The Shield of Faith
Open Your Bible
Ephesians 6:10-20, 1 John 5:1-13, 1 Samuel 2:8-10, Psalm 7:10, Ephesians 2:1-10, Hebrews 11:1
BY Bailey T. Hurley
The shield, a soldier’s primary defense, was made from wood and covered in linen or leather. Roman soldiers would also lock their shields together to defend themselves against their enemies as a unit. Throughout Scripture, God is referred to as a shield, and faith in Him serves as protection for us as individuals and as the people of God.
I was fourteen, sitting in a musty old chapel in the middle of the woods, when it became clear to me that Jesus Christ is the real deal. That evening, like many who attended church camps as a youth, I decided to follow Jesus. There wasn’t some life-changing sermon or an altar call, but a slow progression to trusting God with my life. I came home that week and my mom told me, “You walked in the door and there was a light glowing around you. I knew you would never be the same.” She was right. God, “being rich in mercy,” made me alive again through Jesus Christ by faith (Ephesians 2:4–10).
Yet faith is not a one-time commitment. After I entrusted my life to Jesus, I still struggled with various attacks, specifically on my identity. Being a teenage girl is hard. Bodies and social hierarchies are changing, and it was challenging to not let others steal my worth from me. I wanted to believe and trust who God said I was, but it was hard to ignore the influences around me. I needed an active faith to protect me from those attacks.
In Ephesians 6, we are called “In every situation [to] take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16). Faith is a daily practice that helps us douse the doubt around us.
My battle of belief comes from a fear of doubting my value in Jesus—am I good enough for God? For you, it may be your children, your marriage, your physical health, your finances, your church, your mental health, or your beliefs that feel attacked. Any one of these things requires us to take up the shield of faith and trust in God to deliver us.
As women who believe in God we can hold tightly to this truth: “Everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith” (1John 5:4).
God will fight for us as we trust in Him and His timing. Faith is scary because it requires risk. We aren’t promised an exact time and day for relief from the enemy’s arrows. But “faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is taking the step forward, an action-oriented obedience, to trust God and believe He is “guard[ing] the steps of his faithful ones” (1Samuel 2:9).
53 thoughts on "The Shield of Faith"
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The inability to get the comments straight on the website and the app is disheartening. We are a community and this makes it difficult.
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Anne S I’m praying for your husband’s faith tonight. That he would know God and be able to trust fully in him. And also for your faith as well as your role right now is to help him along. On the podcast this week one of the things the guest said that’s sticking with me it’s that we all have the same amount of faith, it’s a question of what we’re putting it in. Is it 25% in Jesus and 75% in something else (like our retirement plans, own strength, relationships) or is it 100% in Jesus. So I pray God will help him see what he’s putting his faith in and put 100% on Jesus.
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Hi all- Bailey, thank you for the lovely devotional. @Jennifer loves Jesus, I really like your point that we have to face our trials head on in order to use the shield, otherwise the arrows will hit us in the back. We cannot run from our problems. Also- thanks to those who have been praying for my husband’s faith: we were able to have a good conversation the other night. He’s still struggling, but we talked about it! So thank you and please keep praying! I pray that God will soften his heart and bring him home, spiritually. Prayers for all of you!
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I really liked today’s devotional. “God will fight for us as we trust in Him and His timing.” I really needed that today.
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It’s so comforting to know that God is in control. He is the one who is all powerful. He is the one who has the past word. I have been worried today about how our society is trying to brainwash our kids about gender identity. Even though my daughter is only two years old, I already see it in her books. It makes me scared to know what they are reaching our kids in school. I am praying that God will lead me in what to do about this whole situation. I pray knowing that my God is more than capable of handling this situation. He is in control and in charge.
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A lot of today’s comments are on yesterday’s site. When I didn’t see anything this morning, I went to yesterday and a lot of comments with today’s date.
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I think the app was down. I tried earlier and it was still on Day 8. Just checked now and it’s on the correct day. Don’t know what happened.
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Thank you Bailey for another great devotional. I love that you mentioned Faith is Action. Amen and amen. Without action we are still trying to convince ourselves. Faith involves huge risk and it looks weird to the outsiders. I remember my dad calling me “up in the air” all the time for trusting in God. I never realize that’s how my dad perceived me having faith- which results in my different course of actions. Just like Noah making the huge ark in summer when there is no rain (stepping out in faith) and being laughed and mocked as an delusional foolish man. I encouraged my heart through Noah’s story and confirmed myself it’s not in vain. And it’s better to obey God and not please men. Acting by faith sometimes is very lonely and cause you to be the laughing stock of the outside world. But encourage your heart to do so anyways. May God help us with more courage. Don’t soldiers need courage? Oh yes and tons of it. More courage. Courage. Courage for the faith that overcomes this world.
Praying for you Taylor, i once was in the shame shoe and God kept me single for a 1.5 year, nothing worked, it was frustrated since I was so desperate and lonely, but then I realized God wanted me to be His bride, love Him first so I could be whole through that love.
Amazing testimony Heidi, i can’t believe how fast this has happened that your niece turned around to the Lord, praising God for this blessing. Rhonda thank you so much for the encouragement . Praying for SRT issue to be resolved, missing you guys in the comments. Be blessed dear beautiful sisters.
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