Alright, what's going on everybody?

What's up everybody?

I'm Derek.

And I'm Matt.

And today we are gonna talk about the next piece of the armor.

Next piece of the armor.

The shield.

The shield of faith.

Shield of faith is a fun one.

We'll have some fun talking about this one.

But so far, yeah, we've talked about what?

Oh let's see.

We've put our belt on.

Belt of truth.

Got that belt buckle.

Mm.

Breastplate of righteousness.

Got your car heart.

And we've laced up our shoes.

Yep, them snakeskins.

Sandals of peace.

And so now we're picking up the shield of faith.

Yeah, I may have to come up with something for that because I don't have a clue.

The shield.

Yeah.

I don't know.

You're going all, you know, western, aren't you?

Yeah, but I don't know what I would do for shield, you know, hard hat maybe?

No, that's helmet.

Helmet is coming so that can't be it.

What would you.

I don't know.

I'll figure it out.

I'll figure it out by next week.

I'll figure it out by next workshop.

It a little bit.

So yeah, so I'll probably just AI it chat.

GP this is week six of our speaker Spiritual warfare series.

Once again we have not done a series like this so we hope you're enjoying it.

If you are just joining with us, we have.

This is once again episode six.

So there are five episodes.

Catch up on, go back, check them out.

We'd love for you to be along with us for the entire ride.

And we are going and using Ephesians 6 as one of the base camps of this study.

And so we hope that you will read that with us.

Sometimes we throw out some other things that people can read.

We'd love to know every time what everybody's thinking, how they like the reading and just how you're interacting with all this stuff.

Yeah, yeah, keep the comments coming.

We have gotten a few new subscribers which is cool.

Yeah, we.

I had somebody come up to me the other day was like I watched your show for the first time.

I was like it was nice and they liked it.

Yeah.

We got a new guy that's been watching our show.

New guy to the, to our church.

Which shout out but yeah, so we had two people buy T shirts.

Yeah, two more.

That's amazing.

Buy some T shirts.

It's on our link.

Link tree.

If you can't find it then I'll just post it somewhere, you know.

Yeah, but there.

Yeah so, yeah.

So, yeah.

So we're halfway through.

We're gonna do 12 episodes.

And remember, when it comes to T shirts, we threw out or no, Derek threw out a challenge.

So what we're doing is for that last episode, we're gonna do a Q and A.

And which means that we need you to send in questions.

And the person that has what the most questions sent in for our Q and A session, we're going to send them a T shirt.

Or Derek is going to buy a T shirt and send it to you.

Yes.

And also if you want to have it sent to somebody else, we'll do that too.

Yeah.

Either way.

Just need size and address.

And do you want to guess, Matt, how many questions we've got in.

Oh, man, I was not prepared for that.

What's the number?

0.

0 questions.

What's up with this, guys?

Come on, guys.

You guys have made some comments, but I see the comments.

The comments are there.

The comments.

There's no questions.

But there's no questions.

We're not that comprehensive.

We need questions.

They can be.

Questions fuel us.

You know what they might be doing?

They might be like, man, this is just that maybe you guys are just loving what you're getting so far.

And before you're thinking of questions, you're like, just keep feeding more.

And you know, that's fine.

That's fine.

It's fine for a couple more episodes.

Yeah.

But we're gonna have some questions, so bring em.

Bring them.

And actually the only question I saw was like, where you guys from?

And I'm not gonna qualify for that, but yeah.

Yes.

Listen, maybe we should like, caveat, qualifying questions for the final show about spiritual warfare.

The series, the episodes.

Yeah, you can.

You can talk about anything from, you know, personal life questions, the dealing with spiritual warfare to the enemy, questions about the enemy, questions about maybe things that we missed, didn't talk about on the armor.

Yeah, whatever.

So.

Yeah, because if not, if we don't get any questions at all whatsoever, you're gonna get one less episode.

One less.

And nobody wants one less.

Right.

So you want the whole thing.

That being said, today we're gonna talk about Shield of faith.

Shield of faith.

Shield of faith.

So welcome to the truth response.

All right, so I'm gonna pray today.

Cool.

All right.

Yeah, dude, let's go.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for this series and everybody that's been responding to it.

Lord, just continue to guide us forward and let us not take for granted the opportunity that this is to not only get this out There.

But also we have been working through this ourselves, and so that helps just everyone all the way around.

Lord, continue to put the conversation where it needs to go and help us to say the words that you would want us to say to make the impact that you want this show to and this episode to make.

And in all things, we praise you and we pray in your name, Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so today's focus.

Today we are going to talk about how faith functions as our shield against direct attacks.

So what's something in life, literal or figurative, that's made you feel protected or secure?

Hmm, good question.

What's something that has made me feel protected and secure?

Well, you know, I think that.

Here's a funny example.

I like the fact that I have a roof over my head when a hurricane comes.

That's nice.

Yeah.

That's a practical thing.

We got those big metal shutters.

Yeah.

And I would say that those make me feel secure and protected.

And actually the ones on our house do.

But I was in a hurricane.

It was Irma.

And I was at my brother in law's house and I watched, even though that those things were up on the house, I watched the, the back glass of the sliding doors bowing in and out with the wind pressure.

So that made me a little less secure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that's a good one.

Yeah.

Especially down here in Florida.

Yeah, that's important.

I mean, that's, that's realistically, I mean, that's, that's practical.

I would say that, you know, when I was growing up, you know, my dad or both our parents were firemen, so.

But there were times like I would look at him and I noticed that, like in, you know, important situations, he was really calm and he.

And he held himself a certain way.

That made me feel secure.

Wow.

Breaking things.

Totally.

Just broke the thing off the mic.

Didn't mean to do that.

Anyway, so.

Yeah, so he made me feel.

That was weird.

He made me feel secure in those situations.

And I tried to instill the same thing to my own kids.

Yeah, to where?

You know, I like my youngest daughter.

Sometimes she gets afraid in a storm and I tell her, you know, listen, if daddy's calm, you're calm.

Like, just keep looking at me and if I'm good, then you're good.

And at first she was a little hard to understand what I was trying to convey.

But then I want to say two nights ago, I was.

I want to say it was two nights ago, maybe there was a storm coming through and it was Getting pretty windy and she was outside and I looked in our lanai and I looked at her and I said, you good?

She's like, well, you're calm, so I'll be calm.

I said, yes, that's exactly right.

You know, there's something to be.

To know that you're protected, you know, everything's okay.

Is good.

I've got one that's kind of gonna sound weird probably at first, but like I feel secure and protected when my daughter reaches up and grabs my hand.

Like it is one of those things.

Or smiles at you, you know, whatever.

Like smiles at me.

I remember whenever she was really little, like baby, she would just scream all night long.

She was very colicky and it was wearing on our, you know, our mental state and.

But it would always like reset whenever she would smile and it's like that carried over and so like if she reaches up and grabs my hand before I, you know, reach for hers or whatever, it's one of those things that's just like everything's gonna be good, you know, like everything is alright.

