I am learning so much about God these days.  These are lessons he has been teaching over and over again, but I guess I am finally starting to listen, a little.  It seems like I know whats best for me or better yet what makes me “feel” best.  Then I realize it is my flesh and worldly desires that take over and cause me more harm than anything else.  Then comes in the Shield of Faith, it is a great piece of spiritual armor to talk about, however I am not using it on a regular basis.  My shield is always ready to be used but for some reason I allow my self to believe I can do this on my own.  You see the Shield of Faith can move in any direction and can absorb any flaming spear or arrow Satan throws at us.  We wonder why we fall so many times and when we look around we realize that Satan is throwing temptation, pain and fear at us pretty much every moment.  The Shield is for our use, it is trusting that God will do what he says he will, but we just have to be facing the right direction.  That’s it, facing the right direction, it doesn’t mean spears and arrows won’t be flying but the Shield of Faith will extinguish them all.  I also learned that the type of Shield Paul talks about in Ephesians is one that required the Roman Soldiers to connect arm and arm.  This was a great bit of wisdom for me to learn, because he wants us to know we cannot do this alone and we shouldn’t.  Yeah it makes us think we are fighting off battles when we use our Shield and then we realize our Shield is sitting on the table.  It’s not until we connect with one another, disciple each other and fight the good fight together that we can truly begin to experience the peace of Jesus Christ.  Our relationship with him requires that we have our tools and armor ready at all times.  In our life we plot our course, but more importantly we should remember that the Lord determines our steps. ( Proverbs 16:9) Once we know that our life is no longer ours and we are here to Love, Fight and carry each others burdens together, the quicker we will always remember to pick up our Shield of Faith.  We are never deserving of any of the arrows or spears thrown at us. Christ paid for and endured them all.  We are ALL His Beloved! Amen.

One Love, One King, All Christ!