When Your Faith Struggle is Real
From the Armor Series
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13 MEV
Hey friend!
As we end our time this week talking about the shield of faith, I need to be real with you. God has really convicted me in areas of my life this week where I haven’t been taking up the shield of faith. He’s revealed moments and scenarios where I have let my guard down and allowed flaming arrows from the enemy to not only distract but to downright derail me. It’s been a week of a mixed bag of emotions at the enemy as well as myself for believing him.
Friend, I pray you hear my heart when I tell you that I haven’t mastered living out my faith. I’m on the same struggle journey that you might be on. I have more metals for failing the “faith tests” of life than I have of passing them. The . Struggle . Is . Real.
But one thing I know. Our God is always faithful to pick us up when we fall down. He dusts us off and places our feet back on the solid rock as He reminds us that our weaknesses are made perfect in His strength. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
It’s important to remember that the pieces of armor that we have previously discussed are to be worn as our divine-given, daily uniform. It’s what we wear day in and day out. These last few pieces are items that we will “take up” when needed. These items are action oriented and are meant to be used for protection as well as for our victory.
It’s interesting to study the advancement of the Roman army. When advancing into battle, their shields would be out in front of them. But when the flaming arrows or missiles were sent their way, they had a more strategic way to position their shields. It was called the turtle formation. The soldiers would dip their shields in water. The shields would be linked together as they huddled side by side and they would lift their shields overhead. Because these shields had several layers, the flaming arrows would quickly become extinguished as the arrow penetrated through the shield. When the shields were locked together, there was absolutely no gaps that the arrows could possibly escape through.
Sweet friend, this is what happens when we take up the shield of faith. The enemy’s arrows are extinguished when we boldly believe God over the flaming arrows of lies and deceit. However, there is an important aspect to the shield of faith that gets misunderstood and I’ll be the first to throw my hand up and say that I have wrestled with this deeply.
Often we may wrestle in our circumstances with the doubts of maybe we just don’t have the right amount of faith. Or maybe that our faith needs to be stronger and deeper. We must always remember that faith is more about God and His trustworthiness and less about us. Having faith doesn’t give us the ability to control God or our situation. And having faith doesn’t give us a magic lamp with a genie in it to do our every bidding. That just isn’t how it works.
2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
God always wants us to focus more on Him and how big He is. He longs for us to depend and rely on Him. He wants to take us on adventures of daring faith and show us His undying faithfulness but sometimes we are too scared to jump on the journey.
Our action or inaction will be the true test of what we believe to be true about God. Is He really trustworthy? Is He really big enough? Or strong enough? Or reliable enough? Will He really provide for our every need or will we need to help Him out? Does He really have our best at heart? Does He really know what He is doing? Especially when His path doesn’t make sense or line up with the path we think we should be on.
Sweet friend, I’ve had to take a real hard look at my faith this week. I’ve had to question my belief of what I believe to be true about my struggles and my God. And I’ve had to ask for His forgiveness in so many areas that I’ve been holding back because I have believed the lies of the enemy over the truth about my God.
But today - the line is drawn in the sand. Am I still scared and have doubts? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. Friend, the doubts, fears, and insecurities can be overwhelming. But I can sit on the bench and talk a good talk or I can jump in the water while trusting that He won’t let me drown.
I choose to jump into His faithful arms.
What’s it gonna be for you dear friend?
Trust Him with it all. He’s got you.
Dear God,
Thank you for sending these messages to me this week. Thank you for reminding me of your faithfulness even when I am unfaithful. Thank you for pursuing me even when I fail you over and over. You are such a good Father. I don’t know where we will go from here but I trust you. Keep my eyes locked on you. Open my eyes to the enemy’s schemes. Allow me to recognize the lies right off the bat and combat them with your truth. I love you with all my heart and I’m so thankful that you love me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Dig Deeper:
“For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:5 ESV
Reflection:
Sit alone with God for a little bit – ask Him to reveal any areas where you are believing the enemy and his lies over God’s truth.
What is one thing you will change this week to “take up” your shield of faith?
A Prayer if you find yourself still in the struggle and don’t know how to move forward in faith:
Dear God,
I need you. I’ve believed the enemy for so long that I am paralyzed in my fears. I want to jump into your faithful arms but I don’t know how to make the first move to get up and jump. Please help me. Comfort me and give me strength. Show me how to take that first step and then help me with the next step and then the next until I am where you want me to be. I surrender this struggle to you and take you at your word that you are for me and with me. You fight before me and beside me. Help my unbelief. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.