Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Yesterday was an extremely busy day for me, which incidentally started off rough with a morning of wobblies. Kind of like the ones you get when you have been on an all-night stupor and did not get enough sleep. I would love to say that was the reason, but I have not had any alcohol in over twenty years…nah, this was just me being off…more so than normal. So, I slept in until I had to get up for work. It was a coffee on the run out the door morning. After that, my day was turned into a lot of driving, doctoring, and finally grocery shopping from memory (long story for another day). My day ended with a largely unsatisfactory lasagna. One day I will venture into making this from scratch to avoid the ugly that we had last night.
In all of my driving, I caught up on my Sparkling Gem devotions. On one of the days, spoke of the shield that the Roman soldiers carried. The gem was quite educational. Where I knew that the shield was very large, I assumed its design was much different. This gem was so inspirational, I am going to give you excerpts …
“With the imagery of a Roman soldier before him, Paul used the Roman soldier’s shield to illustrate the shield of faith that God has provided for you and me. The word ‘shield’ is the Greek word (thureos) which was used by the Greeks and Romans to depict an oblong door that was wide win with and long in length. The reason the Roman soldiers used this word to describe their battle shields was that the shields were door shaped. They were wide in width and long in length; just like the door of a house.
Because it was wide and long, this shield completely covered the Roman soldier! This is why the Holy Spirit chose to use the word (thureos) as an illustration of faith. He is telling us that God has given us enough faith to make certain we are completely covered in every situation—just like the shield that completely covered the Roman soldier.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Read through these last two paragraphs again. Let it resound and hibernate in your heart and mind. The thought that our faith was explained in such a manner. Our faith … the faith that God has awarded us … is tall and wide enough to protect us in our entirety. Isn’t that something?
If your comeback this analogy is something to ringing of “my faith is not covering me at all or barely…” Then read on…because there is more about this shield that will be helpful.
“In the majority of the cases, the Roman soldier’s shield was composes of multiple layers of thick animal hide that had been tightly woven together. Usually six layers of animal hide were specifically tanned and then woven together so tightly that they became nearly as strong as steel. One piece of leather is tough, but imagine how tough and durable ‘six’ layers of leather would be! Because of how it was made, the shield of a Roman soldier was extremely tough and extremely durable.
However, the Roman soldier’s leather shield could become stiff and breakable over a period of time if it wasn’t properly taken care of. Therefore, it was necessary for him to know how to take care of it.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Just like the soldier had to be trained and was expected to tend to his gear for his safety and longevity in the army, we are expected to learn and maintain our faith through the works of the Word, our church family, our fellowship with like believers, and prayer. If we are not consistently and constantly in the Word or in fellowship or prayer, we are not properly maintaining our shield. Therefore, eventually our shield will become hard and brittle…then it will break under the pressure of the storm we are in.
Today I want to encourage you to pull out your shield, take the oil of the Word and begin to refurbish the hides to reinforce and secure your protection from the enemy. With faith, you find peace.
Be blessed today my friends.
***In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. – Ephesians 6:16
Yesterday was an extremely busy day for me, which incidentally started off rough with a morning of wobblies. Kind of like the ones you get when you have been on an all-night stupor and did not get enough sleep. I would love to say that was the reason, but I have not had any alcohol in over twenty years…nah, this was just me being off…more so than normal. So, I slept in until I had to get up for work. It was a coffee on the run out the door morning. After that, my day was turned into a lot of driving, doctoring, and finally grocery shopping from memory (long story for another day). My day ended with a largely unsatisfactory lasagna. One day I will venture into making this from scratch to avoid the ugly that we had last night.
In all of my driving, I caught up on my Sparkling Gem devotions. On one of the days, spoke of the shield that the Roman soldiers carried. The gem was quite educational. Where I knew that the shield was very large, I assumed its design was much different. This gem was so inspirational, I am going to give you excerpts …
“With the imagery of a Roman soldier before him, Paul used the Roman soldier’s shield to illustrate the shield of faith that God has provided for you and me. The word ‘shield’ is the Greek word (thureos) which was used by the Greeks and Romans to depict an oblong door that was wide win with and long in length. The reason the Roman soldiers used this word to describe their battle shields was that the shields were door shaped. They were wide in width and long in length; just like the door of a house.
Because it was wide and long, this shield completely covered the Roman soldier! This is why the Holy Spirit chose to use the word (thureos) as an illustration of faith. He is telling us that God has given us enough faith to make certain we are completely covered in every situation—just like the shield that completely covered the Roman soldier.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Read through these last two paragraphs again. Let it resound and hibernate in your heart and mind. The thought that our faith was explained in such a manner. Our faith … the faith that God has awarded us … is tall and wide enough to protect us in our entirety. Isn’t that something?
