand. You do the action. God's not going to grab you and lift you up and just set you right here and then stand there and do this in you. He's saying if you want to stand, if you want to be victorious, you have to step up to do it. The third thing is that it's plural. It's not just about each of us being a lone ranger and doing it independently ourselves. We do it as a community. And then the last part I'm gonna is errorist. That's the tense of the verb, the Greek tense. Um here's the here's what that tense means. Paul presents taking one's stand as a decisive action viewed as a whole. It doesn't mean stand only once. All these repeated references to standing in those verses show that the position must be maintained. Paul calls for a decisive stand that results in continued resistance. Y'all grabbing this? When you put it all together, the idea Paul says is take your position and refuse to yield it. Stand, therefore. And stand is actually connected to everything before it. Because when he says, therefore stand, therefore connects it to all that other stuff. The struggle is not flesh and blood against flesh and blood. The enemy employs various schemes, and the conflict involves spiritual forces. The evil day will require resistance. And God has supplied the whole armor and he makes his people able to stand. Therefore, because of all of this stuff, stand, therefore. Take your stand using everything that God has supplied. And this commands back to the first part. Be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's our power to stand. Paul's not saying, make yourself strong, and then you can stand. He's saying, receive your strength from the Lord. Put on what God supplies. And in that strength, take your stand. The other thing is stand pulls the armor altogether. After stand, every piece of armor is linked to it. Because stand is the governing imperative verb. It's a command. And believe it or not, most of the other words are not verbs. Even though with in proper English we translate them that way, they're actually not. They're participles. And so what that means is you can read it this way: stand, how, having fastened on the breastplate of truth. Stand, how, having put fastened on the belt of truth. I'm sorry, breastplate of righteousness and belt of truth. Stand, how, having put on the readiness by the gospel of peace. Stand how? By taking up the shield of faith in all circumstances. Stand, how? Receive the helmet of salvation. You getting the idea here? Stand governs all of these different pieces of the armor. And so these are descriptions of the preparation and how we are to obey the command. Stand. It answers the question. How do we stand? We stand secured by truth. We stand protected by righteousness. We stand stabilized and prepared by the gospel of peace. We stand actively raising faith against the enemy's attacks. We stand with a mind protected by the salvation that you've been given. We stand attacking the enemy with the word of God that he gives to you. And we stand by praying and keeping watch for all the saints. The pieces are not seven unrelated Christian virtues. They describe what it means to be stand fully equipped with God's provision. So that kind of gives you the background, the framework of this passage.

Shield Of Faith In All Circumstances

SPEAKER_01 13:09

But let's look at this particular verse. This is my part two, the shield of faith and what it does. And so we're going to break down this verse. The first phrase we normally read, it depends on your translation. It may say in addition to all these, or your translation may say, in every circumstance. The way Paul actually wrote it, he said, in all. That's it. In all. And so different translations will carry that from context and they will apply make it read easier in English based on the context. But the thing is, in all what? Well, it can mean in all circumstances. It can also mean in addition to all these pieces of armor that we've been talking about. And we don't necessarily have to choose between those two. On a practical level, along with every piece of armor and in every battle we face in life, faith needs to be actively taken up. It needs to be grabbed up. Faith is needed in every situation. And here's the thing: the circumstance itself is not necessarily the enemy's attack. The attack is often the lie or the accusation or the fear or interpretation or the interpretation that the enemy is trying to attach to this circumstance to get you to believe. The attack is often more on the heart than it is about the circumstance. So what's your circumstance? You wrote down some circumstances a second ago. What is the enemy trying to persuade you to believe because of this situation has happened? In this circumstance, and along with all the other pieces of armor, you need to take up the shield of faith. So what about that word take up? Adelabantes. I crack up at Greek words, I'm sorry. Just because a lot of them are hard to say. Most translations translate this first phrase, take up the shield of faith. And that's accurate, and it communicates the practical force of what Paul's saying. But the actual Greek word communicates more. Though we correctly understand that word to mean take up, it's actually not a command, it's a participle. And that means that the imperative is stand. And so we can accurately translate this phrase, stand, having taken up the shield of faith. And it's it's not about being in the past, you know, because we hear having taken up and we think, oh, that just that happened in the past. But this verb, this participle here is actually said is actually saying, with this completed, you've taken up your shield of faith. It's done, it's settled. You got it on your arm. It's not sitting by your side. You've got it. With that completed, so stand, having taken up the shield of faith. The shield's not like optional background information. You know, we're not commanded to take it up as an isolated activity. We're commanded to stand as people who have raised the shield of faith. The other thing is the word is active. The believer takes up the shield. God provides the armor, God provides the strength, and God is the one in whom we place our faith, but we misactively raise the shield. And that's not about self-reliance or passivity. It's active dependence on God. God supplies the shield, we take it up and use it. So what about this shield? That's the next word. The shield. And in this, you've got Spartans battling the, I think it was the Persians. And the uh the shield that they have in that movie is this round shield that's probably about this big. And that's what we think of a lot of times when we think about shields. But this word that Paul uses here was referring to the Romans, not the Spartans. And so the Romans' shield was like a door. It was a big shield. And in fact, the word for the shield here is that word is actually related to the Greek word for door. It's actually, and it's probably because it's size and shape. This was a substantial protection that could be moved, it can be positioned against incoming attack. And here's the thing: even a large shield does not protect a soldier if it stays at his side. It must be taken up. It has to be brought into a position between the soldier and the arrow. So faith must move from something that we just possess to something that we actively use. So, what kind of shield? Well, it's a shield of faith. The way the Greek phrase is constructed, faith is not something painted on the shield. It's not something the shield contains. Faith is the shield itself. You get what I mean? Faith itself is the shield. And because we've got confidence, then it's like we, you know, then our faith's gonna work. No, we lift up our

