Building A Strong Shield of Faith

Building a Strong Shield of
1
Faith
In the parable of the sower in Mark 4,
Jesus reveals that the seed is the Word of
God, man’s heart is the soil, and satan
comes to take away the Word that is
sown:
The sower soweth the word.
And these are they by the way side,
where the word is sown; but when
they have heard, satan cometh
immediately, and taketh away the
word that was sown in their hearts.
(Mark 4:14-15)
In Mark 4:17-19, Jesus reveals that
when affliction, persecution, cares of this
world, deceitfulness of riches, and lusts of
other things enter in, they choke the Word
so it becomes unfruitful in your life. He
also reveals the key to keeping satan from
stealing the Word from you:

And the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, and
the lusts of other things entering in,
choke the word, and it becometh
Building a Strong Shield of Faith
unfruitful. (Mark 4:19)
Note that these things must enter in
to choke the Word. The implication is
clear: If you don’t allow these things to
enter your heart, then they can’t choke
the Word. If we know how these things
enter, we can close the door.
Jesus gives us a clue to how this
happens when He said, “Therefore take
no thought, saying, What shall we eat?
or, What shall we drink? or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”
(Matthew 6:31) The word “thought” in
this passage means “to be anxious or

troubled with cares.” Jesus said to “take
no anxious thought, by saying”
revealing that when you have these
thoughts and speak them, you take them
into your heart. You can’t keep thoughts
from coming. But if you don’t speak
them, they die unborn. Paul said, “... the
word is near you even in your mouth
and in your heart.” (Romans 10:8a)
Here is the point I want to drive
home to you: When you declare what
God has said, you are taking God’s
thoughts by saying with your mouth
what God has already established. In
Ephesians 6:16 Paul wrote, “Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked.” God’s Word is a

shield that the enemy cannot penetrate.
It is “taken” by declaring what God has
said about you and your situation.
Overcoming Deception
In Luke 4:4, we have a classic
example of Jesus using a shield
fashioned from God’s Word. When
challenged by satan to turn stones into
bread, Jesus answered, “It is written,
That man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every Word of God”
When the devil tempted Him by
promising to give Him all the kingdoms
of the world (without going to the cross
to defeat satan), Jesus answered again
with God’s Word, “Get thee behind me,
satan; for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God and him only
shalt thou serve.” (Luke 4:8)
Finally, the devil used his ultimate

deception of twisting God’s Word—trying
to influence Jesus to jump from the
pinnacle of the temple to prove He was
the Son of God. (Luke 4:9-11) Again,
Jesus answered with the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6:13-14, Paul said,
“Having done all, to stand... Stand!”
That is exactly what Jesus did—He
stood with His loins girted with the
truth of the Word. Jesus spoke God’s
Words out of His mouth, allowing them
to radiate from within Him and, in doing
so, created a canopy of protection which
the deception of the enemy could not
penetrate.
In John 12:49-50, Jesus gives us the
clue to how He did this,
... but the Father which sent

me, he gave me a commandment,
what I should say, and what I
should speak. And I know that his
commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even
as the Father said unto me. so I
speak.
Many Christians try to bind
everything by their own words, but it is
God’s Word that limits satan and stops
him in his tracks. Each time Jesus
responded with the Word, satan had
nothing else to say about that particular
subject. The temptations were so totally
defeated in the atmosphere of faith that
Jesus never again had to deal with those
issues.
The faith shield that cannot be

penetrated by the enemy is created by
God’s Word radiating from within you,
creating a canopy of protection around
you.
So Why am I Being Hit?
You may ask, “If this shield is all the
way around me, then why am I continually
being hit by the enemy’s fiery darts?”
Anxious thoughts and words produce fear
which, in turn, creates an opening in your
protective canopy and allows the enemy
easy access.
To protect your faith, you must learn
not to dwell on negative situations. Instead
of dwelling on the problems, make a
decision to meditate on the answers found
in the Word of God.
Don’t give voice to your failures, for
that will produce fear; but as you talk
about the success promised in God’s

Word, your faith and confidence will
grow.
Don’t rehearse what satan has done in
your life, or what you think he is about to
do; but rather what God has done and will
do. Don’t give the devil authority over you
by talking about the things that he is doing
to hinder you. If you are doing that, you
are giving him authority to operate
through your words to bring those things
to pass. The devil knows that Mark 11:23
states that you will have whatsoever you
say if you believe and doubt not in your
heart. The more you talk about what the
enemy is doing, the more you will believe
in his ability to do it—for faith cometh by
hearing. It is a subtle way of getting you to
release faith in his ability to hinder you.

