Okay, Ephesians chapter six. We continue today in our series on the armor of God, looking at some spiritual warfare going on here. Ephesians chapter six, starting at verse 10, we'll read the whole passage first. starts with, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having gird your waist with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. We'll stop there. Our text today is Ephesians 6.16. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Did you ever have an experience where some thought comes to mind? You're not expecting it, but it seems to come from out of the blue. Something happens that causes you to lose your temper. Maybe some doubt starts in your mind. Before you know it, that peace you had is shattered. That Bible study you just did is forgotten. The morning devotion is lost in the vile thing you think about, or the angry words that came from your mouth, or that nasty thing that you do. You just might have been shot at by fiery arrows and flaming darts of the wicked one that is Satan. We are to expect all kinds of attacks. on us all the time. That is, if we're Christians here today. Nothing new about that. And I think we can all tell stories about this, can't we? We have an enemy. We know that. And his arsenal contains many things that he can use against us. But what can we do? Today we'll look at one of Satan's tools, the fiery darts, and an article of armor that we can use against his attacks effectively. By way of review, look at the previous text. It says, finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. It is God's power we're talking about here. It's his might that we're to avail ourselves of. And it's something that we have to concentrate on doing. It's not something that happens to us automatically just because we're saved. We get the idea around here that God does all things through us. And it's him that causes us to will and to do the things that please him. And it's him that works in us. And that's true. But there are things that we are supposed to do in that. We're responsible to act. We're responsible to perform. We're responsible to be strong in the power of his might. And we have to work at concentrating on being strong in his power and in his strength. We're told to put on the whole armor of God. There is an armor that he has provided to us to fight, to protect ourselves, What's this armor for? Well, we're not wrestling, as it says in verse 12, against flesh and blood. We have this whole demonic host against us, this principalities and powers and rulers of darkness of this age and heavenly places. All around us is this spiritual realm. And in that spiritual realm, there are evil spirits that are constantly interacting and causing havoc. We don't see them. We can't sense them. We never almost never get any type of a sense of their activities until something happens. Then we say, OK, we've been attacked. This goes on. It's not like you can fight another man or woman because you can't see your enemy. And they're so much more intelligent. They're so much more practiced than we are. Therefore, we have to take up this armor of God. It is designed by God. It is provided by God. Against these beings to protect ourselves and the whole idea it says in verse 13 is to stand We're not told here at this point to Progress against the enemy. We're told to stand This is self-defense. This is the key from being knocked over and falling and being Run over by the evil one It says to take up the whole armor You had to take up the entire part, the entire armor, every part of it. And we've been looking at the different parts. We looked at having our waist girded with truth, the belt of truth. And we saw that the truth is the entire body of scripture. Everything in God's word is the truth. It is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It is what the Apostle Paul was preaching to the Ephesians at that time. They understood the truth to be what he told them. availing themselves at that point of the Old Testament, they didn't have it. We're talking to Gentiles. So everything that the Apostle Paul brought to them concerning the Lord was that body of truth that they had to know and to cling to and to understand. It became a belt around them. It protected them. It says, having their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, we were looking at this, oh, we're looking at a breastplate of righteousness, that plate that covers our chest protect us from being impaled as if we were soldiers, but the breastplate is the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of God himself. So that when God looks at us, he sees a reflection of himself when it comes to righteousness. We have no shortcoming when it comes to righteousness before God and our standing before God in Christ. I keep emphasizing, in Christ. Of ourselves, we're wicked sinners on the way to hell. But in Christ, we're saved. In Christ, we are righteous because he took our sin away and died on that cross to deal with that sin and he provided our righteousness so we stand before God with a righteousness not our own. It's his righteousness. And if God is well pleased with Jesus Christ, he's well pleased with us because we are hidden in him. So then we looked at the feat shot with the preparation of the gospel last week, and we saw that preparation of the gospel of peace is that we are ready, that we are equipped, that we have been prepared with a gospel of peace. The gospel of peace being that gospel which teaches us about our salvation that we have in Christ, and as a result of it, God is at peace with us. We're at peace with God, but God is at peace with us. There's no need to fear that God hates us. There's no need to fear that God is against us, or that God is fighting