So that's kind of a strange one.

Maybe, but that's a.

Yeah, that's one of mine.

Yeah, that's good.

Those are good things.

Yeah.

All right, so what is the shield of faith?

Well, the shield.

So it comes from Ephesians 6:16, remember?

I hope that you're reading along with us.

It says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

So the Roman's shield, right, was a little different.

Yeah.

Right.

You have a name for it?

Yeah, it's the.

And I'm probably gonna pronounce it wrong because I'm not, I'm not good at that, but it's the scuttle Scutum.

C U T U M.

And they were fairly good sized shields, about four foot tall, two and a half feet wide.

And they had a really cool thing they did with them and that was they could like lock, lock together and make this solid wall with it, you know, and really, really fascinating warfare that they had.

Yeah, sorry, it is hot in here.

It's really neat because they also were covered in leather, so.

And they would soak them in water, which would make them heavier, by the way.

So you had to be pretty, you know, fit in order to handle a shield.

But.

Right.

It would help the water, would help those flaming arrows.

If somebody's shooting Flaming arrows.

Yeah, you could put them out, man.

Yes, you can put them out.

So yeah, the shield of faith.

Faith as a.

It's not a faith bubble.

So I don't want you to think that that's what we're trying to say, that you should be living inside a faith bubble.

We are still in the world, even though we're not of the world anymore.

So we can't necessarily live in a bubble.

But what it does is the faith helps protect us from the attacks of our evil one, as in this case, it's called flaming arrows, which we'll get into that in a little bit.

But, yeah, faith is what helps us stand firm along with, you know, we've already, like I said, we're standing firm in our shoes of peace.

But as the attacks come, this help kind of block it, slow it down, keep you from having them affect you in a bad way.

Did you read the Scripture yet?

Only the Ephesians 6:16.

Okay.

Sorry, I was trying to turn the AC on.

My bad.

So why do you think Paul emphasizes all circumstances?

Because there's some circumstances that are like, don't seem like a bad situation.

Well, I think it's because you can't give the devil a foothold, because he will.

It's kind of like one of those things, like if you give a mouse cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk.

If you allow yourself some cracks in the armor, if you put the shield down for a minute, you never will know when those arrows are going to come.

And oftentimes, temptation, doubts, all those kinds of things will come when you're not expecting them.

You know, we get comfortable and we let our guard down.

We let our shield down.

And, you know, that's oftentimes where people talk about, you know, that's when it happens.

A lot of times when somebody's, you know, maybe even done something they wish they didn't do or said something that they didn't say, it's like, oh, man, I didn't realize that my emotions were going to get to me or that this was going to happen.

And I totally failed that situation.

And if you talk to them further, a lot of times, I mean, majority of times it's like, oh, I let my guard down.

I didn't realize that.

Yeah, you don't hear about that happening as much when somebody's got their guard up.

If you're holding the shield, there's less chance that something's getting through the shield.

So when you're ready, when you're prayed up, when you're studied up and you're going out and you're putting God first, In your life, those things may come, but they're not going to affect you.

You're going to be able to bounce them off like a shield would and then kind of keep on moving forward.

It's when we put our guards down.

And so you got to have that in all circumstances.

So even the circumstances that don't seem so bad, still, you want to keep your guard up.

But that's the tricky ones.

You know, we go back, you know, we talk.

We're probably bringing this up again, but, you know, Adam and Eve, they didn't have a shield up because, you know, they were fine.

They were living in paradise, and so they were prone to an attack.

Like they were just, you know, almost sitting ducks.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, that's good.

That's good.

So, yeah, but to understand faith biblically, you know, faith is a confidence in God and confidence in not.

So it says, like Hebrews 11:1 says, now, faith is the assurance of all things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

It's a confidence that God's going to come through no matter what, that he's already taken care of our problem and that he is going to be along with us every step of the way, you know, and he's going to see his plan to fruition, the plan inside of our own lives.

The plan, his plan for all of us.

You know, he is in it and he's going to follow through with it.

It's fully confident that he is still at the controls and on the throne.

So that's what that looks like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Faith also looks like trusting God's character and his promises.

We talked about that in the Belt of Truth, being part of.

Part of our foundational truths.

But having faith in that is part of that.

Trusting that those things are true.

Right.

Is what leads to that guard.

It's that secondary protection, essentially, for that we find.

Romans 4:20 through 21.

What is that?

You're gonna bring it up?

I am.

Romans 4:20 through 21.

Yep.

He's gonna bring it up.

I'm pulling it up.

I'm pulling it up.

He usually has his computer with a bunch of things ready to go.

Yeah, I'm kinda.

Today's been a day.

We've had days lately.

It's fine.

We're doing a spiritual warfare series.

Right.

What did you think was going to happen?

All right, so Romans 4:20, 21 says, no unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.

Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

And that's speaking of Abraham.

Abraham, yeah.

I mean, imagine how much faith you have to have in God when he's like, listen, that son that I was promising you, and that finally came after all these years.

I want you to go up a hill and sacrifice him.

That had to take a lot of faith to just go, all right, I'm just going to do what you say.

Keeping in mind that through that offspring, God had promised an incredible lineage.

Right.

So, you know, more than sand on the beach and stars in the sky.

And you're like, how is this going to work?

I don't know.

But he kept going in faith and.

So, well, and this last weekend, it was pretty great.

Matt, our worship leader, you know, preached, and one of the things that he said was that the first time, you know that the word worship is mentioned in.

In scripture is when Abraham said, you guys wait here.

Isaac and I are gonna go worship.

Like, that's pretty cool.

That's pretty cool.

So that's a faith that just going to go worship God for what he's doing.

Yeah.

Now, when it comes to the second half of Hebrews 11:1 that I read, and it says, for the conviction of things not seen, this is not a blind faith.

And some people think that faith is blind.

It's not faith.

We have.

We've got enough proof, enough information to go on where we know that our faith is not baseless.

We know that it is built on something which is an important thing to keep in mind, you know, when it says the things we don't see.

Yeah.

There's some situations that we don't know our way through, and we don't ultimately know all the steps to God's plan, but we know he's got the plan and we know how it's going to end, and we know that he's still in control.

So.

Plus, for any believer of any long period of time, you usually have experienced God in your own life to some degree to where he just, you know, the proof's in the pudding now, but there's so much evidence in this world for God that, you know, it would take way more faith to be an atheist than it would take to be a believer.

Oh, yeah.

And we could get into that at another time.

I'm big into apologetics and stuff like that.

But the thing is that there's so much just you can experience when it comes to God, that our faith isn't blind.

It's based on something that is real.

And Tangible.

And so now, just because we walk into a situation not knowing exactly how it's going to work out doesn't mean that we're walking in blind.

We're walking in with confidence.

And that's what the shield of faith takes up in those moments.

So, yes, and then faith grows.

