February 1, 2026
Havasu Christian Church
Are you Battle ready?
Ephesians 6:10–20
“Raise Shields!”
INTRO: Today, we’ll be talking about the Christian’s shield. When I think of shields, my mind automatically goes to Star Trek. “Raise Shields!” is a common command! There may be an enemy attacking, there may just be some space debris floating by, or they may just be cruising into the unknown. But raising the shields protects the ship.
First Century Roman shields did the same thing for Roman Soldiers. Based on some Roman artwork, and a few pieces of shields found by archeologists, it is believed that First Century Roman foot soldiers carried a shield called a “Scuta.”
A Scuta was about 2 ½ feet wide, and about 4 feet tall. It was curved, so it wrapped around the soldier. It was carried using the left hand and was also used as an offensive weapon. A Roman Legionnaire could crash the Scuta into his opponent to throw him off guard, then strike with his sword.
The Scuta was made almost like plywood. 3 layers of fairly thin wood were glued together with alternating grain. This gave it strength. It was molded to would curve around the soldier’s body. The front was covered with animal hide and lined on the inside with cloth. Two semicircular holes were made in the middle of the shield for a handle, and a round pot shaped piece of iron (umbo) was attached to protect the user’s hand.
All in all, it was an amazing weapon. It was primarily a personal weapon, but sometimes it was used in a group. The “Testudo” (the turtle) maneuver was where the soldiers would group close together and use their shields in front and overhead. Doing this, they were protected as they got close to the walls of a city.
Ephesians 6:10–20 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;
16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
- How is faith a shield?
- First, we have to define faith.
- Faith is more than a thought.
- Faith is more than a feeling.
- Faith is an action!
- Faith demands obedience.
Acts 6:7 The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
- Faith is not still, it is active.
A summary of Hebrews 11:
- By Faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice.
- By Faith, Enoch was taken up because he was pleasing to God.
- By Faith, Noah prepared an Ark.
- By Faith, Abraham left the city to wander as a nomad. By Faith Abraham was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
- By Faith, Sarah had a baby. (Isaac)
- By Faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.
- By Faith, Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons.
- By Faith, Joseph made his family promise to move his remains to the promised land.
- By Faith, Moses’ mom and dad hid him instead of killing him.
- By Faith, Moses chose God and His people over living the life of royalty.
- By Faith, Moses did lots of other amazing things by the power of God.
- By Faith, the walls of Jericho fell.
- By Faith, Rahab the harlot escaped death in Jericho.
- Here’s the rest!
- Faith shields us personally in several ways.
Hebrews 11:32–40 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, (33) who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, (34) quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. (35) Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;
(36) and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
(37) They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
(38) (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. (39) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, (40) because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
- We have certainty in our lives.
- We TRUST God, and He doesn’t let us down.
- There is no possible way that I will always understand, but I CAN Trust!
- We live a better earthly life when we trust and follow God!
- God’s rules are for our benefit.
- He wants us to do things that are beneficial to ourselves and others.
- He wants us not to do things that are harmful to ourselves and others.
- Eternity is promised to those who are faithful.
- When we trust God, no one can take us away from Him!
- Faith also allows us to shield one another!
- We encourage one another.
Hebrews 3:12–14 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. (13) But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.
- From what does the Shield of Faith protect?
- Flaming arrows! Pyro belos =Flaming projectile.
This sounds terrible! What are they?
- From the context, it would appear that the flaming projectiles of the evil one, would be attacks on us from the forces of Satan.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- How do these projectiles come at us?
- In the spiritual realm.
- If we give Satan and his crew a foothold, they will expand it!
- When we allow a sin in our lives to go unchecked, it will be encouraged in our minds and spirits by evil forces.
- We cannot allow Satan a foothold!
Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
- This principle is stated specifically about wealth, but the principle is valid regardless of what we decide to serve.
- Anything that you allow yourself to serve, other that God, is an idol!
- It will drive a wedge between you and God!
- In the Natural world.
- Satan’s forces are not only spiritual.
- They are led by spiritual beings, demons, but much of the doing is done by people who allow Satan to control them.
- When you follow Jesus, you will be opposed!
- By friends and or family.
- By your job.
- By things that bring you pleasure. (Me time)
- Satan will use any person, any situation, any want, to attack with the flaming projectiles.
- The priorities that we set in our lives make all the difference!
- God and His Kingdom must come first.
- Our family is our first mission field. They come next! Jesus will make me a better family member.
- The people around us come next.
- Self should be LAST!
- Should we use the shield of faith for offence or defence? YES!!!
- The shield of Faith protects us in defense.
- We’ve already looked at this idea.
- But the shield is best used when we go on the offensive!
- Roman attack formation typically had the soldiers in rows, with each soldier a few feet apart from his fellow soldiers.
- This gave them room to maneuver.
- They could fight without getting tangled up.
- They were also a smaller target.
- Spread out, there’s more room to miss you!
- The soldiers didn’t typically hide behind their shields, they moved forward, attacking the enemy.
- We need to be on offense!
- We aren’t to hide, but to move forward.
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
- As a child, I heard this verse and imagined gates attacking people!
- That isn’t how this works… Gates are stationary! They don’t ATTACK!
- They ARE ATTACKED!
- Gates only overpower if they stop us from breaking through them!
- That leads to another thought…
- Typically, armies didn’t shoot flaming projectiles into the distance.
- Too much trouble, and much less accurate!
- They threw or dropped flaming objects from the walls of a city.
- They tried to burn siege engines and the people who were operating them.
- They tried to burn troops who got close to the wall.
- The “Testudo (turtle) maneuver,” where the soldiers bunched tightly together behind their shields was typically used when attacking a fortress!
- Our faith protects us as we take the battle to the enemy!
Conclusion: As we have said every week so far, the armor is to be used together. You put it ALL on. You don’t go barefoot and leave your “Battle Sandals” behind. You don’t say “Righteousness is too heavy to wear as a breastplate!” You don’t just decide to set aside your shield. It works best when it is all used together!
But as we speak about the shield of faith, remember these things.
- The Shield of Faith is only useful if you actually use it.
- REAL FAITH is all that will do.
- The phony stuff won’t protect you a bit!
- The Shield of Faith must be LIVED, not just talked about.
- “Oh yeah, I have faith…”
- LIVE YOUR FAITH! DO YOUR FAITH!
- The whole book of James is dedicated to the idea that faith isn’t worth anything unless it’s motivating us to DO something!
- Faith works best when it is on the attack!
- We can’t be Timid Warriors for Jesus!
- We are called to point out the evil around it.
- We are called to offer the alternative, the right, the better way to live.
- We are to attack the strongholds of unbelief.
- We are to show the world how to live!