us, or that he's our enemy. Because of the gospel, because of what Jesus did for us, we're at peace with God. Now, today we're gonna look at another article of the armor. We're gonna check out that shield of faith. So, letter A. We start with, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. Above all, it says. Most of the translations that I looked at said, above all. And those in that location. But about half of them had other words to use, as in, in addition, or with these things, also. and in all things, besides all these, in every situation, in all this. Basically, it's a transition the Apostle Paul is making here. There's no exact translation into English words, but it seems as if it's not saying that these are greater than what we were just talking about, above all, but what it seemed like he's saying is, and also, or with all this, then do this. The idea here is that there's a bit of a change in the list that's going on. Paul's now dividing the parts of the armor into a new category. Up till this time, the armor was something that was worn or attached to the body. It was something that they say is passive. This next section are items that must be picked up deliberately and carried. Note that the first three items begin with having put on. But this next few begin with the phrase, take up, or some similar wording. With this in mind, and in context, the wording we are looking at should supply to be more like also, and also, pick up. Or in addition to these things, pick up would be correct. So then let's look at what Paul would have us move on to. We're moving on to the things passively worn, to things purposely picked up for immediate use. A soldier would be wearing his belt all day long. He'd have his breastplate on all day long. He would have his footwear on all day long. But when a soldier takes a break and he sits down for a rest, he puts down his shield, as well as his sword and his helmet, These are not necessary to have constantly attached to him. He keeps them at easy reach and accessible for when the enemy approaches. Then he takes up those pieces of armor to engage in battle. He would not do that with his belt or his shoes or his breastplate, which he wears continuously while he's on duty. Let's look at the first piece of armor in this new section. It says, above all, taking up the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. It says we are to take up or take. This means that we are to act. We do this. It's not automatic with Christians. It doesn't come automatically with the faith. It's something we have to exercise and do. It is commanded of every Christian. It is necessary for all Christians who desire to live rightly the Christian life. We must act. Again, it's not for non-Christians. None of this would be of any help to a lost man. Nothing here would be appropriate for an unbeliever. As we are taking up a shield of faith, and a non-believer by the nature of it has no faith. So this is again for those of us that are in Christ. It is vitally important to see this. We must be in Christ in order to use this. It's all about him. It is, after all, his strength. It's his power. It is his armor that we're talking about here. And only his people may partake in all this. Only his people would care about it. The rest are only interested in spiritual warfare, as in casting out demons or ridding haunted houses of ghosts. It's as far as it goes with them. Holy water and our Father ought to do it, they think. But we are looking at obeying our Lord through Paul. We are taking up the shield of faith. This shield was part of the equipment of Roman soldiers. They had a couple of types of shields. One was a small shield that they could wear on the arm to deflect projectiles, a big dish that you would see sometimes. This would usually be metal or a wooden disk of some kind with metal overlay. Small, it could be swung around easily as needed, but there was another shield that it would use which was much bigger. It was heavy wooden shield about the size of a normal door. It was covered with metal and would interlock with other shields to make a wall-like rampart. Soldiers would lock these together and advance toward the enemy, safe from all arrows and projectiles, as long as they remained behind the shield. Those behind the shields were protected. The apostle likens our faith to one of these particular shields. He goes on to call it a shield of faith. Faith is what's needed. Faith is that shield. But what is faith? Everybody trusts something. Everybody has some kind of faith. The most hardened criminal has faith of one kind or other. The most wicked unbeliever is placing his hopes in something, even if that hope is when you're dead, you're dead, you go into the ground and that's it. That's a faith of some kind. It's what you believe. People today say, well, you just gotta have faith. And it looks like just having some kind of faith is to be commended. He was a man of great faith, they would say, but they wouldn't express what exactly that was about. Faith in and of itself is the goal, it would seem, to these people. As long as you have faith, they say. Hey, dude, I got faith in that refrigerator. Old man says, I put a lot of faith in that old Oldsmobile. I got faith in you, son. We got faith that our team will put it together this year. But the Bible is not unclear about the object of our faith. The Bible tells us that our faith is to be in God. Earlier, we looked at the belt of truth, faith in his word, what God has said is true. The truth looked at here was the faith once for all delivered to the saints, that faith spoken was concerning what God has said. It's about the truths of the word of God. It's about the gospel and all the rest of what the word says. Remember last