The Sword of the Spirit, Part One...

Chapter Twenty-three:

We are now going to look at the last piece of the Christian's armor, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. While the other parts of our armor are for defending ourselves, the sword is for both defending ourselves and wounding our enemy. God's Word is twofold, it guards us and keeps us safe (defensive),  but it also protects us when it is used as a weapon (offensive). Not only does it help us from giving in to the darts of temptation shot at us from the enemy, but it can also kill those inward lusts that try to rise up within us. Thus, this sword, God's Word, protects us from two enemies, the one without (Satan) and the one within (our flesh), when it is used properly.

In order for our sword to be most effective, we must have no doubts whatsoever in our mind or heart that the Holy Scriptures (both Old and New Testaments) are, indeed, the inspired Word of God, given to man, for man. "This one book of Scripture records all the ways God has directly revealed Himself to man, and we are to receive it as the undoubted Word of God. It contains a perfect way of faith and life. The 'last days' are so called because we are not to expect any other revelation of His mind to us.", says Gurnall.  Hebrews 1:1-2 reads, "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe."

Our faith is built upon the foundation of God's Word, therefore we must be certain that we believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, breathed by Him (Second Timothy 3:16). God's Word was not simply thought up in man's mind, "but holy men of God spoke as they were moved, or carried, by the Holy Spirit." (Second Peter 1:21). It is crucial that we believe in the divinity of the Scriptures, that they are truly inspired by God, because as time goes on, God's Word is becoming more and more looked upon with doubt, and questioned as to its validity. 

Many try to disprove it by finding fault and contradiction within its pages. This is why Satan puts so much time and effort into distorting God's Word or getting us to doubt it being divinely inspired, as he knows our trust in God's Word and the strength of our sword are linked to one another. If we have full confidence in God's Word being true, we will find that we will have the boldness and courage we will need when it comes to using our sword as our weapon in times of battle.    

 

Gurnall warns us, "Because Satan is a spirit we must fight him with spiritual arms. And the Word is the spiritual sword...God's hands alone formed and fashioned this weapon; it did not come from any creature's forge."  As Second Corinthians 10:4 reads, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty."

The written Word is the sword by which Christians will overcome their enemies. "The Spirit will do nothing for believers without the Word, and they in turn can do nothing without Him. The Word is the sword and the Spirit of Christ the arm which wields it for the saints. All the great conquests which Christ and His followers achieve in the world are accomplished with this sword", Gurnall reminds us.  

Gurnall goes on to tell us who our enemies will be.  First, Satan has his own children in this world, those who are under his influence, therefore we will often face persecution at their hand. What weapons do God's people have to resist and overcome these men who openly defy our Lord? Just as the sword has been used in ages past, it continues to be the weapon for today's believers to use to defend themselves. "God's army overcomes every enemy by one of two ways - conversion or destruction. The Word of God is the sword which effects both - it has two edges." says Gurnall.  He goes on to tell us that the sword (God's Word) is a two-edged sword, which will cause one to either convert and become a follower of Christ, or it will bring about their destruction as a result of their choosing to disobey God's teachings regarding salvation.

Second, Satan uses heretics, people who believe or teach things that goes against the Word of God. His goal is to have us give up and walk away from our faith. He would be delighted if we were deceived by erroneous teachings so as to not find the truth that leads to freedom and everlasting life with God. His ultimate desire is for us to fall into his snare and be forever outcast from God.

He doesn't want us to be like Paul, who rejoiced that he had escaped Satan's snare as he awaited execution in the prison. Paul said, "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.",  (Second Timothy 4:7-8).  Even though Paul was facing death, he was speaking words of victory and triumph because he had been able to keep the faith, and didn't give in out of cowardice or fear.

Paul warned Timothy to stand in defense against seducers by shutting himself up with the Scriptures (Second Timothy 3:14). "We can load ourselves down with other arms by stumbling over many authors; but whoever has the sword the Spirit (God's Word) has all he needs to encounter the fiercest champion of error the devil can train up and command. Persons in error can no more stand before us holding this sword than a child with a wooden dagger could stand against a giant armed with deadly weapons. All error dreads the light of the Word and is more afraid of being examined by it than a thief dreads a strict judge. To expose the doctrines of heretics is to overcome them. When they come face to face with the Word they must hang their heads like Cain; they are put to shame. This is the only way to test suspicious teachings - if they can walk upon this fiery law unhurt and unreproved, they may safely pass for truths. Paul tells us that some 'will not endure sound doctrine' (Second Timothy 4:3). These want a doctrine which will suit their own preferences, and the Word will not do this.", Gurnall tells us.  

Third, Satan will use two enemies that are very dangerous because they are within us - our own lusts, and the potential for corruption that lurks in our flesh.  Satan will use whatever temptations he can think of to set our lusts on fire.  God's Word is our only weapon against them. In Psalm 110:2 the Word of God is referred to as "the rod of (God's) strength" and is more than enough to help us overcome Satan's attempts to draw us back into sin as he tries diligently to reclaim us, the forgiven sinners. Gurnall points out that while in the wilderness Jesus Christ could have easily laid the devil at his feet with just a touch of the deity that was within Him when Satan tried to tempt Him, but He chose to conquer him using the Word of God. He wanted us to grasp the value of that sword, God's Word, so that we would learn to fight the same enemy, the same way. 

Gurnall tells us the seriousness of the matter, "Thus the devil, the great devourer of souls, sports himself in the sea of this world, as the leviathan does in the ocean - and swallows the majority of mankind with no power to resist. Yet when he confronts an armed saint who knows how to use God's Word he has met his match."

In Part Two, we will look at how Satan uses other areas to try to overcome us.  Then, in the final four chapters of this blog, Gurnall will teach us what he learned about how to use the Sword of the Spirit, God's Holy Word.

How Satan tries to Damage our Helmet of Salvation...

Chapter Twenty-two:

As discussed in the previous chapter, the helmet is designed by God to not only defend our head against temptations from Satan and our own flesh, but to also bring us the hope that comes from our salvation. Just as Satan tries to damage and render ineffective the other pieces of our armor, his hostility towards our helmet is no different. 

He will put all his effort into trying to cause us to sin as he wants us to question whether we have truly received the gift of salvation. He will whisper into our ears that if we are truly God's child, we wouldn't have contemplated his temptations, and certainly wouldn't have succumbed to them, therefore the only conclusion we can reach is that we are still lost, and not a child of God's as we had thought.  He wants nothing more than to have us question our walk with God and to feel such shame and guilt as we conclude we are lost, that there is no remedy for what we have done, and to have us live in despair and hopelessness.

He is certainly delighted when he has been successful in tempting us to sin because it gives him the courage to stand before God, acting as our accuser and judge, demanding that God punish us and turn His back on us as we are not worthy of God's mercy. Job was a man who was righteous in the sight of God, yet Satan tried several times to prove to God that in his heart of hearts Job was only righteous and served God because of how God had blessed him (Job 6:1-12). This is his attitude towards all of God's children, and he is obsessed with seeing us disgraced and rejected by God.

Gurnall tells us, "The devil is delighted if he can cause saints to sin, but he glories most when he can lay them in the dirt in their Sunday clothes and make them defile their garments of salvation. If he succeeds, he tries to insult God by showing Him what a predicament His child is in and holds up the Christian's assurance for the world to laugh at. After Satan has thrown the Christian into some filthy sin he asks God, 'Is this the assurance You gave him of heaven - and this the garment of salvation You put on him? Look where he has laid it - and what a mess he has made of Your grace.'  We tremble at the thought of putting such blasphemy of our living God into the devil's mouth!"

If Satan can't get us to sin, he will go after the sense of hope that we have acquired since becoming God's child. He sets his plans and lays his trap with the intent to destroy our joy and our hope for the future. He would see it as victory indeed if he could have us constantly struggling with feelings of sadness and fear.  However, he is willing to accept only a small victory if he can get us to live with a weak sense of hope and a small degree of anxiety.   

