{"id":6386,"date":"2020-05-15T17:40:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T07:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6386"},"modified":"2020-05-15T17:40:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T07:40:06","slug":"shield-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/shield-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Shield of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Armour of God: Part 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Ereeny Mikhail<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Each day, when we wake up, we don\u2019t know what to expect. As humans, we can\u2019t predict the future and the reality is, life is never going to run smoothly. Life throws many obstacles, tribulations and trials. With this we are confronted with one question; what do I do in the face of war? St Paul, in Ephesians 6:13<\/strong>, instructs us to take up the \u2018armour of God\u2019. There are many parts of an armour made to protect each part of the human body. However, logically, the impact of an arrow or bullet will still do some damage to the body through an armour. Thus, an essential part of armour is a shield. The shield that St Paul instructs us to take up, as soldier\u2019s in the battlefield that we call life, is the \u2018shield of faith\u2019 (Ephesians 6:16<\/strong>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Cambridge Dictionary the definition of the word shield is \u201csomething or someone used as protection.\u201d To need protection, one must face an attack or tribulation. We face these every day, whether it be disease, spiritual warfare, or problems we face in our daily life. It is inevitable that we come face to face with a bullet or an arrow. But as we said, when a solider is faced with a bullet or arrow, they hold up their shield to prevent extreme impact. Our shield is our faith. Hebrews 11:1<\/strong> says this about faith; \u201cNow faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.\u201d<\/em> We may not see God, but God is present in all things. We must have faith that He will protect us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Paul\nemphasises the importance of the \u2018shield of faith\u2019 by saying \u2018above all\u2019 we\nshould take it up to conquer in battle. But again, I ask the question, what do\nI do in the face of war? When all seems lost, how do I hold up my Shield of\nFaith? Honestly, the answer is quite simple. It is the only way. There is no worldly\nsolution. Things cannot be controlled by worldly means. Therefore, they need to\nbe controlled by our faith in God. I say this with confidence from my own\nexperiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reflect\non an experience I had a few years ago, during my years of studying Optometry.\nI was an organised student who downloaded all my assessment notifications at\nthe beginning of semester. We had a group research assignment that my group had\nwritten up together. The assignment consisted of 2 portions to submit; the\nfirst was the main assignment and the second was signatures of all the group\nmembers saying they acknowledge that everyone did an equal amount of work. The\nsemester before we also had a group assignment with the same 2 portions. That\nsemester one person submitted the signatures on behalf of the group, but each\ngroup member had to submit the main assignment separately onto a portal. The\nnotification for this semester also instructed us to do the same thing. So, I\nsubmitted the main assignment whilst a friend of mine submitted the document\nwith the signatures. 2 weeks later all my friends got their result. My portal\nhad 0% written next to the assignment. I was very confused considering I had\ndone a huge chunk of the assignment for my group. Approaching my friends, I\nsaid it looks like there\u2019s a glitch in my system. Then one of them pointed out that\nonly one of us was supposed to submit the main assignment and everyone to\nsubmit the signatures document. I was sure we did the opposite the semester\nbefore and quickly, finding the notification of assessment document, I pointed\nout that it said the opposite as well. I went back to the place I downloaded it\nat the beginning of semester and to my dismay, this document had actually been\nupdated but since I had downloaded it very early on it said I had already\nviewed this and didn\u2019t notify me of updates. Additionally, the unit chair had\nwritten a status to tell us of this change which I missed as I was on placement\nand very tired that week. Very upset, I approached the unit chair, to ask her\nwhat had happened. She confirmed my suspicions. I misread it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angrily, I went and drafted an email to challenge this. I didn\u2019t think it was fair, seeing I had submitted the main assignment which is where all the marks were allocated, and seeing that I had provided my signature. I then went and spoke to my spiritual guide; someone I was quite close to who for most of my life provided me with wise spiritual advice; before I sent the email. They told me to plead with the lecturer persistently but with kind words. Thinking about this, I knew this was the right thing to do. Our faith teaches us, in Mathew 7:14<\/strong>, to enter from the \u2018narrow gate\u2019, \u201cbecause narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.