Ephesians 6:16

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

(v16, NIV)

The shield of faith is a piece of armor that is not specifically worn on a part of our body. Instead, it is held and used for protection by a soldier. This piece of armor is manipulated by the user to provide the best protection. This means pointing it in the direction of where the attacks are coming from. Ideally, a soldier would want to put the shield in between them and harm. This way, the harming sword or arrows hit the shield instead of the soldier.

We use faith to shield us from harm. This is an important piece of armor that we need to remember to bring with us. However, even if we have it, we need to remember to actually use it. A soldier may have a shield, but it is fairly useless if they don't know how to use it. We must learn to use and position our faith to stop the attacks that come upon us.

The weapon or attack described in this verse is a flaming dart or a flaming arrow. Apparently, a flaming arrow would cause a lot more damage than a normal arrow. This seems logical, since the extra fire damage would logically be more than it being without fire damage. If a person was hit by a flaming arrow or dart, the heat from the fire would cause the person to immediately pull the arrow out. However, upon pulling it out, it would tear even further on the wound. In addition, this would increase chances of infection and other really bad things for your health. A flaming dart or a flaming arrow is a dangerous thing and to be hit by one would mean death for the person who was hit by it.

In this passage, flaming darts or flaming arrows come from the evil one. The evil one uses different types of attacks in order to defeat us. One type of flaming arrow that comes at us is doubt. There are times where doubt may overcome us and fill our thoughts. We may doubt that God exists or that he has any power at all. However, faith in God will extinguish these flaming arrows. If you have faith in God, why would you even doubt? However, it seems difficult to simply overcome doubt with faith. It is almost the same as if simply telling yourself to stop hurting from your pain. We must position our shield of faith so that these flaming arrows do not even hit us. When we are overcome by doubt, we must go to the Lord in prayer.

We must confess our sins to one another and confess our sins to our heavenly father. In doing so, hopefully we will do away with this doubt that has overcome us.

There are other ways in which the evil one attacks us with flaming arrows. However, having and using the shield of faith will extinguish these and any attacks he may setup for us. Wear it and use it.