Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16 AMP

When the devil can get us to doubt God’s Word, he can hit us with a flaming arrow. That’s always been his tactic. In his first encounter with humans his attack was ” did God say?”. His strategy is to get us to doubt the goodness of God’s Character and the Truthfulness of His Word.

Tell the modern young person that God says there should be no sex before marriage and the devil will paint the image of a killjoy God who doesn’t want us to enjoy ourselves. Tell society at large that sex should be only between a biological husband and biological wife and he will paint the picture of a God who does not understand human nature, human emotions or sexual orientation. Tell people that God says we are to put Him and other people before ourselves, and the devil will create the image of a miserable life in bondage to a cruel God who just wants us to suffer and live at the beck and call of everyone else until we fall exhausted into the grave.

The devil’s scheme is always to get us to doubt. To doubt God’s goodness, His love and His truth. When we begin to believe the doubts, our shield begins to drop and the flaming arrows of the enemy will reach us.

Faith is the only thing that can extinguish doubt. You can pray for hours, but if your prayers are full of doubt, the devil still has the upper hand and can smite you again and again until you give up praying altogether.

Jesus told His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. John 16v13.

The ultimate authority in what is right and wrong, good and bad is God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will never go against the Word of God. He will never go against the Words that Jesus spoke. Jesus is The Word made flesh John 1v14. This is the foundation of the true Christian faith. When we stand under the authority of God’s Word, we are safe. When the church or an individual Christian embraces anything that God says is sin, they have dropped their faith shield and have been hit by the flaming arrow of the enemy. Unless that arrow is removed and the shield of faith lifted again, more and more arrows will penetrate and eventually all true spiritual life within us will be extinguished.

The Holy Spirit came to fill us with a fiery devotion to God and His Word. The devil comes to turn that devotion into doubt, distaste, desertion and for some a hatred of God’s Word and a dedication to malign His character.

Rat poison is around 98% good food, but 2 % of it is lethal. The devil appears as an angel of light, but his arrows are tipped with poison that will spread through every area of our lives if we let it. It will distort our thinking. What we once thought of as wrong, we now believe to be right. What we once avoided at all cost, we now embrace. If we continue to consume his poison we will die.

The way to extinguish these fiery arrows is to replace them with what God’s Word says. When Gods Word says “flee youthful lusts, but follow righteousness etc” 2Tim 2v22-26, that’s what we need to do. We need to accept that this is God’s way. If you play with fire, you will be burned. God wants to protect you from the fire. If your faith fails, immediately get the spiritual aid you need. Get the poison out before it spreads.

Using the shield of faith needs practice. Lots of practice. God knows that we need to develop skill in using it. He doesn’t condemn us for failing. Remember that our Breastplate of Righteousness is based on Jesus’ success, not our failures! When we’ve allowed our shield to slip and have been hit by a lie of the enemy, seek the healing power of His Word. Replace the lie with the truth. Stand on this truth, and when the enemy comes with the same lie you can quote the truth to him. Knowing, understanding and quoting the Scriptures is using our faith shield skillfully.