time we looked at it as the gospel of peace. The belt is our system of belief. It is talking about our whole body of what we call the faith. But here we're talking about God himself. Our faith in God, including his word, including the faith. We're looking at God according to what the word has said about him and what he says about himself. But in this case, we're talking about everything about God. What he is, who he is, what he is to us, what he is able to do, what he has done. Can we trust him? Is he worthy of our faith? Remember, do we have peace with God? He and everything about him is to be the object of our faith. Our faith in God is a shield for us. Our faith in God is our protection because he protects us. And faith is only as good as its object. You can have faith that you can fly. But if you're not equipped to fly with wings, then the object of your faith cannot be trusted. You cannot be trusting yourself to fly. You can trust a piece of paper to hold you up from falling down a manhole, but you'll soon find that the object of your faith, that paper, is not worthy of your faith. And this, while looking up from the sewer, The object of your faith must be worthy of that faith. God is worthy of our faith. We know this because we know about him, that he is all-powerful, that he is all-knowing, all-wise. He's all-loving. He's everywhere present. He's always present. He sees all. We are always in his presence. We know that our God can handle it. Our God has promised in addition to all this to deal with us in love in Christ. He is our father. He's on our side and he's at peace with us. He has it all under control. He has promised good to us. He has also warned us about judgment to come. We put our faith in God. He did so very much for us when he chose to save us. He gave us his son to die for us. He chose us. He will complete it to the end, it says in one place. Our lives and our souls are in his hand. He will not let us down. He will not let us fail. He will not let us fall. We are certain in him because of Jesus. What is your faith in? What are you trusting? Are you trusting our heavenly father in all things, everything? Most importantly, are you trusting the gospel? He is worthy. He's the rightful owner of our faith. We can trust him. We must trust him if we are to walk the Christian walk rightly. God is the shield that we're talking about. Our faith is that which connects us with him. And we must trust him like a shield, using that trust in him like a shield. But a shield against what? It says, item C, above all taking the shield of faith with which you'll be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. It says, we will be able. This is promised remedy to a promised protection. A promised protection. If you use this shield, you will be able. If you don't use the shield, you won't be able. There's no maybe here. There's no probably here. It's with full confidence that Paul expects it'll work for us. We must do this. It's not, as I said before, automatic. We must do this. But it is certain that this is what will work. And it will quench, it says. Quench, meaning to stop or extinguish or put out. Probably a better word would be to deflect. The simplest word, to stop. The main idea is to prevent from reaching us. The idea is to keep us safe, to shield us. But from what? Fiery darts. Fiery darts has been translated as flaming darts, flaming missiles, fiery arrows, flaming arrows, blazing bolts. I like that one. Projectiles that are both pointy and on fire. What on earth are those? We probably have seen scenes in movies where there's an enemy approaching the camp, and all of a sudden you see the fiery arrows coming towards you in the movie. That's sort of what we're talking about here. The enemy's approaching and surrounding the camp, and suddenly the night sky is filled with fireballs coming towards the camp. Fireballs land on the roofs of the huts and the tents and the wooden buildings, Soon the camp is blazing with fire everywhere, causing confusion and turmoil. What's worse, before you know it, somebody is struck right through the chest with an arrow and is on fire. Not only is this poor lad in extreme pain from being impaled, but he's also ignited. And after much screaming and agony, he falls dead to a smoldering pile. This is the kind of scene Paul has in mind. He's talking about our souls here. This happened during Roman warfare. Enemies would take arrows and wrap them with some kind of cloth or other material, would dip them in oil or other flammable liquid and light them on fire and shoot them into the enemy camp. And Romans had to protect themselves from these attacks. They would use the shield to keep these arrows from striking themselves and turning themselves into human torches. These shields worked very well for them. Sometimes in the thick of the battle, the enemy would launch thousands of them all at one time. You would see them coming in the hundreds right at you. Roma soldiers would then put their shields together and be safe, all while advancing toward their enemy. They weren't fearful, but they were smart at protecting themselves. The number of casualties would be greatly reduced because of the use of these shields. The Apostle Paul tells us, however, that all the darts will be quenched, every one. There's not one that we'll get through if we effectively use the shield. The shield that Paul's talking about here is 100% effective. No fiery dart can penetrate this shield if you have taken it up. But you must take it up and use the shield. And that shield is our faith, our faith in God and in Christ Jesus. It says in the Benson Commentary, continue to exercise a strong and lively faith in the truths and promises of the gospel and in the person and offices, the