Introduction to shield of faith 1 (The victor's mentality 34)

My beloved readers, you’re welcome to this article. By God’s grace, we will begin to explore another phase in our series on the victor’s mentality.

We’ve been using Ephesians 6 from verse 13 to see what it truly means to have a victor’s mentality. We’ve also been looking at the different pieces of armour God expects us to put on so we can keep winning.

So far, we have seen:

• Belt of truth
• Breastplate of righteousness
• Shoes of the gospel of peace

And in this article, we will start sharing about an armour that is so vital. We speak a lot about it—and trust me, we cannot overemphasise how important this armour is if we are to keep winning. It is:

The shield of faith

We’ll only consider the introductory part in this article, and go deeper in the subsequent ones.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”(Ephesians 6:16 NKJV)

As a way of introducing the verse, notice that the Bible says “above all.” Let me present what the phrase “above all” literally and contextually means.

“Above all”—or more literally, “over all.” This means faith should never be an afterthought; it is something we must hold over our lives; Every morning you hold it up. In every decision you make, you hold it up. During every challenge, you hold it up. Even in moments of doubt, you still hold it up. From this, you can see that faith is the posture of the heart that leans into God while resting in Christ’s provision for life.

As I’ve said while considering the other pieces of armour, these are not first and foremost duties we perform; they are graces we wear. They are realities we step into because of Christ. Our actions then flow from and align with the armour, but the armour itself is supernatural, God-supplied, Christ-centred, and Spirit-empowered. As I introduce this topic, it’s very important that we note this so we don’t get the idea that we’re talking about faith as something we manufacture with human effort. Glory to Jesus!

Now let’s look at what “above all” means contextually:

Faith is a covering over all the other armour.

Think of the Roman soldier Paul had in mind: he lifted a large, full-body shield over his breastplate, belt, and shoes. In the same way, faith functions as a covering grace placed over all the other pieces of the believer’s armour. And here’s the beautiful thing: the shield is mobile armour. You can move it anywhere to defend any part of your body. Faith is the piece you actively raise in response to the enemy’s attack.

Another key thing: during battle, a soldier stands behind his shield. Everything God has clothed you with becomes fully effective when you stand behind the shield of faith. For instance, your righteousness in Christ is true—but faith keeps you conscious of it. Your peace is real—but faith keeps your mind inside it. Truth surrounds your waist—but faith gives you strength to stand in that truth.

There’s still a lot to introduce about this glorious topic. By God’s grace, we shall continue in the next article.