The shield of faith is the fourth element of the spiritual armor of God. Fl-Efesin 6:16 Paul commanded to take the shield of faith to quench every fiery dart of the wicked. How do you take the shield of faith and what are these fiery darts of the wicked? Let’s look at what the Bible says about the shield of faith and the fiery darts of the wicked.
Fuq kollox, Nieħu t-Tarka tal-Fidi
Stand għalhekk, Li jkollok il-flettijiet tiegħek bil-verità, u li jkollok fuq is-sider tal-ġustizzja; U saqajkom inżarbuna bil-preparazzjoni tal-evanġelju tal-paċi; Fuq kollox, Nieħu t-Tarka tal-Fidi, biha tkunu tistgħu tfu d-dard tan-nar kollha tal-ħżiena (Efesin 6:14-16)
When you are born again in Christ and made righteousness by His blood and filled with the Holy Spirit, you shall walk in obedience to the Word in the will of God. By walking in obedience to God’s Word, you shall walk by faith in the truth and in righteousness.
You believe that every word in the Bible is the truth. And because you believe this, you obey and do the words of God that are written in the Bible.
You shall believe in the Word and be a doer of the Word, whereby you shall recognize and refute every lie of the devil and resist every temptation of the devil. With the shield of faith, you shall be able to quench every fiery dart of the devil.
What are the fiery darts of the wicked?
The fiery darts of the wicked are all the deceiving words and temptations of the wicked. The devil shoots his fiery darts daily at you, trying to hit you.
The devil will do everything he can to enter your life, steal the words of God, and destroy you.
He uses people and natural means like televiżjoni, (soċjali) midja, kotba, kompjuters, logħob, xjenza, Eastern philosophy, edukazzjoni, eċċ. to accomplish his mission and cause you to abandon God and leave the faith.
The devil even uses fellow Christians, family members and other people, li huma qrib tiegħek, to accomplish his mission.
The devil is a liar and doesn’t have the best intentions for you, imma l-agħar.
He promises you the moon and stars. But if you believe his words and go his way and leave the words of God, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
We already read about the devil’s tactics in the beginning of the Bible and how he tempted Adam and Eve with his deceiving words and wonderful promises.
Fil-ġnien tal-Għeden, the devil shot his fiery dart and hit the heart of man
Fil-ġnien tal-Għeden, the devil shot his fiery dart and hit the heart of man. Bħala riżultat, man doubted the words of God and left His words and disobeyed God’s commandment.
All the things that God had given them was not enough. They wanted more and that’s exactly what the devil promised them. Madankollu, the promise of the devil led to sin and death.
From that time, xejn ma nbidel. The devil is still a liar and still speaks half-truths. He doesn’t want the best, but the worst for humanity.
The devil still goes around as a roaring lion, Tfittex lil min jista 'jiddevora. His lies still lead to sin and death.
Only God speaks the truth and has the best intentions for humanity. Kelma ta ’Alla, Verità Tiegħu, leads to righteousness and eternal life.
The devil tried to tempt Jesus to sin with his words
Jesus Christ knew that the Father has the best intentions for humanity. As the L-ewwel imwieled tal-ħolqien il-ġdid, Ġesù Kristu, l-Iben ta’ Alla, walked by faith in the Father’s will.
Jesus trusted His Father and stayed obedient to the Father even unto His death. He didn’t bow for the lies of the devil. Jesus stayed awake and the shield of faith quenched all the fiery darts of the wicked that he shot at Him.
After Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness. During these 40 jiem fid-deżert, the devil tried to tempt Jesus to sin. But the fiery darts of the devil (the words of the devil) found no place in Jesus’ life. (Aqra wkoll: Nagħtik l-għana tad-dinja).
The fiery dart of the wicked bounced off the shield of faith. This means that the words of the devil didn’t cause Jesus to doubt the words of His Father. Jesus knew the Father and was familiar with the words and the will of His Father.
His faith, fear and love for His Father caused Him to stay obedient to the Father’s will and resist the devil.