 

Satan aims his arrows straight at your hope. He wants you to spend useless time wondering if your sins have truly been forgiven. Maybe you have issues with lust, jealousy or envy, so in these areas he wants you to believe you'll never get victory over them. If you suffer from affliction, he has you focus on wondering how long you can possibly endure under such a burden.  He loves to get us to worry about issues for which there seems to be no remedy, or those things that seem to have no end in sight. His hatred for us knows no bounds, and he is overjoyed if he can get us to the point where we feel so utterly hopeless that we begin to question if there's any point in praying or spending time with God after all, when there seems to be no hope for us anyhow.

We must not allow the enemy to weaken our hope as it not only allows worry and anxiety to enter into our hearts and minds, but because our hope is the very thing that will help us bear up under temptation and affliction!  Gurnall tells us that our hope will be severely tested, but not just by Satan, but by God Himself.  "God Himself tells us that we have 'need of patience' - and He means stored-up patience (Hebrews 10:36)...And if this is true of patience it is also true of hope, because patience bears everything on hope's back. Now because we never know how much affliction and temptation God intends to lay on us, we must never stop trying to strengthen our hope. There are hard duties to be performed and strong trials to be endured which require a proportionate (equal amount) hope. We are told 'But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory' (Hebrews 3:6)."

Even though Satan will try whatever means are at his disposal, with the Lord's help and our using our helmet of salvation, we can thwart any of his attempts. Gurnall gives us several ways that we can use to strengthen our hope, which will help deflect Satan's attacks. 

First, by diligently studying God's Word, the Bible. Gurnall tells us, "The Christian is bred by the Word and he must be fed by it or his grace (hope) will shrivel up and die...the Scriptures provide nutrients for the saint's strong and solid hope...The devil knows this so well that he works hard to deprive the Christian of the help stored in the Word."  Gurnall challenges us to consider if we are underutilizing or wrongly applying God's Word. Are we too lazy to read and search the Scriptures for what we need, as this plays into the enemy's hands as we slowly starve ourselves from the very thing that would feed us spiritually.

Then there are those Christians who have accepted Satan's false applications of the Word and thereby have troubled spirits (e.g., the name it/claim it/faith teachings where you are sick or financially in trouble because you lack faith).  Gurnall warns us that we need to make sure that we have not been manipulated by others in such a way that the Word no longer strengthens our hope, but actually deprives us of the rights we have as Children of God to utilize our helmet of salvation and the hope that comes with it.  

Second, we need to live godly lives so as to keep our consciences pure. If we are careless in how we live, it has a direct impact on our hope and we find our hope faltering. "All sin brings fears and shakings of heart to the person who tampers with it. But sins which are deliberately committed are to the Christian's hope as poison to his body, which eventually drinks it up. Sins produce a lifeless Christian and make thoughts of God dreadful to him...Faith and a good conscience are the two wings of hope. If you have wounded your conscience by sin, renew your repentance so that you may act in faith for the forgiveness of it and redeem your hope.", says Gurnall.

Third, being God's children we simply need to ask God to give us more hope. When Paul was in Rome he encouraged the saints there when he said, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13). God is the God of hope.

Fourth, we need to grow in our love for Christ and remember His love for us. The more we love Christ, the stronger our hope becomes as we find our comfort and hope can only come from Him. Since fear cannot tolerate love, Christ's love will not allow any fear to come into its presence as fear tears away at any sense of hope we possess. There can be no room for doubts of God's love for us. "The loving soul asks, 'Can I fear the One who loves me most will ever hurt me? Fear and doubt away with you! There is no room for you in my heart'.", says Gurnall. 

Fifth, we need to exercise our hope. Reminding ourselves of God's promises brings hope to the weary spirit. When Satan comes to rob us of our hope, he often brings doubt along with him because the combination of the two causes the greatest harm. Our soul can feel so overwhelmed by this attack, especially if we are holding out hope for something that we are waiting upon, that we can begin to question if we truly deserve to have the very thing we hope for!