Give God’s Word first place in your
life, and you will find that there is always
a way of escaping what the enemy has
planned for you.
God Has Made a Way of Escape
There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear
it. (I Corinthians 10:13)
Every problem we face is common to
man, and God always makes a way of
escape.
Satan is limited. He can’t tempt you
supernaturally. He can only tempt you

with what is common to man. But God is
faithful and has already made a way of
escape, regardless of the temptation, trial,
or test you face. God has provided
supernatural weapons for your victory.
As Far as God is Concerned—the
War is Already Won
The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of
strongholds. (II Corinthians 10:4)
Since God has already delivered us
from the authority of darkness, what does
it mean when the Scripture says that our
weapons are mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds? Why would
we want to fight a battle that Jesus has
already won?
This passage clearly identifies the
strongholds we must pull down:

“Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of
God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of
Christ. (II Corinthians 10:5)
It is our responsibility to cast down
wrong imaginations. Imagination is a
powerful thing. Your words create images
and, eventually, you will live out the
reality of those images. When you make
negative confessions, you create negative
images that result in spiritual strongholds.
Confessing God’s Word creates
positive images which, in turn, will renew
your mind and change your heart.
Here is the bottom line: You take
God’s thoughts by speaking them into

your heart to create a canopy of
protection. When His Word abides in you
in abundance it will, without fail, reveal
God’s way of escape so you can live in
victory.
MARANATHA!
10
Document Outline
1 Building a Strong Shield of Faith
Overcoming Deception
So Why am I Being Hit?
God Has Made a Way of Escape
As Far as God is Concerned—the War is Already Won

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Building a Strong Shield of

In the parable of the sower in Mark 4,

Jesus reveals that the seed is the Word of

God, man’s heart is the soil, and satan

comes to take away the Word that is

The sower soweth the word.

And these are they by the way side,

where the word is sown; but when

they have heard, satan cometh

immediately, and taketh away the

word that was sown in their hearts.

In Mark 4:17-19, Jesus reveals that

when affliction, persecution, cares of this

world, deceitfulness of riches, and lusts of

other things enter in, they choke the Word

so it becomes unfruitful in your life. He

also reveals the key to keeping satan from

stealing the Word from you:

and the deceitfulness of riches, and

the lusts of other things entering in,

choke the word, and it becometh

unfruitful. (Mark 4:19)

Note that these things must enter in

to choke the Word. The implication is

clear: If you don’t allow these things to

enter your heart, then they can’t choke

the Word. If we know how these things

enter, we can close the door.

Jesus gives us a clue to how this

happens when He said, “Therefore take

no thought, saying, What shall we eat?

or, What shall we drink? or,

Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

(Matthew 6:31) The word “thought” in

this passage means “to be anxious or

no anxious thought, by saying”

revealing that when you have these

thoughts and speak them, you take them

into your heart. You can’t keep thoughts

from coming. But if you don’t speak

them, they die unborn. Paul said, “... the

word is near you even in your mouth

and in your heart.” (Romans 10:8a)

Here is the point I want to drive

home to you: When you declare what

God has said, you are taking God’s

thoughts by saying with your mouth

what God has already established. In

Building a Strong Shield of Faith

Ephesians 6:16 Paul wrote, “Above all,

taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye

shall be able to quench all the fiery

darts of the wicked.” God’s Word is a

It is “taken” by declaring what God has

said about you and your situation.

In Luke 4:4, we have a classic

example of Jesus using a shield

fashioned from God’s Word. When