Bullet Proof

Prayer    Heavenly Father, Thank you for my health and strength. Please forgive me for my sins--those I've committed as well as those that I've omitted. Please help me to use my faith to shield me from the attacks of the evil one.  Prick the hearts of the lost and prepare them to hear the good news. Give me the courage to share the gospel and an earnest desire to see the captives set free. Bless my family, friends, and colleagues.In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Bullet Proof by Veronica Garrett    In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The on duty police officer acknowledges that he may come under attack somewhere during the day so he prepares by wearing a bullet proof vest. Due to his line of work, it is quite reasonable that he may come under attack with little or no warning. The vest which may go unnoticed by those in view of him, provides protection to his vital organs. The time for him to dress in this vest is not during an altercation but prior to an occurence. Like it or not a Christian is on the front line of the Lord's army. He or she must prepare by wearing the full armor of God. Most attacks of the evil one come with little to no warning.  At times it is a series of trivial events that can somehow provide great discouragement.  Very rarely do we hear of one standly boldly while another attempts to cause them bodily harm. However, when we rightly raise our shield of faith we can confidently stand our ground. Our faith will quench all the flaming arrows as each one comes our way. Not one, not two, but all the arrows of the evil one. When there are holes in our faith, ideas of distrust and doubt arise. When distrust and doubt becomes sizeable fear develops. As fear increases so does a sense of panic and a strong urge to respond. When we respond in fear our actions are just plain unreasonable. It is not because they do not believe in God that most are tossed to and fro. The problem lies, when things are shakey and they cannot see their way out, they don't concentrate their effort to believe God. Focus. If we don't stand firm in faith we wont stand at all.   Our enemy does not shoot blanks, he fires loaded weapons of flaming arrows. His hope is to coerce you and I to forfeit God's blessings in our moments of weakness. Job is testimony of how real the flaming arrows of the evil one can be. And yet, in the mist of great crisis and distress Job set his heart to trust in God.  When we focus our hearts and our minds on trusting God in the mist of trials we too are shielded by our faith.