Faith grows.

Romans 10:17.

Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ.

So this is something that, you know, I think it's wonderful.

You know, James says, you know, faith without works is dead.

And what he means by that is not about, you know, faith without serving in your church, faith without going on that mission trip.

It's more of faith that doesn't do something to you that's not moving you in a direction.

Yeah, there's outward works and outward fruits.

That is definitely part of it.

But if your faith isn't changing you, if you're not growing inside of you, your faith is not growing, then he says, then is debt.

He said people believe in God, but it's the faith in them that matters.

You know, he said, even the demons believe.

So it's important that your faith is growing, that you're working on it.

And so there's so many ways to do that.

Number one way, keep reading your Bible, right?

Keep going to Bible, go to church, maybe that prayer group, small group, large group, whatever it is, keep surrounding yourself with God and just absorbing him as much as you can, and then praying and communicating with Him.

Those are some of the most important things that we can do to continue to grow our faith.

And as you do these things, you'll be able to recognize more of what God is doing in this world.

And the more that you see that, the more, once again, that it's not blind.

But the more your faith will grow.

I think that the fact that faith can grow is proof that it's not blind.

Because what are you gonna do?

Stack up a bunch of things that.

How do you grow something if you're not seeing something?

Right.

Like, just because you don't see a physical presence doesn't mean you don't see God.

So love it.

So how has your understanding of faith grown over the years?

My understanding of faith grown over the years?

Well, I would say it usually grows more when God shows me that I'm not listening.

Right.

That's good.

Those are monumental moments for me when I'm being stubborn and God has to come and give me the spiritual thwack against the back of my head and go, you need to get in line.

One of the biggest examples.

I love talking about it because it was so impactful for me.

But years and years back, I want to say it was 2016.

Yeah, 2016, I was getting ready to hit a financial wall.

Like, I just didn't.

I was trying to figure it out on my own, and I just couldn't.

I couldn't figure a way out.

I.

I couldn't see how we were going to get to the other side.

And I could see the wall coming, and we were going to smack right into.

Was really stressing me out.

In fact, I was stressing so much about our finances that I was having, like, panic attacks, like actual anxiety attacks that were serious.

And so in maybe desperation, but also I was giving up.

I remember very vividly a Friday got off work and I went and I prayed and I said, lord, you know, I can't do this, but you can, you know, and I'm not going to be able to say it word for word, but I remember just telling him, look, I know that you can handle this, and I need you to handle this for me.

And so I'm going to.

I told him, I'm going to go through this weekend and I'm not going to stress out.

I'm going to just enjoy my time with my family.

I'm going to live in the knowledge that you have a plan that I can't see and that it's going to be okay, and I'm just going to trust you.

And so that's what I did.

And I'll never forget now.

It doesn't happen like this for everyone.

But that Monday, I went to work and I got a call from an old job offering me my old job back for the amount of money that I needed, which was insane.

My first thought was, wow, you work much faster than I thought.

But the thing was is that in that moment, I learned a huge lesson about what it is to really give something to God.

Let go.

And I was holding on so hard that it was causing me, like, serious physical problems.

And I was able to let go.

And there was a whole different kind of freedom.

And my faith grew in that moment.

And there's been little moments like that.

There's been other times, though, where I go back and I'm trying to hold on to a situation or try to figure out a situation.

I can feel it cause me stress and stress.

And it's amazing when God shows up in those moments and goes, you know, you're kind of doing it again.

Right?

But those moments definitely helped me grow knowing that, you know, that's really what faith in him means.

Is that he will provide and he will protect and he's not going to abandon me.

Yeah, that's really, it's cool to hear like that, that sort of thing because I, I've never really been in that boat because I've always had the spiritual gift of faith.

And like, it doesn't mean that I haven't grown in my faith, but like, I just, I've never struggled in that area since I was super young.

Just I've never really struggled there.

But the way that I've seen it grow in my life over the years is when it's put to the test, right.

Like when the things can't come up, you know, and I see, I look back at where I was and where I am and how I respond to things, you know, and just how, how many more arrows in my quiver, you know, for, for the fact that, like, I've got this and I've got this and I've got this and I've got this.

How much more proof do you need?

You know what I mean?

So.

But it's, it's really cool to hear other people share what.

Share the struggling part of that, because I've had other struggles, don't get me wrong.

I.

But when it comes to that faith, like, I have never really had that kind of struggle.

Yeah, it's interesting because I love that he grew me in that way and he still continues to grow me in that way because it's really practical in my life in many different situations.

That's so.

Personally, it's great.

But also when it comes to financials and stuff, what a way to be able to minister to people from real life experiences, you know, that, you know, where it's like, you know what we did trust, we did put it in his God's hands.

And then God showed up and, you know, he's faithful.

And there was times where we didn't know how we were getting through.

And then we'd get like a refund for something we didn't know.

There was one time we got a big check from a doctor that apparently overcharged us.

And we're like, it was at an exact time where we needed that money or we were gonna be in a hard place.

And it was like, thanks God, because we never knew that was gonna happen.

And when does that happen, by the way?

But it did.

And it was pretty crazy to see stuff like that happen and things like that would happen all the time.

We actually one time had a relative of Sadie's send us a check in the mail for A decent little amount of money and just sent a note for some reason, God put it on my heart to do this.

And so I just did it.

And we're like, what?

And it was once again, in one of those times.

We're like, oh my gosh, we needed that right then, right there.

And so, I mean, it's amazing.

And I love seeing him use other faithful believers to do it, like, in that moment, because it's like, we're a family believers.

We're all learning how to do this better.

But.

Oh, that was so cool.

Yeah, yeah, that's good stuff.

All right, so, okay, if we got this shield, then what are the flaming darts that are coming at us that it's talking about?

So they're enemy attacks.

Just to list them off.

They're, you know, doubt, fear and anxiety, temptation, lies and false accusations, discouragement and despair.

You know, I'm hearing like a trend.

Yeah.

And the fact that the enemy's really only got like five tricks up his.

Sleeve, you know, like, it's funny sometimes I say it doesn't seem like his playbook has changed much.

Right.

It's a lot of the same plays.

He's just really good at them.

Like, it's wild that his same.

I wouldn't call him a one trick pony, but his stuff's easy to decipher.

He's kept it simple.

So he's been able to perfect it over the years, right?

Oh, yeah, like, that's, that's the thing.

But, you know, I know we're talking about the same things every week, but like.

Yeah, pick up on that.

Right?

Like, pick up on the fact that we are saying this.

These are the ways that are gonna come at you.

Like, yeah, it's.

It's not, it's not difficult.

It's really easy to like, notice them.

But you have to be looking.

Right?

So.

Sorry, go ahead.

No, it's okay.

It's like, you know, anybody's ever played like a game, like a football game, for instance, video game, and you have a friend that can beat you at the same five plays repeatedly, and you don't understand why you can't stop.

That's.

That's kind of like this situation.

