Let us now look at how our enemy, Satan, tries to
penetrate our shield of faith. We are reminded in Ephesians 6:16 that our
shield will quench his fiery darts. It
is not simply that it will help us resist or repel them, it will quench them,
crush them and bring them to an end. And not just a few, but all of them.
God wants His children to fully grasp the depth of Satan's
wickedness. God is firm in that we must remember to do all within our power to
resist Satan and the temptations he uses to try to entice us. While it is easy
to rationalize and make excuses for our committing sin, God demands that we
call it for what it is, sin. The moment we let down our guard, our shield of
faith is weakened and an opening appears that easily allows one of Satan's
fiery darts to enter.
Gurnall warns us, "Remember
that Satan is wicked and can come for no good. And because you know the
happiness of serving a holy God, surely you have an answer ready when this evil
one comes to entice you to sin. Can you think of staining your hands to do his
nasty drudgery after they have been used for the pure and fine service of God?"
God also wants us to remember the wickedness of Satan
so that it encourages us in our combat against him. God doesn't want us to be
afraid of Satan, He desires that we walk boldly, knowing that our enemy sees
Christ's holiness in each one of us, therefore we have nothing to fear. All Satan can do is try to scare us, but in
the end we have Amighty God on our side!
Gurnall tells us what to expect from the enemy's
artillery, "The devil's darts are temptations which he aims with
remarkable accuracy at the souls of men and women." Charles Spurgeon said that "The ancients
were known to use small arrows that were tinged with poison...they no sooner
touched the flesh or even grazed the skin than they left a fiery poison in the
veins." These darts are swift (Psalm
18:14), fly secretly catching us unaware (Psalm 64:4) and their nature is to
cause a wound that leads to death. It is because of the deadliness of these
darts that God has provided us with our solid shield of faith.
In every heart there is a secret tendency to sin, and
Satan is well aware of this. Satan may tempt us but we only have ourselves to
blame when we take the bait. James 1:14
reads, "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed." What is comforting is that we are told in First Corinthians
10:12 that, "...And God is faithful; he will not let you
be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He
will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
God makes this way for us through the power of
faith. Gurnall says, "Faith
empowers a soul to quench the pleasing temptations of the wicked one...and all
that is in the world is food and fuel for lust...faith enables the soul to
quench those darts which Satan dips into the poison of worldy lusts...John has
told us what God means by the the world:
'For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life.' (First John 2:15-16)." Gurnall goes on to teach us that these fiery darts
fall into two categories. First, those
which entice us with false promises of pleasure and satisfaction. And second, those which bring fear and terror
with them.
The first
category begins with the lust of the flesh, the temptation that promises
pleasure to the flesh. Gurnall warns us that "No temptations work more
eagerly than those which promise delight to the flesh...No one can ever shake
off the old companions of lust until by faith he becomes intimate with the
grace of God revealed in the Gospel. Faith strips away the veil from the
Christian's eyes so he can see sin and Satan who disguises it...the soul
recognizes not only the nature of sin, void of all true pleasure, but also its
temporary quality."
Then there's the lust of the eyes. This refers to those
temptations where we covet and desire what we see, the luxuries that this world
offers, which are like beacons to those who have a thirst within them for
wealth and possessions. Faith quenches this temptation by reminding the
believer that God is our provider and that our comfort comes from God, not
material abundance. Faith has us look upward to seek much better things than
this world can offer.
The pride of life appeals to that part of us that
desires honor, recognition and the praise of man. It also appeals to those who
are weak in their faith and are unwilling to suffer for their faith, giving in
instead to saving themselves from trials and persecution rather than standing for their
beliefs. Faith quenches the pride of life by having us look to Christ for our
sense of worth and recognition, as pride is the fuel for this temptation. When
we walk in a spirit of humility and our ambition is aligned with God's will,
the pride of life cannot survive, and we are willing to stand for our beliefs,
regardless of the cost.
The second category of fiery dart that Gurnall warns
us of are those that are meant to fill the Christian with fear or despair .
"It is only the power of faith that can quench fiery darts of this kind.
This particular kind of weapon is our enemy's tactic kept in reserve. When
pleasing temptations prove unsuccessful, he opens his quiver and sends a shower
of these arrows to set the soul on fire - if not with sin, then with
fear", says Gurnall. However,
Gurnall encourages us when he says, "Paradoxically, it is a sure sign that
Satan is losing when he resorts to using temptations (darts) to produce fear in
the Christian."
If he cannot get to us by way
of fear, he will shoot his fiery dart of despair in the hope that we will become
caught up in thoughts of the sins that we have committed against God. Satan's
goal is to keep us entrapped in the guilt and shame that comes from how we
lived before we became redeemed by Christ's blood. If we have truly repented,
then faith has us focus upon the mercy and love of God for providing Christ as
our atonement, and the forgiveness He will offer for present and future sins, if
a believer is truly repentant of them. The fiery dart of despair is no match for the
mercy, forgiveness and love of our great Holy God!
When any of these temptations
are fired at us by the enemy, whether they be temptations of pleasure that the world has to offer,
or temptations of fear and despair, we must resort to using our shield of faith
as our way of defending ourselves. Call to heaven for help by way of prayer. The
Apostle James said, "You fight and war, yet you have not, because you ask
not" (James 4:2). This implies that
our victory will come from heaven, but it must come as the result of believing
prayer. Gurnall tells us that our prayer must come from a heart that expects
God to act, and that we should expect Christ to be interceding to the Father
upon our behalf. Also, it is crucial that we have full confidence in God and
anchor our faith upon His character.
As Charles Spurgeon wrote,
"Our shields must be one solid piece, one piece that rests in the finished
work of Christ. We can have no confidence in ourselves, or any other man, but
it must rest wholly and entirely upon Christ or our shield will be of no use.
Our shield must be forged in heaven, or it will be worthless. It must rest
solely upon truth, for if there be any error or false notions in the fashioning
of it, that will be a joint in it that the dart can pierce. You must take care
that your faith is aligned to God's Word, that you depend upon true and real
promises...And above all, you must mind that your faith is fixed in the person
of Christ, for nothing but faith in Christ's divine person and in His proper
manhood when as a Lamb of God's Passover, He was sacrificed for us - no other
faith will be able to stand against the tremendous shocks and the innumerable
attacks that you must receive in the great battle of spiritual life."
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