What Faith Is And Is Not

SPEAKER_01 18:45

faith. So what is faith? If we're gonna lift it up, we need to know what it is. Well, let me start with what it's not. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not pretending that everything's fine. Faith is not confidence in our own strength. For those of you from the 80s, faith is not a good confession. Faith is not believing strongly enough that we'll get the outcome that we want. And faith is not gritting our teeth and forcing ourselves to feel certain. A lot of people think that faith is a confident feeling that God will work things out. And when they don't feel it, they think they have no faith. Right. Faith is not a confident feeling. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. And I like to summarize the verse: faith is confident that the outcome will be taken care of by God while we're in the middle of our circumstance. Faith is active reliance on God. Faith is trusting, faith is believing. The faith, and it's not just believing in and of myself. I heard Tony Robbins one side one time, he talks about one of the habits that you need to develop in the morning is that you get up and you spend, I think it was three minutes, having a feeling of gratitude. And he was talking about, you know, you got to feel thankful. A feeling of gratitude may make you feel good, but you know, gratitude requires something you're thankful for. And it requires someone who provided what you're thankful for. You get you get the idea? So faith is an active reliance on God. It's trusting in who God is, it's trusting in what God has said, it's trusting in what God has done through Christ and what God has promised and who we are because we belong to Christ. Faith knows that we serve an all-powerful, sovereign God who, when he speaks, it happens and it cannot be resisted. It is established. Period. Faith knows, and you can read this in the first chapter of Ephesians, that God has paid the biggest price for the purpose of us being sons and daughters, not adopted children, not stepchildren, full sons and daughters with all the rights and privileges thereof. And if you have children and you think about how much you love your children and to what lengths that you will go to take care of those children, God's got you beat. That's how he cares about us. And so when we start thinking about God's sovereign power and how big God is, that's our God that stands behind us when the bully is in front of us and the bully's like, you know, he's freaking out. Not because he sees us, but because he sees dad behind us. That's our God. That's what faith. Faith is recognizing that our God is behind us, even though we can't see him behind us. He is there taking care of situations. That's faith. The power of this is not in faith itself. Faith is effective because of the one in whom our faith rests. If I have tremendous confidence in something that is false, then my confidence cannot protect me. But even small faith placed in an Almighty, faithful God, rests upon someone who cannot fail. The strength of my shield, the strength of your shield, is not the greatness of our faith. It's the greatness and the faithfulness of our God. Faith raises what's true about God against the enemy who is trying to get us to believe otherwise. So what does the faith do? Well, the next little phrase is with which. So Paul continues with this phrase, which grammatically means that it points back to the shield, the shield with which you will be able. So faith is the means by which God has equipped us. Now I like this next word. The shield of faith with which you will be able. The verb is in the future tense and it's a statement of real ability or capacity. When the shield is taken up, it provides the capacity necessary to deal with the attack. Now, the word is it's related to our word dynamite. You've heard people talk about dunamis. Well, this is a variation of that. And it is related to our word dynamite, but that that word came about for dynamite came about, I think it was in the 19th century, long after Paul wrote this. It doesn't actually mean explosive power. And that that might be a disappointment to some of us because I always thought just, you know. But here's what it does mean. You will have the ability necessary to accomplish this. Period. And remember where the ability comes from. We began with being strengthened in the Lord and in this in the strength of his might. We're able to stand because we are using what God supplies while depending on his strength to use it. So here's the other thing you will be able is plural. It's not about each of us individually, even though it can be applied properly individually. It's plural, which means all of you will be able. Each believer must personally take up the shield, but Paul is speaking to the entire church. We're not meant to stand as isolated individuals. We stand as the people of God against a common enemy. Now, going back to that movie of the 300, there's a scene in there where the commander describes how the shields work. And what he describes, he says, one soldier, his shield overlaps the next shield next to him. So it effectively forms a wall. And if in the movie, if you see how it works, the Persian army comes up once they're done with all their arrows, they come up and they just slam up against this wall of shields. And the commander's back in the back, hold, hold. He can see what the enemy is doing and how strong that and how long they're going to be able to sustain this push. He says, Hold. And then all of a sudden he yells out the attack. He says, attack. And all the guys on the front who have this wall of shields, they split apart for just a second. The shields come apart, and the guys behind them have their spears and they come across the top and they strike. And the guys in the front strike with their swords, and then they're all back into a wall again. And there's all kinds of dead Persians on the ground in front of them. This is not just about us being a Lone Ranger and going around trying to fight. We are a community of believers. And your faith helps to enable my faith, which helps to enable David's faith and Levi's faith. You get the idea? We are a community.

