| Shield of FAITH "The Shield of Faith" "Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked [one]" (Ephesians 6:16). What is faith? God's Word answers, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11: 1). Faith is the rock-solid conviction that what God has promised He will perform. The entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews is written to illustrate the powerful faith of believing men and women over the centuries. Not only this, but having the faith to know, from the clear evidence right beneath our feet of the earth itself, that God is the Creator; that He is the Original Maker, Lifegiver, Lawgiver, and Sustainer of all that He made. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 1:3). It was not until the discovery of the atom that man began to learn that matter is merely energy, compacted into various forms. A molecule is the smallest divisible particle of matter which can be identified according to its properties. But each molecule is made up of atoms, which are invisible to the human eye, even under a powerful microscope. Each atom is made up of many particles. An atom is like a tiny universe, with electrons, neutrons and protons whizzing about in microseconds. Thus, everything we can see and know, such as the rocks beneath our feet; trees, grass, soil, animals; even our own bodies, are composed of energy, compacted together in highly structured form. We know by looking at His handiwork that God created all things: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world [by looking at the physical creation] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" (Romans 1:20). Faith is assurance. It is positiveness. It is doubtless. It is solid, knowing conviction. A perfect definition of faith is found in reference to the great test God placed before Abraham concerning Isaac's birth: "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; AND BEING FULLY PERSUADED THAT, WHAT HE HAD PROMISED, HE WAS ABLE ALSO TO PERFORM" (Romans 4:19-21). When God said it, Abraham believed it. Abraham is called "the father of the faithful" because of his example of faith, coupled with obedience. James writes of the evidence of our faith: "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works" (James 2:17,18). Faith is how thousands of families over the decades trusted God with regard to their jobs and income when they lost a job because of God's Sabbath or annual holy days. Faith is how thousands have been healed of sickness and disease. Faith is a shield against doubt, against mistrust of God. But faith cannot be "whipped up" by we human beings. We cannot simply say to ourselves, "Now, I must have faith about this or that problem." Believe it or not, it is not our faith in Christ that is the kind of faith God wants us to have, but His faith placed in us! Notice: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). God gives us faith. It takes faith to forgive. When Christ told His disciples they must forgive their brother up to seven times in one day for sinning against them, they said, "Lord, INCREASE our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed [one of the smallest of all seeds], ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you" (Luke 17:1-6). A huge gap in the armor of God would be the lack of faith to forgive a brother or sister for sin. God says, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure ye mete withal it shall be measured unto you again" (Luke 6:37,38). Faith means absolute, unquestioning belief. It means knowing, not just thinking maybe. Consider: If you are on Social Security, like so many millions of America's elderly, and you receive your government check, do you have the slightest iota of a doubt that when you endorse it and cash it or deposit it in your bank it is good? Of course not! So you have faith in the U.S. government to that extent. If you set out in your automobile to a distant location which you have never seen before, with a map before you, do you have faith that the map is correct? Of course you do! It seems easy to place our faith in human cartographers, or automobile salesmen, or employers, or the government. It should be even easier to place our faith in God! A final caution: Many people "worry" their faith! When sick, or in terrible trauma, emotionally, or in financial trouble, they cannot seem to let go of the situation. They seem unable to turn the entire matter over to God, IN FAITH, and then patiently wait for His answer. Instead, many people "pick at" their faith. They "worry" it, like a puppy shaking a rag, or a kitten playing with a roll of yam. Often when we ministers pray, we acknowledge in our prayer to God our utter helplessness to really "do" anything about the heart-rending letters read. Some months ago, we read of a precious little three year old girl whose mother had a live-in "boyfriend." The girl was illegitimate, from another boyfriend. The live-in urged his girlfriend to have an abortion. She refused, and gave birth to her baby. We had to hear the horrible story of how the boyfriend had beaten the little girl until she is so badly brain damaged she will never walk again. Tears welled up in my eyes, and my breath came short, as happens every now and then when we hear such sickening, cruel stories. All we can do is tell God, "We have no strength or power of our own. We can do nothing of ourselves. All we can do is hold up these sad, pleading letters to you; to pray over them, to ask in faith for your divine intervention. Then, we must get up, go our way, doing our work for this day, and leave the result with you!" So it is with our own daily lives. We need to let go of the faith we have—not "worry it," and keep looking on the negative side of things. We need to learn to leave the result with God! When we do this, in faith, we have a big, strong, thick shield in place against Satan's evil influences.
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