merits and grace of the Lord Jesus in whom All these truths and promises are yay and amen. But wait a minute. What kind of darts are we talking about here? Real ignited arrows? No. These are illustrations of a spiritual truth. It's like the shield is an illustration of a spiritual truth about our faith in God. So the flaming arrows Paul was talking about are the projectiles of a spiritual nature. But what kind of spiritual? From where? He goes on to say in letter D, above all, taking the shield of faith with which we would be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. If you're a Christian here today, you're being shot at, if you're a Christian. These darts are spiritual in nature, and they come from Spirit These are attacks from the wicked one They are designed by the wicked one they are from the wicked one They are his style The wicked one we're speaking of of course is Satan the devil They are from his arsenal They are shot from his equipment. They are shot by his army, his troop, his demons. Let me ask you something here before we go on. Do you believe in a literal devil? Yes. Everybody here believes that there actually is a real honest to goodness Devil. Do you believe that Satan exists? Not in some abstract way, not in some poetic way, putting a face on the evil in the world as some would say, but a real honest to goodness person, a spirit. Okay. I just thought I'd hammer that one a little bit. Yes, the dragon. If you do not believe, it's like not believing that there's an archer as shooting arrows. Imagine being shot at with arrows and you don't believe that there's anybody shooting them at you. You deny there are arrows flying at you from an evil archer. Nah, it's just a fable. It's just a superstition, some would say, most would say. This is the 21st century, after all. You don't believe those things until you're impaled and going up in flames. So then, what are these fiery darts that Satan is sending at us? What is he attacking us with? We just saw that the darts look like a physical, historical, military sense, but they look like in a spiritual sense. It is these that we are looking at after all. These fiery darts are temptations. They're suggestions. Their accusations, they cause doubts, lusts, prides, fears, despair, rage, other sinful mindsets in Christians who desire to live godly. They are attacks on the mind by Satan, and they can be very effective if they find their mark in you and me. Sometimes they come by way of a stray or a random thought. You're in prayer and all of a sudden, some vile thought presents itself. Sometimes it's a person who says or does something that sets it off. You're having a great day in the Word and somebody calls and starts angering you. Maybe it is time when you were very blessed something happens to wreck your peace. Maybe it's a whole series of stuff that seems to come all at once. Donna and I are familiar with this lately. What else is gonna happen, you might ask? What next? Usually it's just a thought, a deception, an accusation that comes. And it seems to come out of nowhere. Now where did that thought come from? I wasn't even thinking about that. They come suddenly, no warning. Says here, ah yes brethren, the most dangerous of our temptations are those that are sprung upon us unawares. We are going quietly along the course of our daily lives, occupied with quite other thoughts, and all at once as if a door is opened, not out of heaven, but out of hell. We are confronted with some evil thing that, unless we were instantaneously on our guard, will conquer us almost before we know. Evil tempts us because it comes to us, for the most part, without any beat of a drum or any blast of a trumpet, to say it's coming and to put us upon our guard. The fiery darts that light up the infernal furnace in man's heart and that smite him, all unawares and unsuspecting. These are the weapons that we have to fear most, according to McLaren's expositions commentary. There's an old saying that the world is full of sparks and our hearts are tinderboxes just waiting to catch fire. Well, those sparks would be fiery, fiery darts, fiery arrows. Before you know it, you're thinking on in considering that thought that comes to you. Perhaps even act on it. And it ruins your day, ruins your quiet time, ruins your time with the Lord, and it can be very effective. Most Christians have no idea what this is these days. Most just write it off as their own sinful thoughts. But it is a cold, calculated attempt on you It comes from a being that hates you more than you could ever know. It comes from the most cunning and crafty being that exists. The enemy knows you personally. He knows your particular individual weaknesses. He knows what temptations to use against you. He's literally had all the time in the world to study us. He studied you. He knows what will make you stumble. He knows how to push your buttons. Those sparks are fiery darts that we mentioned approaching the tinderbox. And it's meant to make you fall. It's meant to drop you. But we must stand. And we will stand. And we will take up our shields, won't we? We will protect ourselves against Satan's flaming arrows. But we need to learn to watch for these. We need to recognize them for what they are. We'll soon realize when we are being attacked. But we have to keep this in mind. We must be ready with our shield of faith. Then we can deflect and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. Okay, so now we got a picture of what the shield is and what the fiery darts are and faith and temptations. How's this all work out? Well, first of all, let's look at what happens if you don't have your shield. Letter E, if you do not have your shield of faith. You're going along in your day. Things are going well. You did your devotions this morning. You prayed with a friend even. You're feeling particularly good about the Lord today. Maybe you're feeling blessed. You begin to think about how good God has been to you. