ALL THE FIERY DARTS

Some time ago I wrote a couple of devotional articles on Ephesians 6:16: “Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” If you are interested in reading these, you can look in the archived devotionals, on the blog, for 8/17/2007 and 8/21/2007.

How do we raise the shield of faith?

Each time we engage in worship, each time we pray in faith, each time we open the Word of God believing that God is going to speak to us, we are performing an act of faith. Each time we activate our faith like this, we are taking up the “shield of faith.” Certainly, there are times when individual attacks come at us and, by faith, we speak directly to those “mountains.” But please understand that as our faith is being exercised we are continually raising the shield of faith.

I recently did some research on what Paul meant when he used the term “fiery darts.” I always thought he was referring to arrows that had been set on fire, like we see in some of the epic movies. I wasn’t exactly right; I was close but a little incomplete.

When Paul speaks of “fiery darts,” he is speaking from a First Century Roman context. The world Paul lived in was dominated by Rome and Roman military might was everywhere. A permanent Roman military garrison was just a few hundred yards from the Temple in Jerusalem. Roman soldiers maintained the rule of Rome throughout the world that Paul lived and ministered in. Paul constantly used the “Roman soldier” to illustrate truths he was teaching about.

The “fiery darts” were not exactly arrows. They were more like very thin, hollow pieces of reed or bamboo. Into the hollow portion, flammable liquid was inserted and somehow sealed in. Into one end of the hollow portion a wick was inserted. Just before the dart was to be used, the wick was set afire. The soldiers would then throw or launch the dart filled with flammable liquid at the enemy. When the projectile hit, it would shatter, splash the liquid, and the burning wick would set it on fire. This was a first century equivalent of a small “Molotov cocktail” or an incendiary bomb.

It was to protect against these fiery darts that the Romans got rid of the small metal shields used in warfare and moved to the larger wooden shield covered in leather. The Romans soaked their leather in water before going into battle so that when the fiery darts of the enemy came, the “soaked” leather would extinguish the fire.

And so we raise our “soaked” shields of faith! So that when the attacks come, we are ready.
The fiery darts are not primarily going to be attacks on your physical person, attacks of sickness or disease. The majority of the “fiery darts” will be attacks of temptation, lust, greed, disappointment, discouragement, jealousy. The attacks will be against your faith, your mind or your emotions.

The fiery darts of Roman warfare did not look all that lethal, all that menacing. If launched in daylight, you could hardly see the long thin projectiles coming. While looking innocent in flight, when they impacted and shattered, pain and death was released. How many times have I heard people say that they didn’t understand how dangerous and hurtful the problem would become until it was too late? Thousands and thousands of men and women in the church today are hooked and devastated under the control of pornography because they thought it would be no problem to spend a few minutes of personal time looking at porn. That quick looking was the launching of what seemed like a harmless projectile that exploded in their mind with devastating consequences. Current polls indicate that 50% of church going men and 20% of women are addicted to pornography.

When the enemy attacks and attempts to cripple your spirit and control your mind and emotions, it is time to take your stand in faith, it’s time to raise the shield.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand…” (Romans 5:1-2).

If the embracing of sinful thoughts or sinful behavior opened the door to the attack, then confess that sin according to 1 John 1:9, know that God will forgive you, and take a stand in the freedom of grace that Jesus Christ has provided for you. Declare that you are God’s child, brought into relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Declare that “greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world” and that the power of the enemy is broken in your life! Declare that you are raising the shield of faith on the authority of the Word and in the Name of Jesus! Declare that by the shed blood of Jesus, “I am free!” And declare that the fiery dart of the enemy is extinguished by your faith in God, because God’s Word says so!