So.

Yeah.

So, I mean, doubt is one of the best things.

And here's the thing about doubt.

I may have talked about this before.

Sometimes I can't remember what I have and had not talked about.

But doubt is not necessarily an unhealthy thing.

Doubt can be a positive thing when treated positively.

So what I mean is that, you know, with your shield of faith up, these doubts will come.

But what faith can help you do is understand that.

Yep, this is the thing that I need to know about and sort out and let's go to the Bible.

Let's go to God.

Let's go to the people that can help me sort this out.

When you treat doubts in the proper way, then they aren't.

They're not an attack anymore.

It can be something that can build your faith.

Well, that's the testing of your faith.

Right?

Like, that's the part that is not.

That's where you see the growth happen.

Yeah, but I mean, doubts are something that he's been trying to plant since day one.

Going back to Adam and Eve, like we talked about earlier in the garden, favorite phrase.

Did God really say he loves to make us doubt God's word?

He wants us to doubt.

Is that really.

What.

Did he really say?

Did he really mean.

Yeah.

Does the Bible really say that?

Does it mean that?

Yeah, you know, like, is that what that means there?

I don't know.

Could you apply it somewhat?

No.

What, what, what, what, what?

No.

Yeah.

So he loves to make us doubt and go over those things.

We talked about this a little bit on our second episode, you know, knowing our enemy and his different tactics.

And these are his tactics.

I mean, he wants to.

He wants us to doubt, but he wants doubt to not be a faith builder.

He wants it to be a faith destroyer.

And when we have something that's hurting our faith like that, that we're not taking captive, for instance, and using it to do that, then he's winning there.

Fear and anxiety, if you want to look up Psalm 56.

Three, but fear and anxiety is something that he uses as a tool against us all the time.

Our God is not a God of fear, fear.

He's a God of peace.

He's a God of hope.

He's a God of salvation and a God to be praised.

But he's not a God of fear, and he's definitely not a God of anxiety.

He says, my burden is light.

Right.

Take my yoke upon you.

But do you have it?

Yeah, go ahead.

It's really, really short.

So when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

When I'm afraid, I put my trust in you.

So the thing is that God is not where fear goes or comes from, it's you go.

And God is like a balm.

He's there to help settle you down and put you right back in order.

You know, when it comes to anxiety.

I was talking to my Middle schoolers about this recently, actually.

And, you know, I pointed out to them, I said, when you have a general sense of what your greater needs are and that they've already been met, then the anxieties of the today and the now become lesser.

So, for instance, if you have given your life to Jesus and you know your salvation is at hand, you know your eternity is at hand, that you don't have to worry about the things you need the most in your existence, then it helps with those moments.

And so those anxieties and those fears and all that stuff, they start to come down a little bit.

They start to go away.

And that's what God does.

He shows us that they're not what needs to be worried about.

And he even tells us, don't worry about tomorrow, it'll worry about itself.

Don't worry about what you'll wear, don't worry about what you'll eat.

That God does such things for the plants and the animals, and you don't need to worry about those things.

And, you know, if he seek first the kingdom is what he says.

And all the things that.

I'm paraphrasing, all the things that you'll need will be given to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what about temptation?

Temptation?

Oh, man, there's a lot when it comes to temptation.

Oh, yeah, it's.

It's.

So it's not just a guy thing.

No, James.

James talks about temptation.

Yeah.

You know, like, it starts with us.

Yeah.

Starts with our own evil desires.

Yeah.

Right.

Like the.

The devil's not gonna be like, yo, Matt, check that dude out over there.

You know, Like, I mean, unless that's something you struggle with.

You know what I mean?

But that's not how he's gonna.

He's gonna do it.

Right?

Like, he'll be like, hey, Matt, you have a little bit of that caffeine?

You know what that does to you?

Oh, yeah, you love that.

Oh, yeah.

You know, so like, he's gonna play into the things that.

That are things that you.

You desire.

And those desires may or may not be bad, but whenever he starts tempting that he's gonna attempt it in a way in which you are going to aim in an unhealthy manner.

Right.

So, like, may be that, you know, you know, a cup of coffee is pretty good.

Yeah.

He's not going to aim you at a cup of coffee unless that's going to get you to the energy drink, which is terrible for you.

Oh, absolutely.

No, I get it.

You know, it was.

We fall for the lies of and what it is is that we're presented with idols.

And what the idols do is they offer us three main things.

They either offer us control, significance, or comfort.

Yeah.

And pretty much all of them.

I can't think of anything that goes outside those three, but those are the big three.

And like, for instance, you said, like, cup of coffee.

Cup of coffee gives me comfort, but also gives me control over how I'm feeling.

That day I got now the energy that I want, you know, and so those things are great.

So back when I had.

I had a terrible energy drink addiction, and I didn't even recognize it until it was, like, really deep and bad.

And I try to warn my students.

So bad I see them with an energy drink.

Like, you need to be careful, because if I can do it.

So that being said, it was the promise that this is what I need to get through.

And that's what an idol does.

It's going to give you a lie, and it's going to say, if you have this.

If you do this, achieve this, whatever it is, fill in the blanks.

And it's always about if.

And this.

If you do have.

Get whatever it is.

This.

Then you'll be where you need to be.

You'll be significant.

You'll be in control.

You'll be feeling good.

And it's amazing.

It's absolutely, incredibly amazing the breadth of what the devil will use to make us feel that way.

And that's everything.

I mean, people think, well, if I just get that.

I've heard it in all kinds.

I just need to get this.

I just need to get this vacation.

I just need to get this car.

I just need to get this house.

I just need to.

I need to get that girl.

I just need to get with that girl.

One time.

I've heard people do that.

I'm like, no, that's.

That's not it.

I just need to.

I just need to go out and drink tonight.

I just need to go out and do whatever tonight.

There's.

There's all kinds of.

I just gotta.

Because we believe the.

If you just.

Yeah, that's.

Yeah.

And it's wild when you look at your life and you see yourself doing things.

If you start asking your questions of why you're doing it, you might find yourself going, well, because if I.

Then I.

And the thing is that in reality, the problem is that these temptations come to take our eyes off of God.

He's supposed to be our ultimate provider and our protector and our source of comfort.

And he.

He is to fulfill Our needs.

You know, the Israelites learned hard lesson in the desert, one day at a time.

He is to provide what you need for today.

And you know, if he on the days he allows you to go more then you can.

But if he says just today, then it's just today.

And we are to look for him for our ultimate comfort, our significance.

And we got to understand that we don't need to necessarily be in control.

You know it's interesting, I was just thinking like a lot of that is feelings based.

Yeah, a lot of that is feelings based.

How am I feeling?

Right.

And how easy is it for us to get in a place where I just don't feel God.

Yeah.

Just don't feel his presence.

I just don't feel like he's here or he's listening or he's talking to me.

And we have to remember like that's that whisper, right?

Is that it's about your feelings.

