SHIELD OF FAITH

Ephesians 6:16  "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

I know what I am to talk with you about tonight Lord, but listening to this song, "I Just Want to Praise You", it is so hard not to just praise You here, just worship You for all your wonderful goodness to me this day, I feel Your presence so strong now, I just want to sit in Your arms, cry as I always do when You flood over me like this, but just sit and worship You, love on You and adore You.  I exalt Your Holy Name, my Beloved Lord.  How can I do anything but love You, but worship You, Your heavenly sweet presence flooding my being, giving warmth to my soul....

Today, I was going to lunch and was stopped at a red light.  The Lord spoke to me, "Shield of Faith".  I knew this was part of the Full Armor of God.  But as I listened, He began to tell me more about this shield He has given me to wear.  The Lord told me that this shield was a barrier between me and the world.  He told me that the enemy cannot penetrate this shield, this barrier when it is applied properly.  When it is worn appropriately.  We just cannot in the morning say, okay, I am putting on my shield of faith now and going out.  The shield of faith, along with the whole armor of God, is a preparation.  Just as I dress for work, I have a routine that pretty much follows the same pattern each morning.  I do about the same things in the same manner each day.  Brush teeth, apply makeup, fix my hair and then put on my clothes.  Pretty much the same every day. 

Well, putting on the full armor of God, my shield of faith is also a preparation each day.  That is what the Lord is trying to say today.  First, you must prepare yourselves by spending some time beginning the day in worship to our Lord.  This is the first thing I do every  morning.  I begin singing to my God, my precious Lord, singing out worship from my heart, from my spirit, longing for His presence, reaching up to Him in love and thanks for my rest in the night, for His looking over me while I rested, holding me close, giving me that sweet peaceful sleep.  Then I begin to pray, seeking His will for my day, asking for His guidance, His words to speak and not my own, asking for His grace, His perfect peace for my day.  I thank Him for His goodness to me, for His amazing love, and for His mercy extended to me new each morning.  Then I get up and go into my little office, just a bedroom that I have set up for an office.  I sit at my desk and look at my open Bible.  It is always open.  I have scraps of paper all over my desk on which I have scriptures written, where I have jotted down notes of what the Lord has told me, His words that He has dropped into my spirit during the night, or at other times of the day.  It really looks a mess, but I can't bear to part with one paper that has a word He has given me.  Then I look at the Word, to see where I left off the night before, to see what the Lord might have for me that morning.  And for a while I read.  Then as I pray, asking for strength for the day, for His power over the enemy and for Divine guidance, I put on my Shield of Faith along with the rest of the beautiful, blessed Armor of God.  But his shield, this protection, this expression of my trust and faith, this is the part of the armor that I believe blesses my  Lord the most.  This is the part of the armor that gives back to Him.  The part that shows my Lord my total trust in Him.  The faith I have in Him, the faith that He knows is built stronger and stronger each day as I see Him move in my life.  As I see the Lord turn what could have been harmful to me, see Him turn it around for His glory, for my good, my faith builds.  When I see what is a situation that has no way of coming to pass, I see Him move my mountains to obtain the goal He has placed before me.  Faith building, trust inspiring acts that continue to draw me into Him closer and closer.  The Lord just showed me a spider's web, build so intricately that anything going into it cannot penetrate it, it gets caught on the outside, and stuck there.  So is anything that is thrown against me, any plot to harm me, to draw me from His protection, gets caught outside my shield of faith.  Cannot get through to me, I am inside my Lord.  He surrounds me.

My faith has grown so deep, I don't see a lot of things coming against me, because I don't expect to see that.  I know the Lord is keeping me unto Himself and I trust Him to do so.  He has never failed to take care of me, so why would He not do so now, now that I am totally His, more than before.  Now that I love Him with a passion that I did not know I had, a passion to please Him more and more each day, a desire to spend my time worshiping Him alone, spend my time with Him.  How I worship You, my Lord.  I worship You.

My Shield of Faith, my Lord of Lords, is the beginning of my day, each day.  He is the end of my day, as I remove the outward shield and submit my heart, my soul, my spirit to Him for His cleansing, gentle cleansing to refresh me, to renew my being.  During the night, I get strength renewed, I get rest for the next day, I get His sweet breath of life poured into me, adding layers to my shield while I rest, layers of faith, restored, rebuilt, any dents the enemy may have made in my shield are straightened out, smoothed over, gently rubbed and shined with His righteousness, all while I rest, He is at work, doing for me, tending to me.  O, my Lord, how I love You.  Hallelujah to You, my God.  I worship You. 

This 24th day of May, 2011, I worship You, my Lord.  You are my Lord, my Beloved Bridegroom, You are my everything.