Satan will try to convince us that we are unworthy of hoping for anything but we must cling to the same words that God gave to Abraham when he promised that even in his late years he would have a son.  God added, "I am the Almighty God!" (Genesis 17:1).  God was strongly proclaiming that He is the Powerful, Holy, Omnipotent, Almighty God and if He said it was so, then there was no other power, in heaven or on earth, that could undo or undermine His promise. When we read any promise we need to remember the One who has made it!

Lastly, it is our recalling of past mercies that strongly rekindles our hope. Think on those times that you feared for the future or felt remorse over past sins and the sense of grace that suddenly swept over you and showered you with love and forgiveness. When our hope is at a loss, and we question our very salvation, we simply need to look back and remember what God has already done for us!

Our Helmet of Salvation...

Chapter Twenty-One:

Gurnall tells us that "the helmet of salvation covers our head in the day of battle. This helmet, together with most of the other pieces of armour, are defensive arms to protect the Christian from sin but not to keep him from suffering. Only one piece in the whole armour is for offense  - the sword. Scripture hints that the Christian's war lies chiefly on the defense and therefore requires defensive arms to fight it...the believer overcomes his enemy when he himself is not overcome."  He goes on to remind us that we must always be in a defensive posture, ready to defend ourselves and repel the attacks of Satan. 

Ephesians 6:17 reads, "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."  Gurnall points out that the phrase "And take..." implies that we are to be on the receiving end of salvation, that we are being told to reach out and not only receive this gift of salvation, but also to accept the spiritual armor that God offers to all of His children.

First Thessalonians 5:8 says, "...and the hope of salvation as a helmet." This verse tells us that our helmet not only defends our head but it also brings with it one of the greatest blessings of all, and that is hope. The hope that we receive from following God is much different than any hope the world has to offer. The hope that the world has to offer is temporary and can never truly satisfy the soul, regardless of its endless amount of empty promises. Only the hope that comes from God can truly satisfy the emptiness that is within every soul, and accepting God's gift of salvation is the only way we find that hope which is truly and fully satisfying.

As the helmet defends the head, this "hope of salvation" defends our soul. It is this helmet that the enemy hates as he knows it protects the believer from his temptations to sin. It defends the Christian because it makes it more difficult for temptations to ensnare us when we are truly satisfied with having God's favor and the hope that comes with our salvation. We have the wonderful hope that we will soon be seeing our heavenly home and will be leaving behind this world of misery and despair. 

Because the helmet defends our head from wounds, it also emboldens our heart, making it more difficult for us to fall when we face trouble. We will not be ashamed as we boast of our glorious God. Our confidence, which comes solely from God, gives us strength and  courage. As David said in Psalm 27:3, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." Our courage comes from having this helmet of salvation. The hope that it brings us allows us to declare, along with David, that our hearts shall not fear.

This hope will be needed for as long as we war against sin and Satan. Gurnall tells us, "We are directed to take the helmet of salvation not for one particular occasion and then hang it up until another emergency calls us to use it again. But we must take it so as never to lay it down until God takes off this helmet to put a crown of glory in its place." 

Gurnall explains that our hope of salvation will help us in several other areas. First, this hope motivates us to give our best for our Lord. When asked to do something we do it with an attitude of excellence and boldness. We no longer care about the pleasures this world has to offer and reject them for the prospect of heaven's glory. Our hope of salvation takes the place in our hearts where worldly hope use to live. As man cannot live without some type of hope, we have happily traded the futile hope that the world has to offer for a hope that brings joy and peace.

Second, we are content with whatever position in life God appoints us.  Some He appoints to be leaders and men in high places. Others, do ordinary tasks that do not gain much recognition. However, the one whose hope is in Christ will be content regardless of where his Lord would have him serve. The promises of God strengthens our hands and hearts against any discouragement that may try to weaken us while we are serving Him.  Gurnall encourages us, "To arm the Christian against discontent and discouragement, God promises as great a reward for faithfulness in the most menial services as He gives in more honorable service."

