The shield of faith MUST BE made up of two materials:

Heb 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

These two materials are all that can be included into the structure of our shield of faith; that’s all. Every other aspect of building the shield of faith must go through these two components.

We must believe:

• First, God exists.
• Second, God rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

These two beliefs ward off everything our body, Satan, and the world system throw at us. Exclude either one of these beliefs and everything else we believe crumbles into ashes. If our shield of faith isn’t manufactured and constructed with these two principles as absolutes, it can be shattered, burned, or penetrated. We need a shield of faith that is reliable, consistent, and brings about the protection we have to have.

Too many Christians try to build their shield of faith with other kinds of materials. Some try to construct it with faith in healing; others try to construct it with faith in people; and some even try to construct it with faith in themselves. Some mix their construction material by having faith in God WHILE having faith in world systems and principles. Then when the flaming arrows of the devil sail right through, they think God let them down. They get the impression that Christianity doesn’t really work. Or, they decide that the Christian life is harder than the old life of sin. None of these thoughts (flaming arrows of Satan) are true. Their shield of faith was built out of faith-materials in the wrong things.

Without faith it is impossible to please God: Yes, it took faith to receive salvation. Eph 2:8 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this NOT from yourselves, it is the gift of God--NOT by works, so that no one can boast. Some think God helps those who help themselves. They believe that God expects them to do all they can do; AND THEN, they are to trust God for the rest. JESUS SAYS NO!

John 15:5b (NIV) Apart from Me you can do NOTHING. In John 15:1-17, Jesus spends that time explaining that we MUST remain in Him. He used the word “remain” eleven times trying to convince us that Apart from Me you can do NOTHING. But, many mix faith and human effort and ignore that it is NOT from yourselves, it is the gift of God--NOT by works, so that no one can boast.

James 1:6-8 (NIV) But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive ANYTHING from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. Now let’s take a look at material that works, but, what if it is mixed with doubt? Heb 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. But, what if we believe these two things sometimes and not all the time? That doesn’t work either!

1 Pet 1:7 (NIV) These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Once you only have faith in God, you have a shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Once your shield of faith is made of these two materials, anyone who comes to Him (God) must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:6b), you are ready to win over the drives of your body, the teaching of the world, and the temptations of the devil.

If we simply believe in God’s existence and that He rewards, then all satanic efforts to attack us are extinguished. Faith for anything else MUST come through these two materials. Heb 12:2 (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus will only speak faith into our heart for other things, if we have these two materials built into our shield of faith.