Learning Practical Spiritual Warfare
2008 Edition
Part Two
Page 6
Ephesians 6:15 " And
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
"
[3] The shoes of the readiness of
the gospel of peace.
Galatians 5:16 “ [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and
ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.“
One way of interpreting this is to
walk in a spiritual walk in
the word and will of God with the Spirit of God. We
are ready or prepared to walk in the will and word of God.
You will not be forced back into retreat if you walk in the
gospel of peace.
It is a gospel that brings peace to a hurting and dying
world.
There is also another way of looking at this scripture.
Not only walking in the word,
but ready to go and spread the word or gospel.
Acts 1:8 “ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. “
It is the gospel or good news of
peace.
Peace in itself is a mighty weapon that gives stability to
our walk. Sometimes the world thinks we must be
crazy because when we go through the same grief and problems
and pain that they do and we keep a peace about us they
can’t understand it.
But peace is something that is beyond
CIRCUMSTANCES.
Our peace is not an earthly peace, but it is a supernatural
Godly peace.
2 Corinthians 13:11 “ Finally, brethren, farewell. Be
perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace;
and the God of love and peace shall be with you. “
John 14:27 “ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. “
It isn’t that God takes natural “good for us”
fear from us, but there is a peace in knowing that He has it
in His hands. Don’t be afraid at the things that you see,
just trust in Jesus and let the peace that He has left
for His disciples give you strength. Don’t be
afraid. Don’t be troubled. Have peace.
There is a way that you can avoid worry altogether. Do
things worry us? Yes! But when worries arise, this
is what we are exhorted by the word of God to do:
Philippians 4:6-7 “ 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God,
which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. “
The New American Standard translation says this,
Philippians 4:6 “ (nas) Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.”
Don’t be worried or nervous about anything... why? Because
when you take it to God in prayer you give it to Him. Then
it is His worry and not yours. You will live longer if you
live this way. Stress won’t destroy your life if you will
practice this scripture.
Ephesians 6:16 “
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. “
[4] The Shield of Faith.
Above all! This is most
important that you walk in faith more than anything else.
Faith will keep you safe when all
else fails you.
Don’t walk across the street or get out of bed without faith.
Faith is the foundation of who we are and how victorious we
shall be.
Hebrews 12:2 “ Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of
[our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. “
Our faith is born of God. Jesus will finish what He begins
in our lives. When we clothe
ourselves in Christ and the faith that He gives us we will
see the glory of God and the promise of God come to pass in
our lives.
The shield of faith; shield being a huge square long shield
that covered the front of the body. It is big enough to
cover everything. It is made up of faith which brings into
reality the promised of God.
No matter what circumstances come against you, faith will
protect you.
This is a definite
front-facing piece of armor. Faith will protect you
no matter what comes your way.
Ephesians 6:16 (CLV) “ with all taking up the large shield
of faith, by which you will be able to extinguish all the
fiery arrows of the wicked one. “
So faith, the faith that fully trusts in God and never
doubts, is the best of all
defenses.
It will quench, stop, put out all the
lies, whisperings and evil suggestions of the wicked.
We need a faith that will cover all of us, and not let any
part of you us be unprotected. There are weaknesses in our
flesh that tend to make us sin and fall and fear, but the
shield of faith covers those weaknesses up and turns
weakness into strength as we rely on God’s power and grace.
Sometimes we do things our own way, and when we do that we
leave faith. And that thing if it be a relationship with
our brother, or our finances, or a problem at work... when
we do it our way we leave that area unprotected by faith.
GOD WILL NOT HONOR FLESH !
Hebrews 11:1 “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. “
When the world is seeming to fall apart and you don’t know
where to go or where to turn, then your faith will believe
God in the midst of bad circumstances and bring your hopes
alive again.
Romans 10:17 “ So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. “
This is fundamental, for if you had not heard the gospel
then you would not have been converted. And we grow in the
Lord as we grow in knowledge of the word of God. The
blessings, the rejoicing, and the operation of spiritual
gifts, and the worship brings a refreshing in the Spirit
that makes us stronger, but faith comes by hearing the word
of God. Reading it is important too, but the Bible says
hearing by the word of God. You’ve got to hear it for it to
grow as God would have it grow!
We are called to be overcomers in Christ, and
we overcome by our faith.
1 John 5:4 “ For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world,
[even] our faith. “
It will protect you against the
fiery darts. This is not a dart as in a dart game,
but a javelin or a spear, or at the smallest an arrow. They
would set them on fire and try to launch them on an enemy to
burn down their stronghold or home. The devil is shooting
fiery spears at you and your home and yours. But we are
promised ALL of them will fail before the shield of faith.
Once again this is the same for wicked as in the evil of
Matthew 6 in the Disciple’s Prayer. It denotes in this case
a title: The wicked one.
There is a real and hateful devil trying to destroy all that
God has given unto you.
You faith might be “tried” by fiery darts, but the trying of
your faith brings a maturing and perfection in your life.
That shield of faith shall not fail, but will quench the
fiery darts of the wicked one.
There is no attack; no matter what comes against you that
can overcome you when you walk in faith and clothe yourself
in the shield of faith... Jesus Christ. No power of the
enemy can overcome your life. Jesus promised power over all
of the powers of the devil.
Luke 10:19 “ Behold, I give unto you power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. “
Faith protects against all attacks.
No “thing” shall by any means hurt you.
I like that promise. No matter where the attack is going
to, be it finances or family or your peace or lust, just
find the scriptures that deal with that and pray and believe
it and the shield will go up!
When the enemy is acting like some kind of Goliath taunting
us, we need to call on the promises of God and know that God
is still God, and like David come to him in the name of the
Lord. Don’t be defeated, pull out the armor of faith and
then you can march forward again.
They will be quenched.... put out. Faith kills the power of
Satan’s attacks. When the devil’s minions come to attack,
your faith in God.... of course our relationship must be
right first.... will destroy their power over you and you
shall overcome them.
Understand that there is no “big” attacks in God’s eyes, for
God is still God no matter the attack or circumstances.
When we depend on ourselves or something else, then the
attack can get pretty large, but remember that always
“Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
