Eph. 6:16, Besides all these, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
Besides girding our loins with truth, taking Christ as our righteousness to cover our conscience, and standing in peace as our firm foundation, we need to take up the shield of faith, with which we are able to quench all the flaming darts of the evil one (see Eph. 6:16).
Our spirit mingled with God’s Spirit is a spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13) – doubts are in our mind, and faith is in our spirit. We need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe and speak the word of God. We don’t look at ourselves – we look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, and as we look away to Him, He infuses Himself into us as our believing ability to believe in us and for us.
We need to exercise our spirit of faith every day, because every day is evil, full of evil and pernicious things that cause our time to be used ineffectively, to be reduced, and to be taken away. We must walk wisely and take every opportunity to enjoy, experience, express, and propagate Christ.
Satan throws flaming darts at us by tempting us, implanting thoughts of doubts and questionings in our mind, lying to us, and attacking us. To quench these flaming darts we need to take up the shield of faith by exercising our spirit of faith!
We need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe that the Lord destroyed the devil, His death destroyed Satan, His resurrection put Satan to shame, and His ascension has placed both Him and us far above Satan’s power!
Exercising our Spirit of Faith to Quench Satan’s Flaming Darts
Satan is a murderer and a liar from the beginning, and accuses both man and God all the time. All thoughts of death and suicide are from Satan. All thoughts of desiring to die or having a premature death as a solution to our problems or as a means to escape from our situation are from Satan. Even the thoughts of danger during the day or while traveling are from Satan.
We need to reject the thoughts of danger, death, and fear – they are from Satan and not from us! Reject all forms of fear, since fear is Satan’s calling card – when we give in to fear, we give Satan ground in our being. Once he has a beachhead in us, he can attack us. All attacks of fear are from Satan.
Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed – God is with us and for us (Isa. 41:10). Never accept what the Lord has not measured to you. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). If we are fearful it means we are ignorant of this fact. But once we are delivered from fear by believing in God’s word through the exercise of our spirit of faith, we are delivered from Satan’s realm!
The flaming darts are Satan’s temptations, proposals, doubts, questions, lies, thoughts of fear and danger, and attacks; we need to take up the shield of faith to quench these flaming darts! This means that we need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe in God, in His word, and in what Christ has done for us! Here are some things that the Lord Jesus has done for us:
Christ’s manifestation in the flesh was to destroy the works of the devil (see 2 Cor. 4:13; 1 John 3:8; Matt. 16:22-23; Luke 4:39; Matt. 12:28; Luke 10:17, 19). Hallelujah! We need to exercise our spirit of faith together with our subdued and resurrected will and believe in Christ, who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil.
Christ’s death destroyed Satan (see Heb. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:54-58; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:3-6). Through His death, Christ destroyed him who has the might of death, the devil, and today we are joined to Christ in spirit. We need to exercise our spirit of faith to believe that Christ’s death has destroyed Satan. Satan has been destroyed!
Christ’s resurrection has put Satan to shame (see Col. 2:12-15, 20; 3:1; John 14:30; Phil. 3:10; Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:4-5). Wow! It was not possible for Christ to be held by death (Acts 2:24). In us right now we have a life that cannot be touched by death, a life that transcends death and breaks the boundaries of death, a life that cannot be held by death! Shame to the enemy! Satan has been shamed by Christ’s resurrection, and death has been defeated!
Christ’s ascension is far above Satan’s power (Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6; 6:11, 13). In His ascension, Christ is far above where Satan is or can reach. As we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, Satan cannot reach us since we are in Christ, and in us right now the power of Christ’s resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and heading up is operating to slowly but surely deliver us from any grip of Satan in our being! Hallelujah!
Taking up the Shield of Faith by Having Faith in God and in His Word
Taking up the Shield of Faith by Having Faith in God and in His Word – Keep Calm and Have Faith in God!
Faith does not originate from us, and in ourselves we cannot have faith. As we look to the Lord and are infused by Him through His Word, faith is generated in us. To withstand the attack of the enemy, we cannot have faith in our own ability, our strength, our merits, or our virtues. Rather, we need to have faith in God, in God’s heart, in God’s faithfulness, in God’s ability, in God’s word, in God’s will, and in God’s sovereignty!