But it's not, it's not, it's not about your feelings because if it was, it'd be fragile.

But what we have in God is not fragile.

No, it, it's, it's like for my nerds out there, it's like Adamantine, right?

It's a super strong indestructible.

You know, like it's you, you can't break it.

You know, it's, it's that, that protection from the feelings, you know, it's protection from the fragility.

Right?

It's, it's that, it's that thing that's gonna hold up because it's based on true hard facts.

There is not, there's not that, that feelings side of it.

So like that's when we get into that mode where we're like, I don't feel or I feel like take a step back.

If you catch yourself saying that, just take.

Okay, but what's the truth?

What's the truth here?

Let's go back to the belt, right?

Because that's gonna strengthen our shield from getting attacked, you know?

Yeah.

You usually hear it in something like this that when you're feeling those things, it's because inside of you is.

This has been used by pastor after pastor, a God shaped hole inside of you.

And only he fills it, by the way.

So.

But these idols in our lives, these things that we are tempted to do to catch checks, those feelings are making us do.

We try to put them in that hole and think that that's what's going to solve it.

That's the lies of an idol.

It's not about getting the thing.

It's keeping God first.

Allow him to comfort you and give you the significance that you need.

Allow him to be in control of just everything, because he ultimately is, and stop fighting him for it.

And then he will.

He'll do fine.

Like Proverbs 3, 5 through 6.

Trust him, put everything in him, and he will make your path straight.

Like, you don't need to.

Yeah.

You don't need to worry about that stuff.

So.

Yeah, I mean, that's.

That's really what it comes down to.

Yeah.

And, you know, I've heard a lot lately, like, why isn't God talking to me?

I feel like he's not talking to me.

And that's the whole, like.

That's the journey into the wilderness.

Right.

Like that we talked about.

But think about it this way.

Whenever.

Whenever there's somebody who's a dynamic speaker.

Yeah.

And they get to where they really want you to listen, and they have their point that's coming up.

They draw out some silence.

This is true.

You know what I mean?

They want you to mess with it.

So God is silent at times because he wants you to start listening intently.

And when you're listening intently, he's going to tell you your next step.

Yeah.

Got to make yourself aware of him, you know, and not aware of yourself.

Right.

We often put ourselves first.

That's another temptation.

So.

Yeah.

So I guess the next would be lies and false accusations.

You know, that.

That is probably where my biggest trip up is.

Right.

It's lies about me, not necessarily about other things or other people or even God as much.

It's the whole like, you're not good enough or the, you know, you did this, therefore, you know, and that's where I have to.

I have to constantly be like, yo.

But yeah, I have somebody who stepped in.

Right.

It's not my righteousness.

Back to the breastplate.

Like, it's not my righteousness.

And so using all of these things, you know, having trust that that is the thing, having the faith in that is what is going to hold up, you know, is.

You know, it's funny is that sometimes God's lies are really a half truth.

I mean, not God's lies, the devil's lies.

Yeah.

The devil's lies are usually a half truth of God.

So God will and will sort them out for you because the devil will come to you, you're not enough.

And God will go, but I am.

And I made a way for you to be enough through me, you know, so.

But he tries to not tell you the other half of it, the devil wants you just to focus on the first part of it, the depressing part, the stressful part, you know, so you.

Yeah, there is the.

And I've heard so many people struggle.

With that part, you know, just.

Okay, so including myself.

Listen to the response, though.

So devil comes at you, says, you're not good enough.

You need to say.

You need to say, yeah, but I've been made good enough.

Right.

Like, I am good enough.

Not from my.

Not for my works.

Right.

But I am good enough.

Yeah.

Because the one who created it all decided that I was good enough.

Yeah.

And he's covered that.

He's got.

So I am.

I am good enough.

So that's the whole.

Yeah.

But.

Yeah, well, God made me good enough.

It's so real.

I mean, so many Christians struggle with this in definitely different amounts.

But, like, there's just that whole, am I really.

Am I worthy?

Am I good enough?

And, you know, men, women.

Yeah.

Teens, all of them.

There's always that.

I don't know if I'm good enough or if I deserve.

Yeah, you don't.

You're not.

But God is.

And he says you do.

And so he.

That's what you need.

Right.

Your confidence isn't in yourself.

Your confidence is in him.

Right.

So that's.

That's part of it.

And then the other part is that it's not just the lies, it's the false accusations.

As he's looking at you and he's like, you are this.

You are a thief, you are a liar.

You are an adulterer.

You are whatever it is.

Fill in the blank.

That's who you are, because you did this.

And now that's who you are.

And the thing is, that's a past thing.

That's not a present thing.

Even a future thing.

That's only a past thing.

Yeah.

You may have done that in the past.

God says that's what you were.

Scripture tells us that's what you were, not who you are.

Right.

Yeah.

You were these things.

Paul wrote it in his letters.

You were this.

But that's the beauty of redemption, that's the beauty of salvation, is that God came and gave us grace to cover those things and go, yeah, you did that.

That's what you once were, but you're no longer well.

And that can work for even positive things.

So, like, the accusation of.

Yeah, you're awesome.

You got this.

You did this.

This is something you did.

Right.

Whatever that might be.

I remember it was about four or five months ago, I think Now.

Nope.

It would have been.

Yeah.

Three or four months ago, anyways.

I had listened to a sermon right.

From Nick.

And then that week, I was doing.

I was doing something.

I was making something.

I don't remember even what I was working on.

Oh, I was getting ready for going to a festival and I made this thing work.

And I was like, yes, I did it.

I'm awesome.

And then I go, oh, no, you are awesome.

Because the sermon was about who was.

It got turned into a beast.

You talking about in Daniel?

Yes.

When the whole.

He liked hair and all in Nebuchadnezzar.

Right.

So, like, I was like.

I immediately was like, you know, like, I thought through the whole process of, like, not my glory.

It's not me that did this, it's you that did this.

And that was a really cool like.

Like, God used that sermon to be like, yo, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

You know?

Yeah, check yourself.

So but what I'm saying is, like, that is also an accusation.

That is also a lie.

Yeah, but it's feelings.

Yeah.

Those feelings of, you're awesome, you're great, and to know that anything that's awesome for me comes from the Lord is amazing.

You know what, though?

But it's not just.

I want to say this.

It's not just your everyday Christian people in ministry go through this all the time.

Oftentimes we don't feel worthy of.

There's an imposter syndrome that we go through.

Like, who are we to be preaching, who are we to be teaching, who are we to be leading, or whatever it is.

And it's a hard thing to deal with and what we've had to learn, especially a lot of us.

What's the hard thing to keep in mind sometimes is like, yeah, we may not have been, but we are.

Because God says we are.

We may not have been that person before, but God says that we are who we're going to be.

Be.

And you know, that's someone, I tell you what, Someone that struggles with that but continues to go in ministry.

If you are looking to see an example of what it is to have seen that someone has called, if someone is struggling with.

