Faith is a Shield

I had in my head that faith is like a muscle that I am to strengthen and grow. If it can be too small, then it must be able to grow. I set to believing in impossible things. Healings and projects beyond my physical means. How else would one grow faith? Push-ups to grow arms, believing in the impossible to grow faith. I knew that push-ups were a physical act, so must my faith be, I should walk forward. Pray for people knowing that I had no control over the healing, or planning a million-dollar project in Angola, where others had to show up in order for this to work. I walk forward. Asking the Lord to do the rest. But when it dawned on me that the spiritual armor recorded in Ephesians 6:10-18 (NLT) 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Although I think shields are heavy, so it might take work to hold one up, faith doesn’t seem to be a muscle. Maybe growing in ones faith means a bigger and bigger shield. If we were to have spiritual eyes watching Peter walk out on the water to Jesus, how would that have looked? I cannot say the answer, because I’ve not seen this with my own eyes, I’m only trying to piece my understanding of Scripture and God together. Say Peter walks out holding his faith shield. He puts the first food down and an arrow of darkness, full of doubt, flies his way, but the shield stops it. The arrow falls into the ocean. Another arrow flies his way telling him to look, it is not possible to walk on water. That arrow hits the shield and falls into the ocean. After a couple of steps towards Jesus, another arrow of darkness flies at Peter telling him that a wave is coming his way and it might knock him over! The arrow flies just above his shield and hits Peter in the head, and fear sets in. He starts sinking. What does Jesus say? “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” Matt. 14:31 Little faith? Little shield? Could it be that faith is simply blocking the arrows of darkness that want to enter our thought life? That want to discourage us from believing the impossible? Okay if I don’t have to strong will my self to having faith, but hold up a shield, how do I get that shield? How do I get a huge Jesus sized shield? In Roman’s 10:17 it says, “So faith comes from hearing , that is , hearing the Good News about Christ.” Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, bur Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. By believing in Jesus’ sacrifice and believing that our sinfulness died along with Christ. We step into faith that we are now in Jesus, so in believing that, is Jesus holding the shield or are we?