The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. That’s the bad news. The good news is that God has given us spiritual armor with which to defend ourselves as well as spiritual weapons with which to fight back with. The fifth piece of armor is The Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16)
We need the shield of faith because Satan wants to entice us to sin. When Satan attacks us with his fiery arrows of temptation, we defend ourselves with the shield of faith. Satan’s goal when he entices us to sin is to get us so focused on the immediate pleasure of sin (which is very gratifying) that we ignore the long-term consequences of sin (which are devastating).
I love these new Direct TV commercials. In a humorous way, they encourage you to think through all the bad things that could happen to you if you don’t get rid of cable (i.e. When you wait forever for the cable guy, you get bored. When you get bored you start staring out windows. When you start staring out windows you see things you shouldn’t see. When you see things you should see you need to vanish. When you need to vanish you need to fake your own death. When you fake your own death you dye your eye brows. And when you die your eyes browns you attend your own funeral as a guy named Phil Shiffly. Don’t attend your own funeral as a guy named Phil Shiffly. Get rid of cable and upgrade to Direct TV!).
When Satan entices us to sin, one of the ways we can resist is to list all the bad things that could possibly happen if we yield to that temptation. If Direct TV were encouraging us to avoid temptation (instead of cable) it might sound something like this: When you drink too much, you get drunk. When you get drunk you get in fights. When you get in fights, you injure people. When you injure people you get arrested. When you get arrested you go to jail. When you go to jail there are now certain jobs that are no longer an option for you to pursue. When the career path you wanted to take is no longer an option, you settle for something less. Don’t settle for something less. Take up the shield of faith, resist temptation and trust that God’s way is best. Every time we (by faith) trust that God’s way is best, and as a result say “no” to temptation, we put on the shield of faith.