What if we have 2 seeds, let’s say of an oak tree, and plant them, one seed planted in the middle of a dense forest and another seed planted in the slope of a hill. The seed panted in the slope of the hill is going to be exposed to all kinds of elements. That is, exposed to every storm, exposed to every wind, exposed to everything that comes. So this tree will grow up to be a very strong tree , as the roots had no choice but to go deeper, no choice but to spread wider and that tree is going to grow strong because it is exposed to all the things and it has to survive. What will happen to the seed which is planted in the middle of the dense forest. It does not have any need to put his roots deep or spread it because it is protected from other trees, it’s relatives around.
What a parable for us as believers. The Christian who is willing to engage the enemy and to advance the kingdom of God, he will go deeper and stronger. The believer who wants to stay in the shadow of other people’s spirituality, remain weak and remain shallow. Is that right? Until you and I are willing to engage with the power of darkness, advance the kingdom and not just always find a place of safety for ourselves. Until you are willing to take up the agenda of God and do what God wants us to do. Not to fulfil our own agenda but fulfil his agenda and pay the price what ever it may be, we cannot grow strong, and we cannot grow deep. The day we come to God and say God not my will but your will be done. Not my purpose in life but your purpose in life. That’s the day we really grow strong and grow deep in God.
This series on the Armor of God is so important; it helps us to really stand strong in the midst of a spiritual war.
Remember we looked at the belt of truth; which protects us from Satan’s deception. We will not be gripped by anxieties, worries, or our Circumstances. We will be gripped by the truth of God’s word. Put it on; guard our mind with the belt of truth.
Secondly, we talked about the breastplate of righteousness, which has to be worn on our chest. Which protects our heart with Satan’s condemnation, from accusations, from bitterness; unforgiveness and we stand on the righteousness of Christ, not based on our self-effort. It is based on faith; it is based on love, our faith in God and his love for us. Faith protects us from condemnation and Gods love protects us from bitterness and unforgiveness.
We also looked at the shoes of the Gospel of peace which protects our feet. As we run in the service of the Lord to publish peace and reconciliation where ever we go, through the Gospel.
This morning we are going to look at the other three pieces of the Armor. The fourth piece of the Armor which we need to have is the shield of faith. We put on the belt, put on the breastplate and put on the shoes, now we pick up the shield of faith.
We all may have seen a shield; it is Armor for our defence. This shield gives total and complete protection. Ephesian 6 “Above all pick up the shield, to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
We need to shield ourselves from Satan’s weapon of discouragement, and doubts. This shield can protect us from every attack. Some of us here may feel like we are facing issues from every corner. What we have to do is RAISE UP THE SHEILD OF FAITH. Don’t look at what we see now, lift up your shield and claim that Lord I believe.
Nehemiah 4: 1-15, Nehemiah 4 describes the rebuilding of walls of Jerusalem and the challenges he faced, read verse 1-3.
They were ridiculed, and discouraged by them.
4 [a]When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
In verse 7 , they begin to use direct physical fight
7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry.
In verse 8, the enemy brings confusion:
8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.
In verse 10 , the enemy brings discouragement
10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
In verse 11 , They bring fear
11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
In verse 12 , they bring negative reports:
12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
The scenario worsened each time and that is when, Nehemiah stood up. In verse 14
14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
He put the shield of faith , over him and over his people.
We have to learn to fight for our family , we have to learn to fight for what we treasure . We fight for our sons , daughters , our spiritual sons and daughter and brothers and sisters. We learn to fight for the church against the plan of the enemies.
We don’t wait , just don’t get into a mode of discouragement , we stand and we say enough is enough . We fight the battle. We Raise up the shield of faith.
We need to Raise and claim what is ours. The devour want to come and steal away everything . We need to stand up and stand against him.
When someone is sick , I usually tell Abisha, her immune is not strong , when they are not doing good in their studies , we say you do not have good memory power. When we have a tough time at work , we say boss / project is not good.
We need to rise up , put our shield of faith , learn to pray . look out what Nehemiah said .
Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome
When we raise our faith, what happens in verse 15
15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.
When we raise our faith, the scheme of the enemy is exposed and demolished. The key, when we are in doubt, we have to do what Nehemiah suggested. “WE SHOULD RECALL WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE”
Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome
We recall what God has done. When we do this, we can raise our faith. If God is not in our situation, what is there to fight? There would be no power to fight, because it is not by our strength
In Psalm 77: verse 2, 10
When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
We have to recall the greatness of God, the great acts of God in our life. We raise the shield to stand in the promises of God.
There is a story mentioned during the time of world war 2, the Holocaust Nazi Germany, aided by local collaborators, systematically murdered some six million European Jews.
A French family were hiding a Jewish family in their basement for several weeks and they found that they were never discouraged and kept waiting and waiting on God for their deliverance. Later on, when everything was over, the French family saw writing on the wall by the Jewish family.
They wrote, I believe in the sun, even if it does not shine. I believe in love , even if it is not given. I believe in God, even if he is silent.
Raising up the shield of faith in belief.
Let us read Romans 4: 18 – 21
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Faith is not denying facts, faith is not pretending it is not there when it is there (sick is sick)
I look at the circumstances, knowing it is not good, but we glorify God. God has the power to do what he has promised.
The question we can ask ourselves today is, are we fully persuaded that his promises will be fulfilled?
Faith is very contagious, when we look at few people, we are in awe of their faith. It passes on.
Similarly doubt is also contagious (like your wife asking you, did you lock the door?)
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
We can raise the faith for others as well.
We need to raise faith on behalf of our cell group, family, church, and our city in Jesus Name.
When we see, that in our cell group we are having a tough time or in our church or family, pray for it, we don’t just have to sit, we are in his army. Pray for our city for a new hope.
Let us watch this video , Its very similar to our challenges, hopeless situations but in the end we dont have to forget that our God is in full control.
Series on Spiritual warfare – Belt of Truth -Courtesy Benny Ho:
Virjil Selvan is Pastoring the New Hope Community.
The New Hope Community is situated in the heart of the city between Old and New Panvel. We can confidently share that New Hope Community is a Church in Kamothe, Church in Khandeshwar, Church in Khanda Colony, Church in Panvel, Church in New Panvel because we are centrally located and these places surround our church Venue
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