Third, our hope gives us support during times of affliction and suffering. Gurnall put it this way "The Christian's patience is his back, where he carries his burdens; and some afflictions are so heavy that he needs a broad one to carry them. But if hope does not lay the pillow of the promise between his back and his burden, the least cross will prove to be too much. Therefore this promise is called the 'endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ' (First Thessalonians 1:3)."

Anyone who has gone through times of suffering and affliction know the sense of hopelessness it can bring. But through the hope we carry within us, the hope that comes solely from our relationship with God, we don't have to succumb to these feelings of anxiety. The hope we receive from our Heavenly Father can quickly quiet a disturbed, worrisome spirit better than anything man can offer. When David's soul was uneasy during affliction he clung to the hope he knew he could find in God alone, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope in God." (Psalm 43:5). 

There will be times when our spirit is grieved because of other people's actions or words, or maybe even being spitefully talked about by those who are supposed to be our friends. But even during those troubling times, waiting on God for His comfort and the type of joy only He can offer is the remedy the troubled soul needs. Hope can bring consolation so much so that even the most afflicted soul can smile when there appears to be no reason. Our hope assures us that our present sufferings bear no comparison to the coming joy of being with our Heavenly Father. 

Fourth, when there are times when God seems to be slow in responding to our needs or fulfilling His promises, our hope calms our spirit and reminds us that God's timing is always perfect. Unfortunately, we can easily be led into the temptation of questioning God if we don't remind ourselves "that God doesn't perform all His promises all at once, and that the fulfillment they (we) desire may be seen on the way coming to them (us)" says Gurnall. 

He goes on to say, "When God delays before He fulfills the promise it is the believer's duty to wait for it...God will perform it at the appointed time. It is hard work to wait when there is no sight of God's coming after days of prayer and nights of watching. To flesh and blood it is hard. Weak faith is out of breath and liable to turn back when it has gone a long way to meet God, and thus misses Him. Hope gives us the ability to quietly wait. Hope groans but does not grumble when the promised mercy does not come straightaway. Hope's groans are sighed out from the (our) spirit to God in prayer."

At this point, Gurnall transitions from giving us words of comfort to a stern warning. He points out the necessity of being assured we are, indeed, wearing the true helmet of salvation. He warns there are those who have fooled themselves into believing they are in right standing with God, and as a result wear a false helmet of hope. He calls out the hypocrite who never had any real hope, only an imaginary hope of their own making. 

He calls out the false prophets (not the False Prophet of Revelation) whose smooth words they have spoken will be no match for their own consciences that will judge them harshly at the appointed time.  He also warns against the religious person whose faith is wrapped up in their own works which results in self righteousness and self deception. The true hope, the hope of the right kind, is well grounded in the Christian who has received the new birth as a result of receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and in nothing else.

Those of us who have this true hope are to be thankful for this precious gift that has been given to us and we are challenged to live in a manner that shows we possess this hope. Gurnall warns us "And certainly it is the devil's design to cast the greatest shame on Christ and His Gospel by persuading man to profess a glorious hope of heaven but to live in utter unworthiness of such a royal inheritance." 

Gurnall asks us to do a self examination of how we live out our Christian lives before others. Do we walk in a manner worthy to be called sons and daughters of the most High God? While man is made for fellowship, are we careful about our associates? Do they influence us more than we influence them? Do you look for fellow companions on your journey to heaven or do you find yourself drawn to be among the ungodly? As our hope points us towards heaven, we should find we have little to do with ungodly companions.

We need to look at our manner of conversation and how we present ourselves to others. As part of the Bride of Christ, we must not live in a manner that shows we are not living a holy life, as we are all waiting for the coming day of God (Second Peter 3:11-12).

Gurnall reminds us that "you have no more effective argument to defeat temptation than your hope (in heaven)...The sinner's lust rightly terrifies him with fire and brimstone, but your hope of heaven's glories keeps you out of lust's reach...Be off, Satan (we say), I will not have anything to do with you or any of your offers which will make me unfit for that blessed place and holy state I wait for."  We can have such a deep hope and desire for heaven that it overshadows anything this world can offer.

How the Enemy tries to Attack our Shield of Faith...

Chapter Twenty:

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."