“Our Daily Bread”   http://odb.org/2012/08/19/hemans-honesty/

 The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Ephesians 6:16… above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  (NKJV)

I am continuing on in this study as to why some Christians (that I am calling fragile clay vessels) are “filled to overflowing” with the Holy Spirit (living water); while other Christians don’t exhibit hardly any, or no light at all…like Jesus tells us that all Christians should be emitting, in…Matthew 5:16…

Wearing all 6 pieces of spiritual armor that the apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20…is 100% mandatory , for the Christian to be so filled with the Holy Spirit, that they become overflowing with living water that will pour over the edge of their filled clay vessel… These word pictures I am using, would make more sense, if the reader clicks on the following link to read the first part of this study…   https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=343&action=edit

Yesterday, I wrote about the “sword of the Spirit”, which is the Word of God (the Bible), as recorded in…Ephesians 6:17… It is the only offensive piece of armor God provides for His children to put on, to fend off Satan’s attacks…  And the Word of God is where the un-repentant sinner learns the truth about the need to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, before God will grace them through faith alone in Jesus Christ, with the free gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9)…

The apostle Paul reveals in the opening scripture, that “the shield of faith” is the most important part of God’s armor, for protection from Satan… We know from…Ephesians 6:10…that Paul is writing to Christians, because he addresses them as “my brethren”…  It is made clear in the Bible, that brethren are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 12:50)… A person has to become a Christian in God’s eyes, before they can even begin to be protected by God from Satan and his temptations…

The only way un-repentant sinners can please God to become a Christian to begin with; and then to remain pleasing in God’s eyes…is to have absolute faith in Him…Hebrews 11:6… But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  (NKJV)

And once a person becomes a Christian, this faith must be absolutely unwavering; or Satan will hit his mark with “the fiery darts” he will constantly use on every living human being… The unsaved, un-repentant sinner, will have absolutely no chance to escape Satan’s arsenal of weapons, which will keep the sinner in bondage until God breaks these chains of sin and shame with His gift of grace through salvation…

I have written before, about this young woman I met a few months ago, who has lost her faith in God; and now she considers herself to be an agnostic… If the sinning person doesn’t have saving faith, that is based solely on the sound doctrine of obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ; or if the saving faith of the Christian falters, and their protective “shield of faith” is set aside…both will be tossed about by the deceit and lies of Satan, and men who are not grounded by the truth found only in God’s Word…

The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Ephesians, as a letter to warn the believers in the church at Ephesus about the false prophets who were trying to preach a different gospel with false doctrines… This is why he wrote to the believers, explaining how to protect themselves with God’s spiritual armor, as recorded in…Ephesians 6:10-20…  We also see Paul warning them about these false doctrines that were being preached, when he wrote this, in…

Ephesians 14-15… that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  (NKJV)

So we see that faith is needed in order to first become a Christian in God’s eyes… And then this saving faith must be continuous, as a permanent shield that God avails for the Christian to carry… But this is only 1 of the 6 pieces of God’s full set of spiritual armor that must be worn, in order to be completely protected from Satan’s attacks…

I will continue on tomorrow with the belt of “truth”, and the “breastplate of righteousness”; which are 2 more pieces of spiritual armor God provides for the Christian to put on (Ephesians 6:14)… Here is the link for the entire list of the 6 pieces of spiritual armor, as written about by the apostle Paul… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV

Heavenly Father, I pray that anyone reading this Word today, who is suffering from any kind of sin that Satan has inflicted…will be urged by You to read this entire study on how You can completely protect them from sin caused by Satan…James 4:7… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  (NKJV)   …I thank You and praise You Lord, that my life can confirm this truth that we see from You, that was written by Your servant James…  I pray Lord, that this writing brings You the honor and the glory that You so richly deserve… I pray for all of this Lord, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills