Ephesians 6:16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

We are moving along in our series, Armor of God: War Torn to Battle Born, and we'll be spending some time this week looking at the Shield of Faith.

Paul has spent a considerable amount of time looking at the relationships between God and humanity and subsequently between brothers and sisters in Christ. The first half of the book discusses in detail how God has brought the world unto Himself in Jesus, and Paul falls to his knees in prayer recognizing the great lengths that God has gone to in order that humanity would be redeemed in Jesus. Paul prays a couple of other times in Ephesians, especially when it comes to how humans relate to one another.

We spent some time unpacking how relationships work in the Kingdom of God, and here, Paul, continues this thread in talking how we are protected from the fiery darts of the Enemy. It's when we put our shields together!

In the Roman context, one of the ways that they attacked their enemies was by putting their shields together. In their mind, the best offense was a good defense, and as they put their weapons (that is, their shields) together, they were able to move forward together as a unit to batter down their enemies.

In the same way, our best offense is when we lean into one another and in the loving arms of the Father who fights for us! As we've mentioned, our wrestle isn't with other humans made in the Image of God. It is against the powers and principalities of this age, and when we pray together, we stay together!