How to Maintain Your Shield of Faith: Ancient Roman Secrets Revealed!

Ephesians 6:16 says, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

Roman soldiers owned two kinds of shields. They used one in public parades and ceremonies and the other in battle.

The first shield was denoted by the Greek word aspis. This aspis shield was a small, round shield that was primarily a decorative piece of equipment to be used in public ceremonies and parades.

This particular shield was absolutely gorgeous! It was decorated with all kinds of intricate etchings, engravings, and markings on the front. In addition, the front middle portion of this small shield often depicted an artist’s rendition of a previous victorious military campaign. This aspis shield was beautiful, but it was too small to be used in an actual military confrontation.

The second kind of shield used by the Roman soldier was the one to which Paul makes reference in Ephesians 6:16 when he speaks of the shield of faith. This particular word for “shield” is taken from the Greek word thureos, which was used by the Greeks to refer to a door that was wide in width and long in length. The Romans used this word for the shields they carried into battle because these shields were shaped like a door. In other words, they were wide in width and long in length, just like the door of a house.

The large battle shield was the very opposite of the first shield, which was far too small to protect a soldier from the slings and arrows of his adversary. The aspis shield never would have covered a soldier in the midst of the fray. Although beautiful and enjoyable to behold in public ceremonies and parades, such a small piece of armor would have left the soldier wide open to deadly blows. On the other hand, the second shield completely covered the man!

It is therefore very significant that the Holy Spirit selected this second shield (thureos) as the illustration of faith rather than the first shield (aspis). He is telling us that God has given us enough faith to make certain we are completely covered — just like a battle shield completely covered a Roman soldier!

Romans 12:3 says, “...God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” How much faith has God given you? He has given you enough faith to make certain you are covered in life!

Don’t ever worry or fret that God has given others more faith than He has given you. Rest assured in the fact that He has imparted enough faith to you to make sure you are covered from head to toe! Like a wide, long shield, the faith God has given you is adequate to cover every need that could ever arise in your life.

In the majority of cases, the Roman soldier’s shield was composed of multiple layers — usually six layers — of thick animal hide that had been tightly woven together. These layers of animal hide were specially tanned and then woven together so tightly that they became almost as strong as steel.

One piece of leather is tough, but imagine how tough and durable six layers of leather would be! Because the shield of the Roman soldier was made from all these layers of animal hides, it was extremely strong and exceptionally long-lasting and hard-wearing.

Similarly, your faith is extremely tough and exceptionally durable — more so than you have ever realized! No matter how hard and how long the enemy beats against your faith, your faith can outlast his attack. The shield of faith that God has given you is a strong, long-lasting, and durable faith.

How to Care for Your Shield of Faith

Because the Roman soldier’s shield was made of leather, it was important for the soldier to take good care of it.

Although the six layers of animal hide made the shield extremely strong and durable, that tough, thick leather could become stiff and breakable over a period of time if it wasn’t properly taken care of. Therefore, it was necessary for Roman soldiers to know how to care for their shields.

A soldier was given a daily schedule for maintaining his shield in excellent condition. Each morning when he woke up, he would reach for his shield and for a small vial of oil. After saturating a piece of cloth with this heavy ointment, he would thoroughly rub the oil into the leather of the shield to keep it soft, supple, and pliable. For a soldier to ignore this daily application of oil and to let his shield go without this kind of required care was essentially the equivalent of his inviting certain death.

Because this protective shield was made of leather, it would have become hard, stiff, and brittle without the proper care. If not correctly maintained, over time the leather would have hardened until, when put under pressure, it cracked and fell to pieces. This is why the end result of a soldier’s failure to care for his shield was death on the battlefield.

If the Roman soldier wanted to live a long life, it was imperative for him to pick up that vial and apply the oil to his shield every single day of his military life.

Because the shield is representative of our faith, this analogy tells us that our faith requires frequent anointings of the Holy Spirit.

Without a fresh touch of the Holy Spirit’s power on your life, your faith will become hard, stiff, and brittle. If you ignore your faith and allow it to go undeveloped, never seeking a fresh anointing of God’s Spirit to come upon your life, your faith won’t be soft, supple, and pliable enough to stand up under attack when a challenge comes your way. Faith that is ignored nearly always breaks and falls to pieces during a confrontation with the enemy.

Many believers make the incredibly tragic mistake of thinking they can keep moving forward in their Christian walk on the steam of their past experiences with the Lord. Thank God for those past experiences, but no believer can ever rest on his laurels from the past!

Regardless of how great your past experiences and victories are, if you stop developing your faith or fail to keep your faith freshly anointed by the Holy Spirit’s presence, your shield of faith is in a hazardous position. So never assume that your faith is in top-notch shape. Instead, play it safe and assume that your faith always needs a fresh anointing. By taking this approach, you will always seek to do what is necessary to keep your faith alive, active, and well!

There was another reason the Roman soldier’s shield was made out of animal hide. Before a soldier went out to war, he placed his shield in a tub of water; then he left it there soaking in the water until his shield was completely saturated.

Why did Roman soldiers saturate their shields with water? Because their enemies used arrows that carried fire! Even when those dangerous flaming arrows hit their target, the wet surface of the shields would extinguish them on impact! These water- saturated shields gave the soldier the upper hand in battle by putting out the enemy’s fire.