Spotting The Arrow Behind The Situation

SPEAKER_01 26:48

So then what are we facing? Now, this is the thing that threw me off when I started reading this passage, because you know it's we can we'll be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one. That's that's the way it reads in English. That's not the way it reads in all the words are the same, but that's not the order that it reads in in Greek. The next phrase is all the arrows. You will be able to, all the arrows. Um so what we'll be able to do, Paul says we'll be able to deal with all these arrows. And the word translated arrows can be an arrow, a dart, a missile, a projectile, something that's launched towards the target. You know, maybe it's a BB, you know, who knows? But the plural picture pictures repeated and varied attacks, not just one isolated arrow. And Paul puts the word all in front of them. He's not saying that the arrows will never be fired. In fact, the shield is necessary because the arrows are gonna come. The presence of an attack does not mean that the armor has failed. He's saying that no arrow fired by the enemy is greater than the protection that God has provided. So when we look at these kinds, these kinds of arrows, let me just give you a few. How about temptation? If you look at the lie behind anything that we're tempted, God's way will not satisfy you. You need this and you deserve to have it right now. You hear how that is? We see the circumstance and temptation, but the arrow is the lie that's behind it. How about accusation and condemnation? Well, you know, after what you've done, God can't forgive you, God can't use you anymore. The circumstance was whatever you did, whatever sin you committed. The accusation and what devil the devil says is the arrow. What about deception if you deceive somebody? God's word cannot be, or if if you're worried wondering about what to do, God's word cannot be trusted in the situation. What seems right to you is more reliable. Or how about fear? God will not protect or provide for you. If you don't take control, everything's gonna fall apart. Or sometimes, at least for me, it comes apart as you've got to do something right now to handle this. But what's behind that is if I don't do something, then something then I'm scared something's not gonna work right. How about doubt? Can God really be trusted? Is he actually present with me? I don't really feel him. Is he really good? Is he really gonna help me? Or how about shape? What you did or what happened to you, that's who you are now. If people really knew you, they'd reject you, so you have to hide. Or how about offense? That person is now your enemy, and you assume the worst about them, protect yourself and make them pay. And sometimes we don't think in things that are quite that that uh visceral, but yet that's really in our heart what we want to see happen. And then sometimes it's just pressure to stop trusting and obeying God. Obedience costs too much and accomplishes nothing, so I'm gonna stop waiting on God and handle this my way. Those are the kinds of lies and arrows that the enemy throws at us. He likes to get us distracted with the circumstance of what's happening and how do we remedy this circumstance? But really, it's the lie that's behind it that is the arrow. So now, what I want you to do is I want you to go back to your sheet of paper and I will look at, I want you to look at the situations in your first column. And that situation may be the circumstance, but I want you to begin asking yourself, what arrow or lie is the enemy attaching to it? What do you what is he trying to get you to believe about God or yourself or another person? Or maybe it's a lie about what you should do next. And so go ahead and fill in your second column for at least one of your circumstances. So now, going back to what we said, you will be able, all the arrows of the evil one. So but he def Paul shows you the source of the arrows, the evil one. And that Greek word for evil one can mean evil, wicked, malicious, harmful. And here it's being it's referring to the person. And Paul's already spoken, spoken about the schemes of the devil in verse 11 and the spiritual forces of evil in verse 12. And here in verse 16, the picture is a personal enemy who's launching the arrows. It tells us that the arrows belong to, they come from, they're launched by the evil one. It doesn't mean that every difficult circumstance is actually a direct attack from Satan. The circumstance may just simply be the battlefield on which the battle takes place. The enemy's arrow is what attempts to use the circumstance to produce distrust, disobedience, fear, accusation, bitterness, despair. I mean, you you know, you can just kind of roll with this thing. It also reminds us of something that Paul has already said: our struggle is not against flesh and blood. The other person is not the real enemy, but the evil one would like you to use the situation to turn us against God or against one another. And you know, a lot of people like to quote Romans 8.28 when we get you know when we get in a bad situation, and and uh so who can quote it? Somebody quote Romans 8.28. All things work together for the good who are called by God according to his purpose. There you go. Somebody quote Romans 8.29, or you can look it up.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

