The rescue squad
Today’s post surprised me. I thought we were going to boogie through the last three pieces of The Armor of God. Bing. Bang. Boom. But, no. Something better unfolded.
Last time on Choosing Peace, we looked at the first three pieces of The Armor of God—The Belt of Truth, The Breastplate of Righteousness and The Sandals of Readiness. If you missed it, check out the stories in part 4 and get ready for a variety of emotions—and a good laugh or two.
Today we’re going to zoom in on The Shield of Faith.
The armor of God
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having the belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace; above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the spoken word of God….
Ephesians 6:10-17, New Heart English Bible
The shield of faith
Our next piece of armor—The Shield of Faith—protects us from Satan’s flaming arrows. The translation above calls them fiery darts. And Satan’s a great shot. But our armor, made by Almighty God, protects us. It is stronger than Satan’s attacks.
Faith, not performance
Our faith in God—not our knowledge about God—protects us. You don’t have to be a front-row, teacher’s-pet, Bible-drill-winning, perfect-attendance, “I-know-all-the-answers” type to hold The Shield of Faith. It isn’t about the law. It isn’t about your knowledge, your A+ thesis paper or any performance-based aspect of who you are. It’s about plain and simple, child-like faith.
“Jesus is the son of God. I believe in him and I love him.”
That’s it. Short and sweet. Really.
How to pick it up
Are you wondering how to pick up The Shield of Faith? See part 3 to learn how I put on The Armor of God.
Close combat
In close, hand-to-hand combat, warriors use their shields to push, shove and control the engagement.
Our faith gives us leverage against the darkness.
Whackage and leverage
Speaking of leverage, while I was doing some stapling at work the other day, my stapler started acting up. Instead of working gently with it, I whacked it really hard. Not such a good idea. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed whacking my stapler. I felt justified in whacking my stapler. Unfortunately, the force of Frankie Ann’s Whackage jammed two pieces together. Uh-oh. And I couldn’t pull them apart. Thank the Lord for the concept of leverage. I grabbed my metal letter-opener, and a couple tweaks later, we were back in business. After my stapler was working again, I wised up and treated it gently. I even apologized. “I’m sorry I whacked you.”
Spiritual warfare
That reminds me of Balaam and his donkey. What a revealing story. It includes occult divination (verse 7), spiritual warfare, a warrior angel with a sword and much more. For more on the occult, read this essential post.
Remember from the beginning of this section: In close, hand-to-hand combat, warriors use their shields to push, shove and control the engagement.
Our faith gives us leverage against the darkness.
At the door
One day when I was the only person at work at St. Matt’s, a man rang the doorbell and we communicated through the security intercom. He said there was a major water leak at the back corner of our property past the trees and he wanted to show it to me. I told him that I’d call our junior warden (i.e., building guy) and have him come down immediately to check it out. The man left.
Truth #1: There is no plumbing in that area. Truth #2: Our visitor—I mean Ted Bundy’s Biggest Fan—knew I was the only person in the building based on the one car in the parking lot. Truth #3: He came with violent criminal intent. Truth #4: God gave me the words to say—short and right to the point. Truth #5: The words God gave me resulted in the violent criminal’s prompt departure. And he didn’t return.
Peaceful Readers, I had no idea that I’d be coming face-to-face with evil that day. Evil that came to a church, rang the doorbell and pretended to be a concerned citizen. Evil that scouted out the parking lot and remote places on the property. Evil that had a plan.
God and The Shield of Faith gave me powerful leverage
against the darkness and protected me mightily.
Groups of warriors
Shields are also used by groups of warriors to form a protective barrier around their whole group, like a tortoise shell. This formation or shelter is called a testudo—the Latin word for tortoise.
If you’ve ever battled against the darkness with a group of Christians, you probably know firsthand the remarkable power of the Lord. Whether the size of your group resembles a team, a squad, a platoon, a company, a battalion or a brigade, you can accomplish much more together than you could accomplish alone. And fighting together builds a unique and strong type of camaraderie. You’re unified. You know who you’re fighting against and why. And you draw strength from each other.