Have faith in God – He is real, living, present, and available (see Mark 11:22; Rev. 1:18). Our God is so real when we call on Him! He is a living God, present with us every day wherever we are, available to us all the time as we call on Him.
Have faith in God’s heart – His heart toward us is always good (Rom. 8:29). Don’t believe Satan’s lie that “God is out to get you”; it is actually Satan who is out to get you, not God! No matter what hardships or sufferings we may go through, God’s heart toward us is always good. He doesn’t want to punish us, injure us, or cause us to suffer loss; He arranges all situations, people, and things to work together for our good! He wants us to be transformed and conformed to the image of His firstborn Son – this is good!
Have faith in God’s faithfulness – our God cannot lie, and He is always faithful to His word (1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 1:9; Titus 1:2). People change, but God doesn’t. There’s no shadow of turning in Him (James 1:17). We may be unfaithful to Him, but He is always faithful to us and to His word – He cannot lie!
Have faith in God’s ability – He is able to do in us what He promises to do (Eph. 3:20). He called us, and now He’s able to fully save us to the uttermost and make us the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead. We are NOT able, but God is able to do super-abundantly above than we ask or think according to the power which operates in us.
Have faith in God’s word – God is bound by His word to fulfill all that He has spoken to us in His word (see 1 Thes. 5:24; Eph. 6:17-18). This means that all that God has spoken, He will do it! The more He speaks to us, the more He will do in us. That’s why we need to pray the word of God back to Him, telling the Lord, Lord, You have spoken to us, now do it in us!
Have faith in God’s will – His will is always positive (Eph. 1:5, 9, 11). No matter what we go through or what situations we are in, God’s will never changes, and His will is always positive toward us. Don’t seek your own happiness but seek God’s will, and you will also be happy. We have faith in God’s will and we don’t trust the environment, people, or things.
Have faith in God’s sovereignty – He is in control, and under His sovereignty even our mistakes work for good (Rom. 9:19-29). God is in control. He is sovereign. We do our best not to make mistakes, but even when we fail, God is sovereign. We repent for our failures and mistakes, but in God’s sovereignty our mistakes work for good. Wow, what a God we have!
We need to be full of faith in God, in God’s heart, in God’s faithfulness, in God’s ability, in God’s word, in God’s will, and in God’s sovereignty, and this faith will stop the flaming darts of the enemy.
Why do we feel the flaming darts affecting us? It is because we don’t exercise our spirit of faith! Why do we have doubts in our mind and sometimes we have thoughts that Satan puts in us? Because we give Satan the ground in us by not exercising our spirit of faith!
We as believers in Christ should be spirit-exercising people, those who believe God, His word, His accomplishments, His will, His sovereignty, His faithfulness, and His ability!
Lord Jesus, thank You for being a real and living God who is present with us and so available to us. Lord, we believe in You! We have faith Your heart toward us – Your heart is always good! You desire that we would be transformed and conformed to Your image, and this is good! Lord, have faith in Your faithfulness – You cannot lie, and You are always faithful to Your word! Lord, we have faith in Your ability – You are able to do what You say to us in Your Word! Lord, as we read Your word, keep us praying it back to You that You may do it in us! Lord, we believe in Your will! Lord, we have faith in Your sovereignty – You are in control, and everything works for good! Praise You, Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians (msg. 65), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 5 / msg 5, The Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life (4) – Spiritual Warfare.
- Recommended further reading: Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 50, “Messages for building up new believers”, ch. 43.
- Hymns on this topic:
# How faithful and trustworthy too, / My Father God, art Thou; / The universe and all therein / Thy faithfulness avow. / How steadfast is Thy faithfulness! / For this I worship Thee; / It is established in the heav’n, / And ever stands for me.
# And having the same / Spirit of faith, / Be strong! Be not weak! / “We also believe, / Therefore we also must speak!”
# We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender; / We go not forth alone against the foe; / Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender. / We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go.
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