For those which he knew, he also predestinated to be made like the image of his son. He must not be firstborn above meaning breath.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Right. For those whom he knew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. A lot of times we look at our circumstances and we and we say, Oh, this is awful, but God's gonna work it for my good. But verse 29 tells us the good, the first good that God is interested in working in us is to conform us to the image of Christ. He is developing Jesus' character in us so that we look more like Jesus. Now, sometimes God's gonna take that circumstance and he is gonna turn it around and it's gonna be awesome on the back end of it. That's the way it was for Job. But if we don't, if we know nothing else, we know that God will use every circumstance to work his character in us. And so when we're thinking about the evil one, the evil one is gonna is not the circumstance itself is not the evil one. The evil one is the devil who's trying to fire his arrows into this circumstance to hit you. Y'all get what I'm saying? So, what kind of arrows

Flaming Darts And Putting Out Fires

SPEAKER_01 34:24

is he firing? Well, he's firing flaming arrows. That's the next phrase. The flaming ones. Paul does not describe just ordinary arrows, he calls them flaming arrows, or more literally, the arrows that have been set on fire. And there are two ideas in this word here for the flaming ones. The first is that it's passive. Someone has set the arrows on fire. They've been deliberately prepared to do damage. And the second is uh the tense indicates that the arrows have been ignited and they arrive in a burning condition. Okay, they're already on fire when they've reached the target. Which sound, you know, this stuff sounds like common sense, but when you really think about it, you have an enemy who's going to take advantage of whatever circumstance you find yourself in to fire these arrows at you, and he's not just trying to fire one arrow, he's firing a bunch of them, and he's lighting them on fire so he can do the massive damage that he wants to do. A flaming arrow was intended to do more than just strike one point. It was intended to start a fire so that the destruction would continue and spread after the initial impact. You know, that's a vivid picture of how an attack can work in our lives. An initial hurt or offense begins burning into bitterness. Fear spreads into paralysis. Accusation develops into shame and isolation. Temptation grows into a controlling desire. Are you all getting the idea here? The arrow is designed not only to strike, it's designed to start a fire. So here's what Paul says. You will be able, the arrows, the flaming arrows, the one that's really wanting to hurt you, and this person who has every will and desire to destroy your life, all of these things to extinguish. That's the last word in that verse. It means to extinguish or quench or put out. The word views the act of extinguishing in a complete action, not partial. The tense of the verb says it's done. It's a complete action, it extinguishes. So the fire is not just slowed down or made weaker, it's put out. And the word is also active, which means believers using the shield God supplies extinguish the arrows. And this is active dependence. God supplies the armor, God supplies the strength, faith rests on God. The believer simply raises the shield. Paul does not say that faith prevents every arrow from being fired. And he doesn't promise that the circumstance is going to immediately disappear. The circumstance may remain painful, and we may still feel grief or pressure or temptation. To extinguish the arrow means that the enemy's lie and intended spiritual effect do not have to continue burning. It doesn't have to spread, and it does not have to govern our response. And you know, I've been talking about the order of the Greek sentence. So, in all circumstances, having taken up the shield of faith, you will be able, and then Paul begins building this picture. All the arrows of the evil one, the ones that have already been set on fire, and then he gives that final word, extinguish. The sentence doesn't end with the evil one, it doesn't end with the arrows or the fire. The last word is extinguish, which means we can put this whole thing together, and the complete thought is along with all the armor that God provides, and in every circumstance in which battle occurs, stand as people who have actually actively raised the shield, which is faith. By means of that shield, all of you will have the ability to extinguish every burning attack launched by the evil one. The shield of faith is active reliance on God. We raise it when we deliberately place who God is, what God has said, and what he has done through Christ between our hearts and the enemy's interpretation of the circumstances that he is trying to push on us. The circumstance may remain real, but the enemy's lie does not have to keep burning. So now we know what the verse says, we know what the shield is, we know what it does, but how do we