I don't know how I get to do this for God, or I don't know why God chose me to do this, but I'm doing this.

That's someone who's living a calling where God is going, you need to move forward and just trust me in this process.

I can't.

I cannot tell you how many times are.

I'm like, I Don't know about this.

And then I.

You just push forward in faith that like.

Well, I mean, God called me to it, so I mean, he must see something I don't.

And I'm glad that I did answer that call because now it's everything I ever want to do.

But I also see the.

So like the everyday, like Christian, just not ministry people, you know, not ministry job, wise profession, but just the everyday Christian.

I so often hear things like, and this is for.

Towards people like you and me who have gone to college or whatever for it and all that stuff.

And they're like, yeah, but we haven't gone to.

We haven't gone through Bible college.

We haven't done these things.

And I'm like, that doesn't separate us.

We are the same.

My responsibilities are the same as your responsibilities.

That's something that you're not lesser or have less expectation than me because you haven't been to Bible school.

Right.

The greatest expectation that, that Jesus has laid on just about anybody was his original 12.

And they didn't go to Bible college.

They were fishermen.

I mean, most of them.

No, they didn't go to Bible college, but they also had the best teacher ever.

Right.

But what I'm saying though is he went to them.

Yeah, he put that responsibility on them.

He didn't go to the local rabbi seminary and go.

I think these are the best and brightest.

These are the guys that know the script scripture the most.

No, it's more the guys that like, live.

I'll tell you what, though, sometimes a change in verbiage really helps.

So for instance, for those serving in the church, don't think of yourself as ministering underneath someone.

Right.

You're serving beside them.

Never beneath, never under, always beside.

We are not.

No one's better than another person.

We are serving together.

So side by side towards a singular goal, which is heaven.

That's what we're going for.

We're going for salvation.

We're going for heaven.

And it's not even side by side.

We are one body.

We are.

To look at it as though we are one body.

Not independent, but one.

And so, yeah, we're different parts.

We've all got different jobs, spiritual gifts.

We have different aspirations that God has put in our hearts.

We have different things about us.

But.

But we are all one body.

So we have to act as one and we have to treat each other as one.

And when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts.

It's something that can't be ignored.

But when one part of the body rejoices.

The whole body rejoices.

Right.

Like, we have to start moving together as one.

And so we cannot think of one as greater or lesser.

I mean, you can't wish you were an ear if you're a foot.

Right.

Like, you can't do that because then who's gonna walk?

Yeah, the ear can't do that.

Right.

So, like, we all have equally important jobs.

Yep.

And equally important statuses.

And we are the bride of Christ.

I mean, hey, what better does that get?

You know, so.

And then the final is discouragement and despair.

He wants us to feel defeated.

He wants us to feel like something's not working, that something is not right and that, you know, there's one of the big things that hurts people when it comes to trying to grow in faith or even coming to faith altogether.

There is the logical problems and then there's emotional problems.

Yeah, logical problems of people trying to sort out what the world is teaching you and than what the Bible is teaching us or the church, either way, and seeing that they sometimes don't match.

And that's hard.

That is hard.

And so it's hard for someone to try to switch gears there.

And it can be discouraging to try to let go of something that you thought you knew and grasp onto something new.

Emotional things are hard, though.

There's been people.

There are a lot of people in this world that have a hard time coming to faith because they realize that they this world is screwed up.

And instead of realizing that the reason that God does the things he does is because he's trying to save us out of this world and out of the pain and all that, they see it and well, they believe the devil's lies and they say, well, how can a loving God allow these things to happen?

Or how can a loving God send someone to hell?

Well, let me tell you.

Did you know hell wasn't created for you and me?

No, you send yourself to hell.

Hell wasn't created for us, but there was a precedent set.

There's a precedent set.

And it's if you're going to rebel against God.

Yeah.

Well, you know, and the thing is, is that, you know, we.

The emotional thing also gets in the way when it comes to, like, someone who's been hurt not just by the world, but also by the church itself.

When people have made mistakes, it's hard.

And he wants us to live in that discouragement.

He wants us to live in that despair.

When something bad happens to you, he wants you to stay in that hurt.

He doesn't want you to reach up to God for them to get out.

He doesn't want you reaching out to the church.

He wants you to stay there.

He wants you to reach for the wrong things, including vices and the temptations.

He wants you to feel when a family member dies like you're hopeless.

He wants you to feel in situations that seem insurmountable, just that.

That they are, and there's no way out for you.

And he.

He wants you to feel alone.

And he wants you to feel.

He wants to ostracize you from God and let you stay there.

He wants you to be away from it.

That's a hard place to be, and it's not.

It's a hard place to be, but it's not a hard place to get to.

You know, all it takes is putting that shield down and listening to the lies, and you can easily start to feel that discouragement.

If you're listening, go ahead.

No, go ahead.

I was gonna say, if you're listening to the lies and the false accusations, if you're giving into those temptations, not dealing with doubt properly and letting fear and anxiety rule you, then you're gonna be in that world of discouragement and despair.

And let me say, like, if.

Okay, so church hurt, right?

Like, if you are gonna live in that, know that God's going to be gentle until he's not.

And at some point, you need to suck it up and move on.

And that's.

I.

That's just how it is.

Like God.

God absolutely wants to be gentle with you until the point where you need a swift kick in the butt.

And then that's what he's gonna give you.

And if you don't respond to that call, well, then it's on.

On you.

But I'm saying, if you are stuck there, do something about it, because it's on you to do something about it.

It's not something that you just get to wait until God decides to magically make it go away.

That's not how hurts go away.

That's not how forgiveness comes.

I know that some of you guys think I'm a little harsh, but you know, Jesus wasn't kidding when he said that many.

That saying to me, lord, Lord, you know, we've prophesied in your name and done many wonderful works.

And I'll tell them, depart from me.

I never knew you.

I mean, it wasn't really that gentle, honestly.

It is on us to embrace him, but that's something we have to do.

Nobody can do it for you.

You have to do it on your.

Own, not just embrace.

I mean, take the next step.

I mean, walk with him and in him, but he's not gonna just magically take it away from you.

You've got to work through it yourself sometimes and work through it with him, but you have to work through it.

So if you're stuck there and you've been stuck there a while, suck it up and start figuring out where God is leading you.

Because if you're stuck there, you're probably in a rut.

So just a little harshness for everybody.

Feel like everybody needs a little harshness every once in a while.

We got too much love going on, too much niceness.

I'm tired of niceness.

Kindness is better.

So when it comes to why these darts of the enemy are flaming, that's the question.

Well, flaming dart, if not dealt with, will spread quickly.

It'll take over your life.

Like I said, when you're giving into these things, they start to take over.

They'll start to burn you up.

So what the faith does then is it would neutralize and quench those attacks.

Kind of like that Roman shield that is soaked in water so that when they hit they can be extinguished.

Faith helps when it comes to these kinds of attacks.

