Flaming Arrows

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FLAMING ARROWS

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

It is time to take up the shield of faith. We know that without faith it is impossible to please God. Here He gives us this shield of faith, but like the rest of the armor, we must put it on in order that we can take our stand and stand our ground against the dark forces of this world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So we have both the worldly and the heavenly or evil spiritual forces to stand against. It is encouraging to know that God has given us all the means needed so that we can stand up against all those dark forces. Of course, all the other parts of God’s armor is Jesus, He is our shield of faith. When we put our faith in Jesus everything about us changes. But here, we must pick up that shield and hold it close, as the enemy is going to take his best shoot as seen as flaming arrows. In the style of warfare wages in those days, as the two opposing armies faced each other, the first attack was by the archers dripping their arrows in pitch, lighting them on fire, and shooting a volley of arrows across the field at the advancing enemy army. If the flaming pitch hit its target, the chest of a man, then it would not only plunge into his body, but the pitch would splatter turning its target into a flaming man. We have seen pictures depicting how the Roman soldiers would stand side by side some holding their shields aimed upward forming a solid wall of shields which have a covering of leather they would wet down so that when the flaming arrows came, their shield would extinguish the flames. This is our defense as well, we stand behind Jesus our shield of faith, and all the flaming arrows of the enemy of our soul, are extinguished. It is interesting how the Roman soldiers stood side by side so the enemy could not outflank them. It seems right to think that if we stand alone even with all the armor in place, it is possible the enemy might try to attach from our flank. This would seem to imply that we need each other, the rest of the body of Christ, the church,  or the people of God to stand side by side with their shields of faith. this is why we are told not to abandon the assembly of believers, we need each other to build each other up, to stand alongside and fight together against the dark forces of this world. We just need to put on the whole armor of God, letting God clothe us in Jesus, and here the faith of Jesus is our shield.