\u201d<\/em> It is easy to tell someone off, to be angry, to use harsh words but to be kind in the face of tribulation is holding up the Shield of Faith. King Solomon teaches us in Proverbs 15:1<\/strong>, \u201cA soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.\u201d<\/em> I rewrote my response to my lecturer again, this time approaching her with kind words. Again, she rejected my request. I reminded myself of what my spiritual advisor said. Be persistent. Perhaps, if I was like the \u2018Persistent Widow\u2019 in Luke 18:1-8<\/strong>; \u201cAnd shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily,\u201d<\/em> she will be merciful. In the end, she still rejected my request. Defeated, I let it go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years\nlater I came to apply for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), where the cut off was\nbased on the average marks throughout my Optometry degree. On calculating my\nmark, I noticed I was 0.075% below the cut off. I didn\u2019t think much of it,\nthinking such a small percentage below the cut off was insignificant, until I\nasked my supervisors if I could round up my mark in my application. They looked\nat me blankly, telling me it was impossible for someone to get in below the cut\noff and the cut off was extremely strict. This was not like an undergraduate\ndegree where some leniency is given. On hearing this, I broke down in tears. I\nsaid, \u201cIf only I had got that 5% in that assignment that my Optometry lecturer\ngave me 0%, I would have got in.\u201d I drove home from work that day with tears in\nmy eyes. It felt as though there was no hope. I went home and read the same\ngospel and Luke 18:27<\/strong> says; \u201cThe things which are impossible with men\nare possible with God.\u201d<\/em> Although I was told it was not possible, I chose to\napply. With a small bit of faith, I carried on working for the next few months.\nUntil one day an email popped up on my browser. I got accepted. The lesson I\nlearnt, is in the face of a problem, I held up my Shield of Faith. I was kind,\npersistent and had faith. God, no matter, the arrows and bullets that attacked\nme, protected me and because I held up the Shield of Faith, he manifested His\npower and made the impossible, very possible. God fights for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recall\nanother experience where I learnt that the Shield of Faith was the only option.\nI met the Bishop of Kenya, Bishop Paul, at the age of 18, before I entered\nuniversity. I remember being in awe of this man. Listening to his faith in times\nof tribulation was just amazing. He talked about how he went to communities\naffected by Ebola to pray for them and had faith that the Lord will protect\nhim. He told us more amazing stories, and all I could think was, I want to\ngo to Kenya<\/em>. I want to learn from this man. I want to experience the\nwork of God.<\/em> With this in mind, 3 years later, a few months prior to\nfinishing my Optometry degree I booked my flights. I finished my final exams\nand with a month to go, the anxiety kicked in. What if I get Malaria? What if I\ndrink the water and get Cholera? What if I eat the food and get some random\ndisease? I spent the whole month before flying to Kenya with these thoughts\nrunning through my mind. They built up so much to the point that I almost\ncancelled my flights. I then remembered the faith that Bishop Paul had in the\nface of Ebola and with that faith I decided to go. During my time there, I\nlearnt that no matter what you fear; whether it be disease, or violence, you\nmust face it with the Shield of Faith. Every time I ate, I signed the cross,\nand had faith nothing would happen. Every time I entered a place where I felt\nin danger, I prayed. \u2018Above all\u2019, I had faith that God is the one who protects\nus. God is our Shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to\nend with this note; no matter how difficult a situation is, no matter how\nafraid you are, and no matter what obstacle, tribulation or trial you are faced\nwith, hold up your Shield of Faith. Love as Christ taught us, and Pray as\nChrist taught us. He will fight for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.\u201d<\/em> – Psalm 18:16-18<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armour of God: Part 3 By Ereeny Mikhail Each day, when we wake up, we don\u2019t know what to expect. As humans, we can\u2019t predict the future and the reality is, life is never going to run smoothly. Life throws many obstacles, tribulations and trials. With this we are confronted with one question; what do … Continue reading “Shield of Faith”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[305,25,321,165],"class_list":["post-6386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-armour-of-god","tag-faith","tag-shield","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6388,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6386\/revisions\/6388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}