And so Jesus overcame the devil with the truth of God’s word and the devil left Jesus for a while.
The devil tried to tempt Jesus to sin through people and situations
Because after 40 jiem, when Jesus returned from the wilderness to preach and bring the Kingdom of God to the people and sejħilhom għall-indiema, the devil tried to tempt Jesus constantly, through the words and behavior of people.
But Jesus wasn’t tempted, nor by the words of the devil, nor by the words of people, nor by the behavior of people, nor by the situations.
Jesus stayed faithful to the words of His Father. He walked in righteousness after the Spirit by faith, whereby Jesus was untouchable and the devil had nothing against Him and could not touch Him with his fiery darts (John 14:30).
The devil wanted to take the place of God in His life, bħalma għamel ma’ Adam. Madankollu, the fear and love of Jesus Christ for His Father was so great and strong that this love resisted everything and suffered the agony in obedience to the Father.
The devil thought he defeated Jesus by his works. But through the love and obedience to God, il-missier, Jesus defeated the devil by His work and rose as Victor from the dead. (Aqra wkoll: Ir-ras tax-xitan imbenġla, Għax l-għarqub ta ’Ġesù kien imbenġel).
Mingħajr fidi huwa impossibbli li togħġob lil Alla
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: għax min jiġi għand Alla jrid jemmen li hu, u li Hu jippremja lil dawk li jfittxuh b’diliġenza (Lhud 11:6).
Jesus pleased His Father throughil-fidi He walked in. Through His words and works, which originated from the faith in His Father, Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to the people and established the Kingdom of God on earth.
Jesus didn’t walk after the flesh and wasn’t led by His senses and feelings. Minflok, Jesus walked by faith and was led by the words of God and the Holy Spirit. His faith and His faithfulness caused resistance and anger to many people. But they couldn’t touch Him until God’s appointed time.
Kif imwieled mill-ġdid Insara, li huma wlied Alla (kemm irġiel kif ukoll nisa), we ought to please God. Pleasing God can only be done by faith. Because without faith it is impossible to please God.
By faith we believe that …
- Bil-fidi, we believe that God is the Creator of the heaven and the earth and all there is within. (lill-. Ġenesi 1:1, Lhud 11:3)
- Bil-fidi, we believe that the Word of God is the truth and stands forever (lill-. Salmi 119:89, 160, John 17:17).
- Bil-fidi, we receive the promise of the Holy Spirit (lill-. Luqa 24:49, Galatin 3:14-22)
- By faith in God and His words, we believe that through regeneration in Christ, we are no longer sinners. We are justified and have been made righteous and holy.(Rumani 9:30; 10:4-6, Galatin 2:16; 3, Efesin 2:8, Filippin 3:9, 2 Timotju 3:15, 1 Pietru 1:5)
- Bil-fidi, we know that we are children of God (lill-. Rumani 8:16, Galatin 3:26)
- Bil-fidi, we entered the Kingdom of God (lill-. Kolossin 1:13-14)
- Bil-fidi, we know that we have access to the Father and may come boldly before His throne. (lill-. Rumani 5:1-2, Efesin 2:18; 3:12, Lhud 4:16, 10:22)
- Bil-fidi, we live after the will of God (lill-. Lhud 10:36, 1 Pietru 4:2, 1 John 2:17)
- Bil-fidi, we are doers of the Word (lill-. Rumani 2:13, James 1:22)
- Bil-fidi, nistabbilixxu l-liġi (lill-. Rumani 3:31)
- By faith in God the Father and the Name of Jesus Christ we represent, ippriedka u ġġib is-Saltna ta’ Alla fuq l-art. (Mattew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luqa 24:47-48)
- Bil-fidi, we shall live and inherit the Kingdom of God during and after our life on earth. (Huma joqogħdu lura 2:4, Mattew 25:34, Rumani 1:17, Galatin 3:11, Lhud 6:12; 9:15; 10:38, Rivelazzjoni 21:7)
What does it mean above all take the shield of faith?
