Beth Moore Study--Living Beyond Yourself--Faithfulness

I finished the week of lessons today about the fruit of faithfulness. The lessons talked about God's faithfulness, the heroes of faith, and faith in action. One thing I learned from this study was in regard to to the shield of faith in 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."

Beth gave some history of the shield that a soldier would use in battle. It was covered in linen and leather which had been treated with something that would extinguish arrows as they came. If the solider didn't have his shield he would be hit with the burning arrow. It was large and protected the soldier. He might not have one of his other pieces, but the shield was a necessity to be safe.

Our faith is supposed to be the same way. We are in a battle. Although we can't see it with our eyes, satan is there ready to attack at any time. Our faith must be in place to knock down the arrows he throws our way. "In addition to" all the other pieces of armor, we must have our shield of faith in place.

She goes on to discuss the weapons used by satan to weaken our faith. Those include "destructive fear" and "casual familiarity."

In closing today she had us compare two passages:

Romans 3:3-4-- "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: 'So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.' "

2 Timothy 2:13--"if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."

I really liked this comparison. Even if we don't have faith that doesn't take away or diminish God's faithfulness. He is faithful! Praise Him! I really enjoyed these lessons. Now I'll move on to Gentleness.











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"And without faith is is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6