In the same way, when we keep our faith completely saturated with “the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26), our “Word-saturated” shields have the power to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the adversary (Ephesians 6:16)!

So we see that in order for Roman soldiers to keep their shields in top- notch condition, it was required that their shields had daily applications of both oil and water.

Likewise, in order for us to keep our shield of faith in top-notch condition, we must give serious attention to the condition of our faith. We must make certain that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to freshly anoint our lives on a daily basis as we regularly saturate our faith with the water of the Word. Word-saturated faith will always extinguish the devil’s attacks!

What Does ‘Above All’ Mean?

Some have mistakenly thought that faith is more important than any other piece of spiritual weaponry. This cannot be! The loinbelt of truth — the Bible, the written Word of God — is the most important piece of weaponry we possess.

How do we know that the Word of God is more important than faith? Faith comes from the Word of God. How then could the shield of faith be more important than the loinbelt of truth, the Word of God? Let’s not get the cart before the horse!

Nevertheless, Paul does say, “Above all, taking the shield of faith.…” What does that phrase “above all” mean?

This phrase is taken from the Greek phrase epi pasin. The word epi means over. The word pasin means all or everything. Rather than referring to being more important than the other pieces of armor, the phrase epi pasin describes position over the other pieces of armor. It could be better translated, “out in front of all” or “covering all.”

This tells you that your faith is supposed to be out in front where it can cover all. Faith was never meant to be held next to your side or to be timidly held behind your back. Faith is designed to be out in front where it can completely cover you in every situation of life!

Keep in mind that the phrase “above all” describes position, not importance. Therefore, this phrase emphatically tells us that the shield of faith is meant to completely cover us and protect us from harm — especially when we are marching forward to take new ground for the Kingdom of God. It is a defensive weapon that is out in front of all the other pieces of armor.

When our shield of faith is in its proper out-in-front and covering position, it can do what God intended it to do! This is why Paul continues to say, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

Notice that Paul says, “...taking the shield of faith....” The word “taking” is from the word analambano, which is a compound of the Greek words ana and lambano.

The word ana means up, back, or again, and the word lambano means to take up or to take in hand. When compounded together into one word, it means to take something up in hand or to pick something back up again.

This plainly means that our shield of faith can be picked up or it can be laid down. The choice is ours to make. Moreover, it reassures us that if we’ve laid down our faith at some point along the way — if we’ve gotten discouraged and stopped believing God to work in our lives — it is not too late for us to “pick up” our shield and walk in faith again!

No well-trained Roman soldier would have gone to battle without his shield. That piece of weaponry was not optional! The shield was the soldier’s guarantee that he would be guarded against deadly bombardments. Without that protective shield in front of him, there was absolutely nothing between him and his opponent. The soldier therefore understood that he would be walking into self-imposed destruction if he went forward into battle without a shield.

Sadly, many believers lack this same understanding when it comes to facing the enemy without their shield of faith. They mistakenly think that they can successfully live their Christian lives without giving attention to the development of their own faith. But that kind of thinking is utter foolishness! It was for this cause that Paul told Timothy, “…war a good warfare; holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (1 Timothy 1:18,19).

When a believer “puts away” his faith, it always leads to spiritual shipwreck. In other words, by ignoring and disregarding the significance of their faith, some of our brothers and sisters in the Lord have opted for a spiritual course that will eventually lead them to total exposure to the enemy’s attacks.

In recent years, some have accused other believers of overemphasizing the importance of faith as compared to other aspects of the Christian life. But as we begin to understand the crucial nature of faith and its ramifications in our lives both physically and spiritually, we come to realize that it is impossible to overemphasize the necessity of a life of faith.

The Purpose of the Shield of Faith

Paul continues in Ephesians 6:16, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

The word “wherewith” would be better translated, “by which.” The phrase “shall be able” is taken from the word dunamis, which denotes explosive power or dynamic power. It is where we get the word “dynamite.”

This phrase would thus be better translated, “...By the use of this shield, you will have explosive and dynamic power…”

What, then, is this part of the verse saying? When you hold your shield of faith in front of you — and when that shield of faith is both anointed by the Holy Spirit and saturated with the Word of God — your faith positions you to move in God’s explosive and dynamic power!

The apostle Peter declares that we “…are kept by the power of God through faith…” (1 Peter 1:5). There is an unseen connection between the power of God and the operation of faith in your life. When these two are working hand in hand, they build a strong wall of defense against the enemy’s tactics that is impenetrable.

In other words, when your strong faith activates the power of God in your life, those two forces combine to make a mighty, protective shield between you and every demonic onslaught that might come against you. To put it another way, power and faith working together in your life will spiritually equip you to hold an ironclad position against the enemy without taking any serious blows to yourself. The combination of these two elements will cause you to be fortified, invulnerable, and armed to the teeth!

When the power of God and faith are operative in your life, you are like a huge army tank, with the ability to move your position forward without taking any losses!

This doesn’t mean the devil won’t try to stop you, because he will! This is why Paul says, “...that ye may be able to stand against the fiery darts of the wicked.”