Stopping Bullets

Ephesians 6:16 Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

What if occasions for worry, doubt, disbelief and bitterness, things that Satan intends to harm our faith, were actually used by God to increase the power of faith? What if we were like Neo in the closing scene of Matrix and could hold up our hand of faith and stop bullets in their tracks, proving our power over them and causing demons to run and hide.

What if pain and sorrow and grief and loss actually produced joy rather than disillusionment? Not joy that replaces sorrow and grief, but joy that mingles with grief, like fire-retardant foam that mixes with spilled fuel, rendering it inert.

Better yet, what if pain in this world actually caused us to seek after God’s comfort and he gave it to us. 2Co 1:5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

What if this comfort received, increased our faith in Christ now and amplified our faith in the comfort to come? What if our dreams skipped right past any earthly promises of satisfaction and landed firmly on the hope that cannot disappoint, the dream that cannot be shattered.

Romans 5:2 … we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

What if pain and comfort from God increased hope in God’s promise of perfection to come and so mingled with our sorrow, so that sorrow, rather than eroding faith actually increased it and along with it, joy and strength and confidence.

What if God’s intentions actually won out over Satan’s? What if God really were working all things together for good to them that love God? What if…?

It would disarm the Devil.