Shield Of Faith: God Is Not Really Good Series

THE ARMOR OF GOD AND THE LIES OF THE ENEMY

Shield of Faith: God is Not Really Good

Ephesians 6:10-18

#armorofGod

STORY SEGMENT 1 (p)

There once was a traveler named Yort Goodseeker. Yort left home one day and was bound and determined that he would experience the world and meet God Who is good. He had always been taught that God is good all the time and all the time God is good. He had always been taught God is good always. He wanted to see this for himself and was excited to meet such a good God.

He did not get far from home, in fact he was still on the street with his home, when he came upon a family sitting in their front yard. Behind them, their home was a smoking ruin. In the night, their home had caught fire because they were shooting off fireworks and now the family was homeless and all their worldly possessions were either burned to a crispy crisp or covered in soot and smoke. They greeted him. He greeted them. “Where are you off to?” they asked. “I am going to meet the God Who is good.” “If God is good, they asked, why did our house burn down?” Yort did not have a ready answer for that.

Yort Goodseeker kept walking and he passed a local church. There were several people outside who looked like they wanted to go in, but did not. They would take a few steps toward the door and then would back up with their heads down. They greeted him. He greeted them. “Where are you off to?” they asked. “I am going to meet the God Who is good.” “If God is good, they asked, why are we afraid of God? We are so afraid we don’t even want to go in and worship because we are sinners and we are afraid of what will happen if we come before Him.” Yort did not have a ready answer for that.

He walked on and came to the outskirts of town where there was an orphanage. He looked at the grounds surrounding the orphanage and the yard was full of children with no parents. Children in shabby clothes and dirty faces and no parents. The matron of the orphanage watched over the orphans and saw him walking by. She greeted him. He greeted her. “Where are you off to?” she asked. “I am going to meet the God Who is good.” “If God is good, she asked, why are there so many orphans without parents?” Yort did not have a ready answer for that.

As he walked out of town into the countryside, he began to wonder if he would in fact meet God Who is good. He had always been taught that God is good all the time and all the time God is good, but if that is truth… How could God be good if disasters happen or God was supposed to be feared or innocent children suffer? Was God good? The Bible says God is good, but is that really true? Is God good?

SERIES REMINDER

We continue today to look at the Apostle Paul’s metaphor of the armor of God and look at the shield of faith in verse 16. We have looked at the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the footwear of the Gospel of peace each for two weeks and uncovered the schemes and attacks that the devil sends our way. Yes, we are talking about the Armor of God, but more importantly we are looking at how Satan attacks us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We will begin to look at the shield of faith today and will soon dig into the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.

The Apostle Paul is teaching us about spiritually preparing to live out our faith in our world and society in Ephesians 6… and church… we need preparation! Verses 10-13 make it very clear that we have an enemy that wars against us and that we need to stand firm against all his schemes which often come to us as lies, deception, false beliefs, worldly philosophies, and even beliefs from other religions.

Before we dig a little further into verse 16 and the shield of faith, I want you to notice how many times we are commanded to be ready both offensively and defensively. This passage is all about spiritual preparation, but also notice how much of the passage is dedicated to our foundation and remaining firm in the Lord and the struggle we face:

Verse 10: “be strong in the Lord”

Verse 11: “stand against the schemes of the devil”

Verse 12” “wrestle”

Verse 13: “withstand in the evil day”

Verse 14: “stand”

Verse 18: “keep alert”