If your comeback this analogy is something to ringing of “my faith is not covering me at all or barely…” Then read on…because there is more about this shield that will be helpful.
“In the majority of the cases, the Roman soldier’s shield was composes of multiple layers of thick animal hide that had been tightly woven together. Usually six layers of animal hide were specifically tanned and then woven together so tightly that they became nearly as strong as steel. One piece of leather is tough, but imagine how tough and durable ‘six’ layers of leather would be! Because of how it was made, the shield of a Roman soldier was extremely tough and extremely durable.
However, the Roman soldier’s leather shield could become stiff and breakable over a period of time if it wasn’t properly taken care of. Therefore, it was necessary for him to know how to take care of it.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Just like the soldier had to be trained and was expected to tend to his gear for his safety and longevity in the army, we are expected to learn and maintain our faith through the works of the Word, our church family, our fellowship with like believers, and prayer. If we are not consistently and constantly in the Word or in fellowship or prayer, we are not properly maintaining our shield. Therefore, eventually our shield will become hard and brittle…then it will break under the pressure of the storm we are in.
Today I want to encourage you to pull out your shield, take the oil of the Word and begin to refurbish the hides to reinforce and secure your protection from the enemy. With faith, you find peace.
Be blessed today my friends.
***In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. – Ephesians 6:16
Good morning to everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
Yesterday was an extremely busy day for me, which incidentally started off rough with a morning of wobblies. Kind of like the ones you get when you have been on an all-night stupor and did not get enough sleep. I would love to say that was the reason, but I have not had any alcohol in over twenty years…nah, this was just me being off…more so than normal. So, I slept in until I had to get up for work. It was a coffee on the run out the door morning. After that, my day was turned into a lot of driving, doctoring, and finally grocery shopping from memory (long story for another day). My day ended with a largely unsatisfactory lasagna. One day I will venture into making this from scratch to avoid the ugly that we had last night.
In all of my driving, I caught up on my Sparkling Gem devotions. On one of the days, spoke of the shield that the Roman soldiers carried. The gem was quite educational. Where I knew that the shield was very large, I assumed its design was much different. This gem was so inspirational, I am going to give you excerpts …
“With the imagery of a Roman soldier before him, Paul used the Roman soldier’s shield to illustrate the shield of faith that God has provided for you and me. The word ‘shield’ is the Greek word (thureos) which was used by the Greeks and Romans to depict an oblong door that was wide win with and long in length. The reason the Roman soldiers used this word to describe their battle shields was that the shields were door shaped. They were wide in width and long in length; just like the door of a house.
Because it was wide and long, this shield completely covered the Roman soldier! This is why the Holy Spirit chose to use the word (thureos) as an illustration of faith. He is telling us that God has given us enough faith to make certain we are completely covered in every situation—just like the shield that completely covered the Roman soldier.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Read through these last two paragraphs again. Let it resound and hibernate in your heart and mind. The thought that our faith was explained in such a manner. Our faith … the faith that God has awarded us … is tall and wide enough to protect us in our entirety. Isn’t that something?
If your comeback this analogy is something to ringing of “my faith is not covering me at all or barely…” Then read on…because there is more about this shield that will be helpful.
“In the majority of the cases, the Roman soldier’s shield was composes of multiple layers of thick animal hide that had been tightly woven together. Usually six layers of animal hide were specifically tanned and then woven together so tightly that they became nearly as strong as steel. One piece of leather is tough, but imagine how tough and durable ‘six’ layers of leather would be! Because of how it was made, the shield of a Roman soldier was extremely tough and extremely durable.
However, the Roman soldier’s leather shield could become stiff and breakable over a period of time if it wasn’t properly taken care of. Therefore, it was necessary for him to know how to take care of it.” <Sparkling Gem 1, May 28>
Just like the soldier had to be trained and was expected to tend to his gear for his safety and longevity in the army, we are expected to learn and maintain our faith through the works of the Word, our church family, our fellowship with like believers, and prayer. If we are not consistently and constantly in the Word or in fellowship or prayer, we are not properly maintaining our shield. Therefore, eventually our shield will become hard and brittle…then it will break under the pressure of the storm we are in.
Today I want to encourage you to pull out your shield, take the oil of the Word and begin to refurbish the hides to reinforce and secure your protection from the enemy. With faith, you find peace.
Be blessed today my friends.
***In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. – Ephesians 6:16
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