{"id":8659,"date":"2021-11-26T02:33:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T02:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=8659"},"modified":"2021-12-13T22:21:59","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T22:21:59","slug":"his-faithfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=8659","title":{"rendered":"His faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.<\/em> Psalm 91:4b, ESV<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s take a quick look at this shield and buckler. According to Strong\u2019s Concordance<\/em>, the shield mentioned here is large <\/em>and covers the whole body<\/em>. As for the buckler, some references describe it as smaller<\/em> (Merriam Webster), portable<\/em> (biblestudytools.com), and often worn on the forearm or held by a handle (forwhatsaiththescriptures.org). As a result, I like to think of this shield\/buckler duo as defensive spiritual weaponry, able to cover ALL incoming attacks against me, whether large<\/em> or small<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Moreover, as I\u2019ve been praying through Psalm 91, this <\/em>phrase\u2014His faithfulness<\/em><\/strong> is my shield and my buckler<\/em>\u2014has revolutionized my thinking about FAITH IN GOD. Follow with me as I explain.<\/p>\n

You see, I have listened to some of the premiere preachers on the topic throughout the past 40 or so years and felt I \u201cknew\u201d just about all there was about faith, having been taught by the best. And yet when push came to shove, whenever a situation arose which demanded faith on my part, I often struggled, wondering if my faith was sufficient.<\/p>\n

I knew that in Ephesians 6, one article in the full armor of God is the shield of faith. I also knew that according to Ephesians 6:16, the shield of faith quenches every flaming missile of the evil one. And here, in Psalm 91:4, I read that GOD\u2019S faithfulness itself<\/em> was my shield and buckler.<\/p>\n

Since God provides us with the shield of faith, and since His very own<\/em> faithfulness is also<\/em> our shield and buckler, my lightning-fast mind started sniffing out a connection! Could it be that individual human faith\u2014as limited as it often seems to be\u2014was actually a product of the big, all-encompassing faithfulness of God? I was on to something!<\/p>\n

I had been taught to have faith in my faith. Well, my<\/em> faith sometimes seemed pretty shoddy, to tell you the truth, and trying to rustle up faith in my<\/em> pipsqueak faith left me discouraged<\/em>, not encouraged<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But here, in Psalm 91:4, all the pressure was on God\u2019s<\/em> faithfulness, not my own<\/em> faith! The faithfulness of God <\/em>was a shield in which I could trust without wavering; my own<\/em> faith, on the other hand tended to rise and fall with my emotions.<\/p>\n

Then it hit me: God never<\/em> called us to trust in our own faith. From the very beginning, all He wanted us to do was to trust in HIM\u2014in HIS<\/em> faithfulness to us.<\/p>\n

It is His<\/em> faithfulness that is a shield for you. You don\u2019t need to concern yourself one bit with how big or powerful your own faith is; your<\/em> job is to trust Him and<\/em> His big, beautiful faithfulness. His<\/em> job is to shield you.<\/p>\n

Once I realized that my<\/em> faith has been indelibly linked to His<\/em> faithfulness to shield me<\/em>, I was finally free. No longer do I need to crank up enough faith. No matter what may come my way, large or small, His faithfulness to me is my shield and my buckler.<\/p>\n

And no matter what may come YOUR way, large or small, His faithfulness to you<\/em> will be your<\/em> shield and buckler as well!<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass<\/em>. 1 Thessalonians 5:24<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Dorothy Frick, 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026 His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Psalm 91:4b, ESV First, let\u2019s take a quick look at this shield and buckler. According to Strong\u2019s Concordance, the shield mentioned here is large and covers the whole body. As for the buckler, some references describe it as smaller (Merriam Webster), portable (biblestudytools.com), and often worn on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,537],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayerperspective","category-psalm-91"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8660,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8659\/revisions\/8660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}