David In Ashes Peter In Wind

SPEAKER_01 39:02

use it? And I've got two stories because there's really two conditions we can find ourselves in. Sometimes we get hit with a barrage and we are knocked down, and the real temptation is that we just gotta quit. We're never gonna make it. You know, we screwed up. And for that, even though this example has already been used in one of the previous lessons, I'm gonna steal it for this one because it's David at Ziklag. You know, David came back from doing the stuff, he and his mighty men came back, and their city was burned to the ground, and all of their all of their uh women and children had been taken captive, and all of the money and loot and everything else, all the goods were taken, and the city was ashes. And it was so bad that David's men wanted to kill him. That's how bad his situation was. It's kind of like Job getting, you know, hearing that all of his all of his goods, goods are gone, then all of his children get killed. I mean, it's just, and then he gets and then he gets boils all over his body. I mean, it's that kind of situation for David. And David, it says, went and strengthened himself in the Lord. Notice where David's strength came from. He didn't strengthen himself in himself, he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. We're not told exactly what he said to himself. We don't know which truths about God he deliberately remembered, but we know that before anything changed externally, David turned his heart back towards God. God was the source of David's strength. So, and that's why David actively, hear me, actively strengthened himself in God. So sometimes the enemy hits us hard enough that we feel like we can't continue. I don't know what we're gonna do. I don't know how we're gonna pay our bills. We're ready to sit down, lower the shield, stop standing. That's precisely when faith needs to be deliberately raised. Taking up the shield in that moment means laying hold of what is true about God. He's still present, he's faithful, he's sovereign, he's not stopped being good. His word is true, his purposes have failed, and his grace is big enough to handle anything that you might have done. David's circumstances didn't change when he strengthened himself. He still had to go get all of his people back and rebuild the city. Sometimes taking if the shield begins while we're sitting in the ashes, we deliberately remember who God is before we we know what he's going to do. And so the order is overwhelming. Circumstances strengthened himself in the Lord, sought God's direction, and acted in obedience. That's raising the shield of faith. Now that's about getting knocked down, but there's another another story that I really like. Um, and it's about Peter walking in the water. And so in that, uh, you know, the disciples have been rowing all night, literally, trying to get across this lake in the middle of a storm. It was reminds me of Gilligan, yeah. Because it was supposed to literally, if you do the geography, it should have been about two hours, three hours at the most. You know, so it makes me think of Gilead, three hour tour, you know. Um, and they have been rowing probably nine, eight or nine hours at the point that Jesus comes walking on the water and they freak out. It's a ghost. And so Jesus says, Hey guys, it's me. And Peter says, If it's you, then call me out on the water. And he says, Come on. And Peter steps out and begins walking on the water. And we know the story. You know, he he he's out walking on the water and he looks around and sees the wind, and he sinks and calls out, and Jesus has a hand there and sit and raises him up. The water did not become solid ground. The wind didn't stop blowing, and the waves didn't disappear. Peter walked towards Jesus in the middle of the circumstances. And that's important because faith does not deny reality. Faith doesn't say there's no wind or no waves or no danger or nothing can hurt me. Faith says the wind is real, but Jesus is more real. The wind is powerful, but Jesus has greater authority. Jesus has spoken and I will act on his word. And at this point, this is the second time there's been a storm on the lake. There was an earlier time when Jesus was asleep at the back of the boat in the middle of a storm, and all the disciples said, What are you doing sleeping? Don't you think we're gonna die? And Jesus gets up and says, Peace be still. And the wind stops, the storm goes away, and the disciples were like, Who is this guy? So this is a second storm. So Matthew tells us that when Peter saw the strength of the wind, he became afraid, began to sink. And the text doesn't use the exact words that Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, but it does show that the wind became the controlling object of his attention. His confidence shifted from Jesus' word and authority to what the circumstances appeared to be able to do to him. The wind had been blowing before Peter ever left the boat. The circumstance didn't