Weary Warrior

Don’t forget to raise the shield of faith above all else, so you will be able to extinguish flaming spears hurled at you from the wicked one. Ephesians 6:16 (The Voice)

I recently had a fellow brother in Christ ask me a question that struck a deep root of compassion within me. He asked me, "Do you ever feel like you're not saved?" I could tell by the tone and his demeanor that he had been going through a battle and it must have been a pretty intense one for him to be feeling this way. I provided some words of encouragement that in my own head seemed to fall short of what he needed at that moment, but I made a point to pray that night and trust that God would strengthen him.

This struck a nerve with me because if we were all honest we would say that we too have felt this feeling from time to time in our own walk. Life has a way of tossing us around that we can quickly forget which way is up and fall into a seemingly bottomless pit of despair. This brother and I share the battlegrounds of this war and to say that the fighting of the flesh can be intense may be the understatement of the decade. So often in the midst of the fight we can lose sight of God simply because there is just a constant bombardment of attacks coming from the enemy.

As I sat in prayer this morning for my brother in arms what kept coming to mind was Paul's letter to the Church at Ephesus, specifically when he was writing about the Armor of God (Ephesian 6:10-18). Paul tells his fellow brothers & sisters to draw their strength from God, then he clarifies what type battle they are engaged in (not flesh and blood v. 12). He then goes on to detail what the Armor of God is and it was here that one jumped off the page at me and I love how "The Voice" translation says it, it reads; "Don't forget to raise the shield of faith above all else, so you will be able to extinguish the flaming spears hurled at you from the wicked one." Other translations start this verse with phrases like, "Above all" or "In all circumstances", which indicates to me that Paul was stressing the importance of this portion of the Armor.

After I read this I could almost see the epic "Lord of the Rings-style" battle taking place and that's when the light bulb went off and I thought, "Warriors get tired in the battle and sometimes they are probably too tired to even defend themselves or to 'raise their shields'". I could see where God was taking me on this revelation road and it triggered a huge ear-to-ear grin on my face. You see in these times when our fellow warriors are too tired to fight or protect themselves it's our responsibility to cover them, to have their backs, to use our shield (faith) to protect them until they can regain their strength. How do we cover them? How do we practically apply this? Glad you ask, WE PRAY! We get alone before God, get the focus off ourselves and trust that God can and will provide strength in the midst of the fight; because He will. 

Take Care & God Bless,

-E