His Shield of Favor Surrounds Us!

His Shield of Favor Surrounds Us! by Charles Pierce

Of the shields you are carrying, the prophet says, "Pull those shields down and let them surround you. May the shield of faith come into place so you press through into a new favor!"

One of the most important things a Christian can learn is the reality of spiritual warfare. When you were born again, you were born onto a battlefield. Your choice is not whether you want to go to war, for war has been declared against you! Your only choice is whether you want to get trampled by the enemy, or learn to fight and win! At issue in this battle are the promises of God. Peter says that God has given us His "precious and magnificent promises" that through them we can become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

God has given us promises that relate to every area of life. He has promised us abundant provision. He's promised us healing. He has promised great blessings in every area. But when you open your Bible and begin to claim these promises, you discover you are in a battle!

When you say, "I want to come into a new place in the Lord! I want to move forward to obtain the promise!" Satan will try to stop you. That's what the battle is all about. Satan's goal is to frighten and discourage you, to make you to turn back and not press on in the Lord.

As the apostle Paul thought about our struggle against Satan, he realized that God has given us a shield like that. It is a shield of faith. When Paul talks about our shield in Ephesians 6:16, he uses the word for the Roman battle shield. The word is thureos, and it means a "door-shaped shield." (The Greek word for door is thurs)

The thureos was a large, rectangular shield about five feet high and three feet wide. It was also called a castle shield. If you were a warrior holding this shield in front of you, you carried your own portable fortress. You had a castle you could take with you wherever you went and be protected against the enemy.

It is interesting to study how this shield is made. The thureos was so large that, if made of solid wood or metal, it would have been difficult to carry. To construct a thureos, the Romans began with a wooden framework. Over that framework, they fastened seven layers of tough leather from the skin of a bull or a calf. They built up these layers until the shield was four or five inches thick and nailed the layers securely in place. As the soldiers got ready to go into battle, they could dip the shield in a nearby river to saturate it with water so it would not only stop an arrow, it would quench the fire.

Many Christians think they are battling for their needs. They say, "I'm in a spiritual warfare to break through for financial provision! I'm warring in prayer for a new job ... for salvation of a loved one ... for physical healing ... and so on." That is not what we are battling for. If you think you are in warfare for healing, finances or any other need, you do not understand the battle.

Our battle is not for any of those needs. Our battle is only for one thing, and that is faith.

The Word of God tells us that faith is the one essential. If you have faith, nothing is impossible, nothing is withheld. If you can get in faith and stay in faith, all the rest will come. All things are possible if you believe. So when you have a need for finances, health or anything else, your battle is to find a way to stand in faith. Let me say that again: no matter what we need, if we can get in faith and stay in faith, every need will be met.

Our battle is to stay in faith.