suddenly change. What changed was the reality, was which reality governed Peter's response. Faith doesn't deny the wind, it refuses to let the wind define Jesus. So even when Peter, and you know, this is the thing, God's grace is big enough. Even when Peter faltered, Jesus didn't abandon him. Peter cried, Lord, save me, and Jesus immediately reached out and caught him, which actually, just a side note, really makes me wonder. It says Jesus reached out and caught him, which means Peter must have been really close to Jesus, which makes me wonder how long had they been walking on the water together? That's just something to ponder. Our faith may not always be steady or mature. But strength, the strength of our faith is not found in our ability to maintain a perfect emotional state. Our faith rests upon a Savior who is present, powerful, and able to catch us even when we sink. In I think it's Matthew 17, there's a story of Jesus, and there's a man who need his son needed to be healed, and the man brought his son to Jesus because the disciples they couldn't heal him. It wasn't working. And in that passage, and I'm going to summarize it because I know time's short. In that passage, there are three types of faith that are revealed. The first one is no faith. The people around there, they didn't have any faith this could happen. The second was little faith. And little faith is what Jesus said the disciples had. They had little faith. But then Jesus says you need mustard seed faith. So I want to clarify something about mustard seed faith so you understand what it means to raise up your faith. Raise up the shield of faith. Mustard seed faith is not about quantity. In that passage, when you look at the words that are used in Greek, little faith is not about having a little faith, just a little tiny bit. Because, and the reason we know that is because part of it's because it's a noun, not an adjective. But the other part is in the next in the next little section, Jesus said, mustard seed faith, which is the smallest little tiny seed, and yet it grows out to this big bush. The result of this little tiny seed being applied correctly results in a big bush, a big result. It's not about the quantity of your faith. It's not about how encouraged and confident you feel. What it is about, it's like Peter walking in the water, that you're going to look at Jesus and who he is, and who he is to you and in you and what he has promised you in spite of all the other stuff going on. Little faith is to be distracted from Christ in your circumstance. Mustard seed faith is to look right at him. And even when you can't say anything else and you can't see any way out of it, just look at yourself. I'm going to look at Jesus. I'm just going to look at Jesus. That's it. I'm just going to look at Jesus. So we got two people here. David and Peter show us two sides of taking up the shield. David shows us what to do when the blow has already knocked us down. Strengthen yourself with the Lord and raise up your shield again. And Peter shows us how to keep moving in the midst of the wind blowing. Keep looking at Jesus and act on his word. David was surrounded by ashes. Peter was surrounded by wind and waves, and neither one of them denied their circumstances. And they both had to allow the reality of God to deter to govern their response to the circumstances.

Truth And A Next Faithful Step

SPEAKER_01 48:38

So let me give you a practical process for taking up the shield. Name the situation. That's why I had you write stuff down. Identify the arrow, identify the lie. What am I being tempted to believe because of this? Remember what is true about God and what he has said. What do I know about his character? What do I know about his presence? What do I know about his power? What do I know about his faithfulness? And sometimes we can't hardly remember that stuff, and we just have to sit down and work through it. We grind through it. Then we strengthen ourselves in the Lord. We pray. We remember his word. Bring your heart back under the one whose governing truth controls everything that's happening. And then take the next faithful step. Seek his direction. Act in obedience. The enemy wants the situation to tell us who God is. Faith flips that around. Faith begins with who God is and interprets the situation from there. So now look at your paper again. You already wrote down the situation. Start filling in the other columns. You know, normally we have normally we have a discussion around the table after after this stuff happens, after after we have a teaching. Tonight, I'd like you to work on your sheet. And you know, this is about community. Faith is about community. And so you've now got people around your table who can pray with you. If you want to share, you don't have to share, but people who can pray with you in your circumstance. People can help, can actually help you interpret hey, what is the enemy trying to do here? Or what are the promises of God that fit this situation?