Ephesians 6:16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” The Word of God tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In other words, we can take our shield of faith by hearing God’s word because faith increases through hearing the Word of God. The fact is that everyone has faith in something or someone. There is a sense in which almost everything we do in life is based on our faith. For example when you take a chair to sit on, without anyone telling you about the state of the chair you just go ahead to sit on it. When you get into your car and turn the key, you have faith that all the parts of your car will work together properly so that the car will start and get you where you need to be. Also when we go to the doctor and he prescribes medicine we have to have faith in the doctor’s judgment and in the claims of the drug makers that the medicine will actually make us better and healthier. But the kind of faith that makes life worth living must be faith in something that’s worthwhile. Daily faith for the believer is the assurance that God is with us, and His Word is true. It is reliance and confidence, and the basis of our faith must always be the Word of God. Paul is reminding us that the shield of faith is used with the belt of the truth of Christ, the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of being prepared to give Good News. Any part of the Whole Armor without the previous part of the armor is useless. The shield of faith is the consistent application of what we believe about God to the issues of life. If we are to take the shield of faith, we must get into God’s Word. When we claim that we have taken up the shield of faith while overtly disobeying God, all we have really done is to toss aside the genuine shield and taken up a shield of our own making. And then we wonder why we’re hit with those flaming arrows. We can’t be deceived by any teaching that separates faith from obedience. Beloved, the shield of faith will extinguish any flaming arrow. As bearers of the shield we can know that temptations will never stop being a part of our life. But we can also be certain that these temptations do not have to rule our response to God. When we trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ we can stand secure in Christ every time the evil one tries to make us hesitant in our relationship with Jesus Christ. As the year draws to an end, ensure the shield of faith is on you as you move into a new year. Have a beautiful Christmas and express the love of God to someone. Shalom. Yemisi Onanuga.