Bruce Collins, Evangelist

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 (NKJV).

What are the fiery darts of the wicked one? Could it not be the doubts and questions that Satan puts in our minds about the goodness of God and his plans for us at times? Satan is a master at taking the Truth that gives us comfort and asking us if God has really made that promise to us. He did that to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan tries to turn our minds from praise to despair.

We sometimes think that people with proper faith in the Lord will never have times of discouragement. But many of the old testament saints did:

Elijah was discouraged in 1 Kings 19:4 where we read, “but he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’”

Jonah was discouraged after the Lord saved Nineveh. He said in Jonah 4:3, “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

David seems to discouraged when he says in Psalm 69:2, “I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me.”

Even Paul could be downcast or cast down. In 2 Corinthians 7:6 he says, “ Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”

We all have times when we feel discouraged. Sometimes it is because we have tried to do too much like Elijah and we need to rest. Sometimes it is because we are stubborn and disobedient like Jonah. Sometimes it is because our friends have forsaken us like David. Sometimes it is when the work of the Lord seems to be attacked by everything and everybody as it was with Paul. Sometimes it is just because Satan is on the attack. Even the Lord in the garden of Gethsemane could say as He anticipated the cross, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death” (Matthew 26:38).

The mind is a wonderful thing and Satan knows how to attack it. He did that to the Lord when he was hungry and alone in the wilderness. He did it to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He does that to us. The shield that we need is not the shield of believing more earnestly, but the shield of the things that we believe. It is the shield that covers all the other armor that protects us in this spiritual battle that we are constantly fighting against the wicked spirits in the heavenlies.

When the Lord was being attacked, angels came and ministered to Him both in the wilderness and in the Garden (See Matthew 4:11 and Luke 22:43). Often friends are of no help when the attack comes. Peter and James and John slept when they should have been praying for the Lord. But sometimes we can be the angel or messenger that the Lord sends to bear the burden of one who is under attack. But above all, when the attack comes, and it will, we need to know the promises of God. When Satan says, “Yea hath God said?”, we need to be able to say, “Yes He has made that promise and He doesn’t lie.” That will keep our minds protected by the shield of faith.

The promises that give us the assurance that God loves us and sent His Son to die for our sins so we could have an eternal home in the heavens, are likely the same promises that will give us peace when Satan goes on the attack. If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.

Bruce Collins