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a vile thought comes to mind. You're struck by how rotten the thought is. But you're suddenly thinking about that thought. It's festering in your mind. You forget about the blessings you had earlier. You gradually become consumed by the thoughts. And one thought follows another, working their way to a conclusion. You give heed to these thoughts. Soon enough, you're fearing that you're a miserable excuse for a Christian. Soon you're thinking about doing something related to what was suggested to your heart by the evil one. It wasn't a sin when the thought came to you as a temptation, but now you're thinking on it and perhaps even enjoying it. You had birds fly over your head. You can't stop that. But you let those birds build a nest in your hair. That could have been stopped immediately. At this point, you have no good for the Lord's work. You're in sin. You're not enjoying the presence of the Lord. You're no longer thankful. You are stumbling real bad, and if you allow this to keep on going, you'll probably act on it. Guess what? You've fallen. You've slid. You've failed to stand. You've been impaled by a fiery dart, and Satan is real happy about his accurate hit. But, the second part, suppose you take up your shield of faith. As the apostle says, you're walking down the same street. Today was a great day of prayer and devotion. You met with a friend and had fellowship at the donut shop. You spend time in the Word. You witness to people at the donut shop. You considered that you're going out in the world and it's going to be unsafe. You realize that you must take up your shield of faith. It'll be dangerous out there. It is dangerous in here. You never know when or where the enemy will assault. You cannot see him and you realize this. He waits for opportune times. And you know you must be prepared for an assault at any time. So you indeed take up your shield. You do this. Your mind is saturated with the truth of God's word. You make sure of that. You know him who is greater than he who is in the world. You know that he is in you. You work on keeping this in mind, however. You have the Holy Spirit. You work on remembering this. You know that God is a mighty fortress, ever present. You know that you can hide in him. He's our strong tower, it says in one place. You know the truths and the promises of the word, the gospel. You know the person and work of Jesus. and you put your trust in Him. You keep in mind that He is that shield you trust. You work on this. Your shield of faith is Him. You are mindful of His power in you. You are mindful of being set free from the power of sin and death. You are mindful of Christ interceding for you at the right hand of the Father. You're mindful that you were bought with a price. A dozen verses are circling your brain. You make sure of that. You're reciting them over and over as you venture out. You are totally convinced of God's immediate presence. He's right here, right with you, right now, right here. He's more real than you and I are to me. And you are in communication with him, continuously, and you make sure of it. Any moment, Satan could attack. Any time now. Watching for it. Wait for it. Not neglectful. Having your shield. Could be any moment. And what do you know? Here he comes. But you knew he would be here, didn't you? You're not shocked that he's shown up. Boy, he sure has a doozy for you, too. A car cuts you off and the driver makes a nasty hand gesture at you. The fiery darts are launched. You feel it rising inside you. Don't you want to respond in kind? Nasty words want to escape your lips? To be tempted is not to sin, though. Go ahead, the voice says. Let them have it, both barrels. Road rage wants its way. There you are. You get a full-color video image in your head of slamming into that car, dragging the driver out, and punching him in the throat. Whoa, whoa, hold on. Whoa. You feel the attack has happened. How do you handle this? You've been tempted. You should not sin yet. Don't let those arrows stick. Don't let the fire start. Enough. Enough, you say. You instead go right to God. Lord, thank you for keeping me safe. Lord, I feel like I want to curse. I'm trusting you, but I cannot do this on my own. I need you. If it depends on me, I'll fail. I will fall. But Lord, I'm not going to sin. Your word says no fits of rage. Your word says no impure words out of my mouth. Your word says love your neighbor as yourself. Overcome evil with good and don't become overcome with evil. But I can't do this on my own. I need you. Lord, I'm praying that that person is okay and not in trouble. Lord, I forgive them. Lord, keep me from harm. Keep me from slipping. Lord, you are my strong tower. You're my salvation. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Lord, you're my shield. I put my trust in you. Then Satan is in content. He comes at you again. More fiery arrows of doubt. Are you sure you're really saved, he says. You sure look like you were gonna cave there for a while. Won't take much to make you fall. Maybe you don't have as strong a hold on God as you thought. Maybe you're only deceiving yourself that you're really a Christian. Do you think God really cares about you? After all, you leave yourself open to so many temptations, why not just give up? Admit it. You're still in your sins and you're lost. Heck, is there really anything at all to this whole Jesus thing he says? What if you're wrong? Even the Apostle Paul said that if it's not true, that you are of all men most foolish. Shut up, Satan. Lord, I hide in you. You are my strong tower and I'm at peace with my God. I will stand because he will hold me up, you say to the devil himself. I'm standing on his promises. I'm putting my trust in you, Lord. I'm carrying out a double conversation because you've got two beings that are just as real that you're dealing with right now. You're choosing to be with the one and the other one wants your attention. Lord, I hide you. