“Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12 NIV).
Has anyone ever done you a favor? It’s a wonderful feeling when someone does something for you. The Lord favors you as with a shield. I think that is a great picture to put into your mind; the Lord’s love covering you and shielding you from the Enemy.
I did some research on shields and found something interesting. “The heavily armored Roman legionaries carried large shields (scuta) that could provide far more protection, but made swift movement a little more difficult. Famously, the Romans used their shields to create a tortoise-like formation called a testudo in which entire groups of soldiers would be enclosed in an armoured box to provide protection against missiles. Many ancient shield designs featured incuts of one sort of another. This was done to accommodate the shaft of a spear, thus facilitating tactics requiring the soldiers to stand close together forming a wall of shields.” * The huge shields protected the soldiers. When they all grouped together and held their shields up they were very protected.
That is how we as Christians need to hold the shield of faith of the Lord. “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16 NIV). Just as the soldiers grouped together with their shields, so we as Christians need to be a constant encouragement to our fellow Christians. Satan is constantly looking for our weaknesses to cause us to fail and become discouraged. We need to pray for and with our Christian friends.
Hold up your shield of faith and remember that God surrounds you with his favor as a shield. This week envision His shield of favor surrounding you and hold forth your shield of faith knowing that God is greater than the Enemy. Also make it a point to encourage a Christian friend.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for covering me with your favor as a shield. Help me to hold my shield of faith up so that I won’t be touched by evil. Help me also to be of encouragement to my Christian friends.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield
Has anyone ever done you a favor? It’s a wonderful feeling when someone does something for you. The Lord favors you as with a shield. I think that is a great picture to put into your mind; the Lord’s love covering you and shielding you from the Enemy.
I did some research on shields and found something interesting. “The heavily armored Roman legionaries carried large shields (scuta) that could provide far more protection, but made swift movement a little more difficult. Famously, the Romans used their shields to create a tortoise-like formation called a testudo in which entire groups of soldiers would be enclosed in an armoured box to provide protection against missiles. Many ancient shield designs featured incuts of one sort of another. This was done to accommodate the shaft of a spear, thus facilitating tactics requiring the soldiers to stand close together forming a wall of shields.” * The huge shields protected the soldiers. When they all grouped together and held their shields up they were very protected.
That is how we as Christians need to hold the shield of faith of the Lord. “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16 NIV). Just as the soldiers grouped together with their shields, so we as Christians need to be a constant encouragement to our fellow Christians. Satan is constantly looking for our weaknesses to cause us to fail and become discouraged. We need to pray for and with our Christian friends.
Hold up your shield of faith and remember that God surrounds you with his favor as a shield. This week envision His shield of favor surrounding you and hold forth your shield of faith knowing that God is greater than the Enemy. Also make it a point to encourage a Christian friend.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for covering me with your favor as a shield. Help me to hold my shield of faith up so that I won’t be touched by evil. Help me also to be of encouragement to my Christian friends.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield
