“You will never be a growing Christian without a knowledge of the Word of God.” – Adrian Rogers
This quote grabbed my attention late one night because it confirmed in my heart how important it is to be in God’s Word every day.
For the past month, I have been wrestling with simple faith. Not faith for salvation, but the faith that is discussed in Ephesians 6, the kind of faith that stops the fiery darts of the enemy.
“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” – Ephesians 6:16
We have an enemy that’s real. He uses lies as his chief weapon of choice when attacking Christians. If he can get us to doubt God’s goodness or doubt God’s Word, he has us right where he wants us.
Faith is a choice. The word “faith” here means “persuasion, moral conviction, belief.” We must choose to believe the truth and place our trust in that truth or be misled by a lie. I realized my first mistake was not actively taking up this shield of faith in my heart. I had become complacent in refuting the lies of the enemy.
Through this wrestling in my heart, God used His Word to help me. I was reading in 1 Thessalonians 4 and I came upon this verse:
“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” vs 24
God is faithful, I thought, but what did He mean by “will do it?” The answer is found in God’s character, His faithfulness. He WILL DO everything He says He will do. He can be trusted because He is FAITHFUL. God can’t lie, and I don’t know about you, but someone who cannot lie is the One I want to believe in every single day. Just as I make the conscious choice to put on my shoes each day, so I must choose to pick up the shield of faith, grounded in a knowledge of God’s Word, to extinguish every lie of the enemy. God’s loving reminder to me was to believe in Him and take Him at His Word.
Take heart, friend. You won’t know the truth without getting into God’s Word. Let’s continue to grow in grace and choose faith as we deepen our knowledge of this precious gift, the Word of God.
Be Encouraged.
Chad