Not only stop them in their tracks, but helps put them out.

Yeah, yeah, that's good.

Alright, so some practical ways to take up the shield of faith.

This is something that I think like a lot of these are you're gonna hear repeats because it's important to do them right.

And the first one is regularly rehearse God's promises and past faithfulness.

Right, We've talked about that.

You brought up a whole list of truths on the Belt Day about like these are things that I have to remind myself that these are the truths.

Like that's what this is saying here too.

Oh yeah.

And it pours right into what we said last week.

When it comes to meditating on the gospel, 100%, it is important to know what is really true in this world and for you.

And that God is for you, he's not against you, that he's in control and that your salvation is assured with faith in him.

The next one I want to speak to something that people too often use as an excuse.

And that is the next one is memorize scripture that speaks to God's character.

Memorize scripture.

Let's start there.

Right?

Like too many people use the excuse I can't memorize.

If the fact that you could do it word perfect was the goal of the Gauge of success, then, okay, you can use that.

But that's not the gauge of success.

No, it's the knowledge.

The gauge of success is that you know it here.

Yeah.

Not necessarily word for word, but you understand it and you're hiding it in your heart.

You don't have to regurgitate word for word every bit of what the English translation is saying.

In fact, it's even more important that you can translate it for the situation.

And that takes the understanding that is required, that requires the memorizing.

And that's what the memorizing is.

It's not the being able to quote it Scripture, verse, chapter, all of those things because chapter and verse were added later.

Right.

But instead just being able to say, well, God's word says this.

Yeah.

It's so important I would say the understanding over the word for word memorizing.

So for instance, so I preach, I teach, this is what I do.

There are times where I'll be able to tell you a scripture and where it's from, and then there's times where I'm not going to do that.

Instead, I'm just going to go, the Bible says.

Because in my head, it's less important in that moment that I know exactly what verse it was and word for word, how it was written, and more important that I understand what the Bible means, what it says, and how I can deliver that in that moment in.

Well, look at Jesus.

That's exactly what Jesus did.

Jesus just said the things he didn't even always say.

Well, Scripture says he just said the things and people recognized that it was from Scripture.

Right.

He didn't say, well, in Isaiah, in the scroll of Isaiah, about third paragraph down, fourth word in, you know, like, he didn't say all of that.

He just said the words like, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the Lord.

That's a quote.

But he didn't say.

Well, you know, actually that's a great.

Point because when he was tempted by the devil, he said it is written.

He didn't say where he said it is written.

And so it is more important that you know Scripture.

Right.

Than know it word for word.

You know, I like to say it's.

There's a difference between knowing it, memorizing it, and knowing it conceptually.

And I can do that in a second.

And that's what I'm saying.

Like, they're the same, right?

They are the same.

But what we, what we gauge as success is different.

And I think that when we use the word Memorize.

We often gauge success by can I recite book, chapter, verse, exactly as it's written?

And that's something we have to move away from.

You need to be reading that thing enough that you know what it says, even if you can't say it word for word.

Absolutely.

And not just knowing the stories, but, you know, getting.

Finding the understanding.

See, that is the step that everyone needs to get to is the understanding of the Scripture that you know you can.

And the thing is, is that you will never master it.

So that's not a discouragement, that is an encouragement.

Keep going.

Just, just when you think you've got it down, read it again.

I, I was.

When I was in seminary, I studied the book of Philippians, specifically inside and out, and I wrote papers on it.

And I had a professor that was like, Mr.

Pauline, theology professor.

And he said, man, you did a great job.

And I thought, man, I've got this.

And then the next time I preached it, I realized, man, there's way more than I thought I knew.

I studied it collegially, I really did.

And I still was taught again and again, more after the fact.

Because God, I swear it comes down to it, he's not going to give it all to us at once.

I think our heads would explode.

I think he gives us what we need.

And then as we continue to faithfully come back to him, he's like, all right, let me give you a little more.

Let me give you more.

Sometimes it comes in a big chunk, sometimes it comes in little chunks, but you will start getting more and more.

But, yeah, get it.

Start to understand the scriptures, what they really mean for your life.

Ask questions.

Well, and Jesus is the best example for everything, but also for the shield with that whole temptation stint, right?

Because, like, he was utilizing the shield when he was in a very, like, he was in a weak moment, right?

The devil came to him whenever he had been 40 days without food, right?

That's a lot of time.

And you're.

He's.

He's.

Bread is tempting, you know, and, but yet his shield was ready, you know, he had that right there.

And some, some can say, you know, well, he was God.

That's true.

But I could say that he was.

Right.

Well, but he was still God.

I mean, there is that too, right?

But he knew what was written, right?

There's that.

And he was perfected through.

He perfected that.

But what I'm saying is, like, we also can do that.

I can't tell you how many times when something's come up And a word has come to my lips that has allowed me to avoid those arrows.

You know, like it's.

It is a thing that happens.

You know, it just comes out and you are reminded, but you have to be in it.

You do have to be in it.

You do.

You have to.

You have to.

It has to become a part of you.

Yeah.

It really needs to.

And you'll cover yourself.

It will be a shield, a force field, if you will, but a shield that just continues to help you not only see the world how you should, but defend you from those attacks.

Surrounding yourself with a community of faith would be your next step.

I want to take that step further.

Step further, because this is linking shields.

This is what we talked about before.

Right.

Linking shields only goes so far.

Whenever you're talking about, like you're in a church.

Good job.

No, I mean, this is like, this is deeper.

Yeah.

It's not a surface level thing.

Right.

This is like checking your ticket.

Right.

On Sunday mornings.

Right.

And this is, this is that whole, like, are you.

This is community.

Are you in fellowship with.

With other guys that believe that's the same thing as you.

Yes.

The Greek word.

Or ladies.

Fellowship ladies.

Are you in fellowship with other ladies that are, you know, genuinely carrying.

Yeah.

Encouraging and holding each other accountable?

Right.

Like, you can't, you can't.

You can't build that wall if you're not willing to say, hey, wake up.

Link in, band of brother style.

Yeah, we're all in together.

Yeah.

Also running with a.

With a crew.

Right.

With.

With your.

With your friends that are.

Are here holding you accountable with these other believers like you.

There's a very important thing that's not covered, and that's your back.

Your back is not covered.

It has, right here the breastplate.

It covers some of the back, but that only goes so far.

Right.

So what's going to stop arrows if they come from flanking?

Right.

When the heat of battle is on, you're.

You're faced all kinds of different ways.

Right.

So the only thing that can cover your back is that brother and sister in Christ who also has their shield up and you stand back to back.

So, like, there's as.

There is so much importance to having that group, small group, because the larger you get, the bigger the circle is.

Right.

The more area there is to get hit from when we got these small groups.

And if you think about the smaller the group.

Right.

The less your back is shown.

Yeah.

So that is.

It's a necessity.

