Shield of Faith; Sword of the Spirit

The following except inspired me to read and meditate upon Ephesians 6:10-20:

"If it were up to the devil...he would subtract every one of God's people from history, and would divide all of God's people from each other, setting them at each other's throats, with hate erasing love, and occupation with lesser battles diverting their attention from the Major Battle of God against Satan. The devil's "darts" or "flaming arrows"are real, and w are told we are meant to know they exist, not as a kind of fairytale illustration for children, but as a dangerous "happening," assailing us day by day.

"We are to quench or put out the fiery darts...how? By taking the shield of faith. The shield is faith. The sword is the Word of God. Day by day, hour by hour, we are meant to take the protection we are warned we seriously need. We are to read, meditate upon, dwell in the bible as the true Word of God. We are not meant simply to talk about how much we believe it; wee are to use it as a "sword" in our portion of the battle--the portion in which we are involved. we are to have a "shield" in front of us-- a bullet-proof vest, so to speak, which is the shield of faith. We are to believe what we have read, to remember that our God is the God of the impossible, that He is greater than our enemy, and that He has promised us that this shield is effective! We have a "tried and tested" shield against the fiery darts that do come against us day by day, even if we are not aware of them. We are to pray with faith, staying in communication with God actively."-- The Tapestry by Edith Schaeffer, page 513

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Ephesians 6:10-20
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should