Huwa miktub, above all take the shield of faith, because without faith, you don’t believe in the words of God. You don’t believe that you are justified and are no longer a sinner. Mingħajr fidi, you shall not walk in the truth of God and shall not obey and do the words of God in your life and preach the gospel of peace. Therefore without faith all the other elements of the spiritual armor shall be useless.
Biss bil-fidi, you believe in Jesus Christ, il-kelma ħajja, and that you have been made righteousness.
If you believe that you’ve been made righteous, you’ll walk in righteousness in the truth and will of God.
You shall speak His truth and do His commandments.
All the words you speak and the works you do shall come forth from your faith in Him.
But if you say that you believe and that you have faith, but don’t have the works that derive from the faith in God, then your faith is dead and worthless (James 2:14-26).
There are two ways in life; the way of faith and the way of unbelief. You can either believe in the words of God and walk by faith after the Spirit or believe in the words of the world and walk by sight after the flesh (1 Korintin 5:7)
The devil tried to tempt Jesus first with his words, then the devil used people and situations to tempt Jesus to sin, but Jesus persevered in His faith in God.
The wicked shoots fiery darts at you
When you are born again in Christ and have become a new creation, you belong to Him. The devil is no longer you father but has become your enemy. You are in spiritual warfare and the devil shall constantly shoot his fiery darts at you to tempt you to sin.
He shall try to mislead and tempt you with his words, so that you shall doubt the words of God and His Truth and disobey the words of God and leave the faith.
He shall use all kinds of means to form your mind according to his will and take possession of your heart, so that you no longer believe and obey the words of God and walk therein.
And if the devil doesn’t succeed to tempt you with his words, he shall shoot his fiery darts through means of situations at you, to tempt you to sin.
The devil uses problems, diffikultajiet, persecution to cause you to leave the words of God and leave Triqtu and become unfaithful to Him and follow the words of the world and go the way of the world instead.
The devil shall tempt you in the flesh with all kinds of carnal lusts and desires, like power, għana, nisa, or men. As long as you remain carnal and walk after the flesh, the devil shall succeed and gain his victory.
But if you are spiritual and love God above all, even above the will, xewqat, u x-xewqat ta’ ġisimkom, inti għandu jirreżistu t-tentazzjonijiet and gain the victory over sin.
The shield of faith quenches all the fiery darts
Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves Him that begat loves him also that is begotten of Him. B’dan nafu li nħobbu lil ulied Alla, meta nħobbu lil Alla, u żomm il-kmandamenti Tiegħu. Għax din hi l-imħabba ta’ Alla, li nżommu l-kmandamenti Tiegħu: u l-kmandamenti Tiegħu mhumiex koroh. For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, anke l-fidi tagħna (1 John 5:1-4)
Only by your love and faith in God and Jesus Christ; the Word and your walk after the Spirit, you shall be able to resist the devil and with the shield of faith quench every fiery dart of the devil and stand, so that you be victorious and overcome, L-istess bħal Ġesù.
Many prophets in the Old Covenant got into trouble and were persecuted because of their faith in God and their faithfulness to the words of God. They ended up in captivity or were killed, just like the many disciples of Jesus Christ in the New Covenant, who were killed because of their faith in Jesus Christ and their faithfulness to God the Father.
They all had one thing in common and that was their love for God and Jesus Christ; il-Kelma. Id-dixxipli segwa Ġesù Christ and obeyed kmandamenti Tiegħu and did the will of God. They didn’t compromise, but they persevered by faith and held on to the Word.
With the shield of faith, they quenched all the fiery darts of the devil and finished their fight of faith.
Losers to the world, but victors to God
According to the standards of the world, they were losers. Madankollu, according to the standards of God, they were victors in Christ. Because they didn’t bow to the devil and his lies, but they discerned his deceiving words and works.
They held the shield of faith in their hands and didn’t allow any of his fiery darts to harm them and cause separation between them and God.
By their faith in God and Jesus Christ, they stayed untouchable and became victorious and overcame the world and the ruler of this world; Ix-Xitan (Lhud 11:35-40).
‘Tkun il-melħ tad-dinja ”