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Thank you, Jesus, for pleading my cause. It was my sins, the ones like I'm being tempted with right now, that you died for. Trusting that God will indeed be there for me. He will indeed help me. He will be my shield. He goes away, waits another opportune time. Same day, you come home from the donut shop. Guess what? Your neighbor just got a brand new muscle car. There it is. Wow. A new Mustang. Black with a red stripe and a red interior. This thing is gorgeous, man. It really is. Whoa. And you're feeling a bit jealous. I wish I had one of those. Your mind goes off. You picture yourself in a mental video driving down the open road at a brisk rate of speed. Those dual exhausts are growling. People on the road beside are looking at you. The sun is shining off the perfectly polished paint. You drive past this same neighbor of yours with the car that he has, but you're driving it. And he's looking at you with jealous eyes, and you're enjoying that. No, no, no, no, Lord, this is not right. You shake yourself out of the imagination, but the tempter continues to attack. More flaming arrows. How does he afford it and I can't? I should have one, not him. Except I'd buy an old Pontiac if I had the choice. You hear the suggestions made to your mind, but you know you're not thinking that. They came out of nowhere. Where did that come from? Oh, I know. Forget the car for a moment. Get behind me, Satan, you say. Lord, I'm under attack. Lord, the fiery darts are coming my way. Lord, I don't want to covet nor be jealous of his blessing. Lord, shield me from an enemy attack. I put my trust in you, my Lord. Lord Jesus, you told me not to love the world. You told me to love my neighbor. I put my faith in you. You told me not to Corvette. No, wait, that's Covet, right? I have you. Lord, what more do I need? Thank you for the car that you did supply to me. Thank you for always providing just what I need. Lord, that car really is nice though, but thanks for being so good to my neighbor. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. Thanks for the promise of a great inheritance. Lord, I ask that you'll save my neighbor too. Oh, he has a treasure, but he could have a greater one in you. Lord, please protect him as he enjoys the blessing you gave him. Lord, please get glory and honor and praise from him as he enjoys the gift you gave him. I give to you now. Thank you, Lord, for being here with me. Thank you for protecting me. Thank you for providing. Thank you, Lord, for being my shield and my fortress, my strong tower. You, Lord, are my treasure. Satan goes away. waiting for another opportune time, probably later today. And these examples, you've used your shield. You've kept from sinning. You recognized that the darts were coming at you. You did not allow them to burn. You extinguished them. You did not get pierced through. You turned to God immediately. You raised your shield. You hid behind your shield. Lord, I cannot do this myself. I have no power of my own, but Lord, I have your power. Lord, you are my shield. The tempter tried. He had a very effective temptation indeed. He knew exactly what to do to push your buttons. But you saw for what it was. You had your shield ready. You took up your shield and you used it. You went to the word and remembered the promises. You continued to stand. You are standing. Stand therefore. Says in another place, this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And that faith overcomes the devil and his darts. So some thoughts. Is your shield ready? You know, are you protecting yourselves with your shields? Have you had darts shot at you? You have, but you realize that you've had these. Or are you blaming your own mind for this stuff instead of the fact that you do have an outside influence that's injecting and shooting at you? Temptations, discouragements, doubts. Have you ever taken up your shield deliberately, considering that you're taking up a shield? Do you know the word well enough to have a shield built up? Do you know that the Lord, do you know the Lord well enough to have him as your shield? When the next fiery dark comes up to you, will you take refuge in the Lord, your strong tower, your shield? Or will you go up in a screaming and fiery flame ball sent to you by the wicked one? Have your shield ready. The darts are on the way. You must do this. Any questions or discussion? I was thinking, be angry, but do not. That's hard to do. In fact, yesterday, I was trying to make a song on tape. Here, I have two ending dots. I made it one way. And then we started fighting. And the teacher came in and said, stick and told him to break your bones. Sticks and stones will break your bones names are fly at fiery missiles. That's true Anything else All right, let's close in prayer. Lord, thank you that you have provided a protection against the fiery darts of the evil one. We thank you that you are our strong tower, that we put our trust in you, that we're safe in you. Lord, help us all to consider the equipment that you've given us, consider how to use it, what it means to us. Lord, help us. to grow and to grow much stronger in the strength and the power of the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for these words. In Jesus' name, amen.