"Steadfast in the FAITH"

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”    Deuteronomy 6:5-7

     This painting also represents the shield of faith but this time it is for the family. With any piece I do, I always like to write Scripture on the canvas before I even paint on it. I feel like I am embedding God’s Word within the painting. With this piece, I wrote 39 verses all over the canvas before painting it. As I have been studying about the armor of God, I am learning that His Word is the central part of each piece of armor.
     Through this study, the LORD has been showing me that the enemy is roaming about seeking to destroy the family. That is why it is so important to be in God’s Word together. When Christ is the center of your home, He is your shield of defense for your family.
     What is FAITH? In Hebrews 11:1 it says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is when we have an unshakeable belief in God’s promises. When we have that unshakeable belief, it allows us to overcome Satan’s sinful traps and his attacks.
     How can we use the shield of faith in our daily lives to defend ourselves from Satan’s attacks? Roman soldiers would raise their shield as they were being attacked and the same goes for us in defending ourselves from the enemy’s attacks. This means that we need to always be prepared and patient. Peter explains in 1 Peter 5:6-10 saying, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”. In other words, we must humble ourselves and hold up the shield of faith against the enemy.
     All human beings have been born with a sin nature. It says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” and in Romans 6:23, it says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD.”  We are ALL sinners and the penalty for that is death. Jesus came to pay that penalty for us by His sacrifice on the cross and giving us an unearned gift of eternal life when we repent of our sins and turn our hearts to Him as He paid our tremendous debt that we owed.
     Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”. God’s grace provided a way through His Son to wash our sins away, justifies us through faith and then enables us to keep on fighting. We will lose that battle if we do not have that justification and our sins will remain unforgiven. That means we would still have that death penalty hanging over our heads with nothing being able to change that. Because of God’s grace, we are justified before Him and our faith in that becomes the shield of faith we need to have to protect us from Satan’s fiery darts. This shield not only allows us to defend ourselves but to actively overcome evil as it says in Romans 12:21, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
     As a body of Christ, we need to be joined together, raising our shields to defend each other as Ephesians 4:16 says, “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
     In the context of enduring with patience through our trials and difficulties, Jesus asked this question in Luke 18:7-8, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” How many of us will He find faithful when He returns?
     This painting shows the parents leading their children through God’s Word. The Bible in the painting is acting as a shield around the whole family, protecting all of them from the “fiery darts”. The black background and fiery brushstrokes represent the enemy trying to cause division and chaos in the family, but being in God’s Word DAILY, puts that shield of faith up protecting each of them. I painted the Bible burgundy, to represent Christ’s blood redeeming each of us. I painted the wife's/mother's fingernails white to represent that she and the father have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
      The LORD has given us a unique shield to protect us against these attacks. We are to resist the enemy and remain “Steadfast in the FAITH”. We need to stand strong in the LORD and be in His Word and to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
     For us to be truly faithful, we need to have that unshakeable belief in God’s promises with endurance. Does that mean that if we read the Bible occasionally or just at church, that will be enough? The answer to that question is NO! Throughout God’s Word we see His promises which gives us that unshakeable belief. As we saw earlier in the painting, His Word needs to be in the center. Not just sitting on a shelf or table for decoration, but to be reading His Word for us AND with our families. That is how we can defend our families with the shield of faith.
     I hope this painting is an encouragement to families all around the world that we need to be in God's Word daily, pray for our families and bring them to church with us so that they too can hear God's truth ... the GOSPEL.
     Will Christ find each of us faithful when He returns? Is your shield of FAITH raised up high so those fiery darts cannot penetrate you or your loved ones? How high is your shield? We need to be “Steadfast in the FAITH”!