It's a necessity for us to walk through life so if you're not doing that, if you're not in that, I greatly encourage you, I plead with you, I heavily suggest it, that you change, that you get in with a group of guys or a group of girls that are ladies, that are also believers and call each other out on things.

Make sure that you're awake.

Right.

Make sure that you are regularly keeping yourself vigilant and each other vigilant.

Yeah, that's good.

All right.

Pray in faith regularly.

Pray in faith regularly, all the time.

Be praying faithfully that God is listening, because he is.

But also that you know, if you're doing it in faith, you're doing so not for necessarily your wants, maybe even not even your needs, but for your concerns.

Those things that would be used against you, you're praying to God about, and that is important.

You want to strengthen your faith shield.

Pray that faith to God and he will strengthen it for you.

It's an amazing thing to do.

Here's something that not a lot of people do, but we do have an example that we've already mentioned, which is speak and declare truth audibly.

When under attack, speak it out loud.

This is what the Lord says.

There is power in the word and there's power in the spoken word, especially the words of Jesus, but there is power in the word of God.

And to speak that out loud is to speak the word of God out loud.

And that is pretty powerful in itself.

Jesus did it.

When the devil came at him.

He spoke it out loud.

It is written and he said, says in the Bible that it makes the devil flee, Right?

Yes.

When the water is used against him that way.

Oh, yeah.

Speak it out loud.

It is something that especially.

It's easier when you're by yourself or in your call.

It may not be as comfortable to speak in front of a group, especially at first.

I get it.

But challenge yourself.

Challenge yourself to be willing to speak that word anytime, any place.

Yep.

That doesn't mean going banging over people over the head with it.

It is meaningful.

Being able to stand your ground, being ready.

All that comes.

The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Another thing you can do is journal answered prayers and testimonies as faith builders.

Right.

So, like, I'm not one who journals.

I don't.

I don't journal.

I don't read very much as it is, so I don't write very much as it is.

But a lot of times I will write songs.

So writing things down that are like, hey, God did this.

When I came to him and pleaded with him, God did this in my time of need.

That strengthens that trust.

That is the thing that we were talking about earlier, where it's like, you know, recognizing that he's doing things is why our faith is not blind.

So writing it down can be really helpful.

So you can flip back to.

You have a physical version of hey, God's Faithful.

Actually, my first song I ever wrote was.

The whole song is like this plea to God, just give me one more night with you.

Like, everything seems to be falling down around me.

And then there's like a hopeful twist where it's like.

Or one more day.

Like, your faithfulness can carry on so much further than what even my hopes and dreams are.

Right.

So write it down.

It can help.

Yeah, certain things like that, or unless you have just a really great memory.

But these things are important to think about.

I like to call them the rainy day file.

You know, when you're not doing so well, when your faith's feeling a little weak, that day when you realize you've gotten a little off target, something like that can really help boost you back up.

And if it's written right, if it's written down.

Yeah, you'll come across it.

Even accidentally, you'll come across it, and.

God might use it in strange times.

You might have something written down.

And then you can.

Somebody will come to me.

Like, such and such situations happen.

You're like, hold up.

And then next thing you know, you open your own book and boom, there it is.

Or go as far as to posting it around your house.

Maybe stick it up.

It's good.

Commission a sign.

Commission a sign by strider.

I'll help you pretty it up the words and clarify things.

I don't know.

Writing it down, though, is important.

Reminding yourself of what God has done in your life.

In your life.

And I'm not talking motivational poster.

Right.

Like, God.

This does these cool things.

I mean, like, what has God done in your life?

It's not a cat poster.

Not a generic cat poster.

Hang in there.

Yeah, Not.

Not like that.

But what has God done in your life?

That's the important thing.

That's good.

I like that.

So what are we taking away?

We're taking away faith shields us from attacks and builds endurance over time.

And the more we know God, the stronger our shield becomes.

Those are important things to think about there.

Yeah.

All right, so next week we get to the hat.

The helmet.

The helmet.

Put on the helmet.

The cowboy hat.

A helmet.

It's a helmet.

Or a cowboy hat.

His helmet.

So anyways, so yeah.

So we're gonna be talking about guarding your mind and your assurance in Christ, which that's a unique thing to.

A fairly unique thing to Christianity.

A lot of the other faiths out there are like, well, you know, you gotta do these things and hopefully you will get such and such.

Reincarnation is that way.

Even.

Even Islam is that way.

Like, probably will get this if you do all of these specific things.

But it's possible not.

We have an assurance that's given to us.

We have a binding, which is awesome.

So we'll get to that next week.

Final thoughts?

Final thoughts?

Well, you got to make sure you're working on keeping growing that strength, your faith.

The more your faith grows, the bigger your shield is and the more you can withstand all those things.

The doubt, the fear, the anxiety, temptation, lies, false accusations, discouragement, and repair.

You can't get caught in the feels in the wrong way if that shield of faith is up.

And so we want to keep it up and we want to keep it up every day, all the time.

Good stuff.

So reflection question for you guys.

Reflection.

What is one promise or truth about God that you can use as a shield this week?

Oh, that's good.

What's a promise or truth about God that you can use as a shield this week?

I want to see answers.

What are those things?

I also want to hear what's something that you hang on to that God has answered.

Right.

Like I want to hear those things too.

Oh, yeah.

And for reading this week, obviously continue to read along with us.

We're in Ephesians 6 this week.

We are talking about 6, 16.

So the chapter 6, verse 16 and along that Hebrews 11.

Good.

Read this week.

Invite yourself, your friends, your small group, whatever it is, read it up now.

I know this.

There's a small group that, that does some of the questions and stuff.

So.

Yeah.

So I appreciate you guys so much.

Don't forget, we are still got that contest going on.

Bring the questions.

Whoever brings the most questions about spiritual warfare, it's getting a T shirt.

Yep.

But we also need to continue to like, share and just continue.

Help us grow.

Yeah, we want to have that.

The other challenge is still in the background outside of this series is that we want to grow to 100 subscribers on YouTube.

We want to get to 100 listens everywhere else.

Yep.

Yeah, everywhere else.

What?

Day one, right?

Yeah.

Within 24 hours.

We want to rock this thing.

It's a way that we can make an impact, but we want to throw a party and that is what we want to do.

So get that stuff going.

Let's get everybody subscribed and listening and then we can throw a big on party and do some of the cool stuff that we have talked about about doing.

But yeah, once again if you know of anyone that might have liked this episode might want to hear it, might benefit from it, spread it out.

If you have thoughts, let us know.

We want to hear it.

Yep, absolutely.

So thanks for joining us today talking about the shield.

Don't forget to link shields and God bless.

Hey thanks for joining us.

Make sure to subscribe and give us a like on itunes and subscribe and Spotify so that you will never miss a show.

And while you're at it check out our Facebook and Instagram pages and make sure you tell your friends about this show.

You don't want them to miss out on the truth because we are all about the truth here.

Thanks for joining us this week and God bless.