Prayer plays a vital role. To read about the power of prayer, see this post.
Finally, brothers, pray for us, …that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and evil people; for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you,
and guard you from the evil one.
2 Thessalonians 3:1a, 2-3, New Heart English Bible
The rescue squad
I’ve been blessed to participate in a type of rescue squad through Someone Cares. We gather about three weekends per year for a private retreat to rescue ladies from the darkness of their past abortions. All of us who serve in this ministry have experienced healing through Someone Cares or a similar program. We understand the trauma, the hiding and the silence.
And the fear.
Attacks and counter-attacks
Because we’re battling against the darkness—the devil and his minions launch attacks. One time, a participant got very ill and had to leave late at night. During another retreat, a massive tree fell over in the yard right by the house. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Earlier this year, one of our participants left very unexpectedly, after an unusual text exchange. At a different retreat, a plumbing pipe burst and water was pouring down from an upper floor. Sometimes, participants no-show or cancel at the last minute. Some of them totally disappear, never to be heard from again.
The spiritual attacks are very real.
We launch preemptive strikes against the darkness—and counter-attacks—through our prayer team, which prays before, during and after each retreat. We pray for each participant by name (with her permission), we pray for the leaders and the hospitality team, we pray for everyone’s families, we pray for the home, we pray for healing. And God does amazing things. Faithfully.
One by one
Through the power of God and his word, the love of their sisters in Christ, and the hard work that they do, the ladies who come to each weekend retreat receive healing and lay down their heavy burdens. They’re rescued, one by one, from the darkness and the trauma of abortion.
Stepping away and discovering sisterhood
One of our rescued ladies sent some notes to everyone right after one of these retreats. I’ll call her Elizabeth. I was so touched that I wrote about it in my journal.
Wednesday, March 9
Journal entry
Yesterday morning, Elizabeth sent such affirming and encouraging notes on our GroupMe [phone app].
“My thoughts went back to Friday evening when I stepped away from the world and met some amazing women. …I was shy, self-conscious and a little scared of what we would do. …But as we gathered and heard from our first speaker and went to our small group, the faces that I was a little afraid of before, I began to see as images of the Lord…. I could see Him in them and it was the sweetest thing.
“I am now a member of a new sisterhood that I would never have chosen, but through God has changed my perspective and given me the desire to help other women dig up the tragedy of their abortion and get healing around it….”
The power of God
These thoughts written by Elizabeth resound in my heart:
I stepped away from the world….
I am now a member of a new sisterhood that I would never have chosen….
God has changed my perspective and given me the desire to help other women dig up the tragedy of their abortion and get healing around it.
That, Peaceful Readers, is the power of God.
To heal. To unify. To inspire.
Our testudo
Each lady in our Someone Cares rescue squad picks up The Shield of Faith and we join them together to form a testudo—a strong, protective shell. We battle the darkness for King Jesus—and Almighty God is victorious. What an honor and a privilege it is to stand with my sisters—battling the darkness—and to watch the healing unfold. So beautiful. Every time.
The light pours in.
We know it, we see it and we feel it.
Then Jesus, standing up, said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” And she said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”
Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:10-12, New Heart English Bible
Coming next: As far as I know, we’ll be finishing up The Armor of God next time, as we dig into The Helmet of Salvation and The Sword of The Spirit. I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Until then, thanks for reading and for Choosing Peace.
Healing through truth and music
Peaceful Readers, I’ve found great healing in my life through the beauty and truth of God’s word and through music. I hope the truths and songs that I share at the end of each post will bless you too.
Truth from The Word: Romans 8:26-30
Song for Healing: I’d like to dedicate this wonderful song to my Someone Cares sisters. I love you so much. Be blessed by “Gonna Be Alright” by Ryan Ellis.